Nigeria/Indonesia: Comparisons and Contrasts

Many expats, here, have asked us how Nigeria compares to Indonesia. So, I expect that some of you are wondering the same thing, yes? (A common occurrence, here, is that "yes" is added onto the end of a sentence to ask a question. It's similar to the use of "oui" in French.) I think I've addressed a bit of this already, but here are some thoughts. Beware ... stereotypes follow! Also keep in mind that our experiences in Indonesia are, thus far, almost exclusively limited to the island of Borneo with just a few days, here and there, spent in Jakarta. There are vast differences from one island to the next.

Corruption:
Indonesia is well known for it's corruption. But we see a major difference between corruption here and the corruption in Nigeria. At the top, it's all the same -- corrupt politicians, cronyism, people "elected" through fraud, people who probably came to their early rolls in politics with a desire to serve the people but somewhere along the way the love of power overcame their initial heart of service. (Mmmmm, that sounds strangely familiar ... another country and another leader ... somewhere in a land far away that is known for it's freedom and democracy ...!)

Here, the average lower-class worker is fairly honest and hard working. The "advantage" of such a fear-based society is that they are so fearful of being caught if they cheated their employers that they won't steal from or cheat them. Vendors might try to overprice a product for an expat but that's probably just good business sense and we would all do the same in their shoes!

In Nigeria, even the beggars are con artists. Here, the poorest of the beggars are still trying to sell a product. Though, ... they would pick a pocket if they had a chance.

Many of the tribes in Nigeria are known for their cunning ways. I can see that more clearly now that we are gone. This impacts corruption because in Nigeria you see many very clever men and women who are very good at their scams. In Indonesia, it seems that the people are simpler -- not stupid ... just simple. Life is simple, the language is simple. So it doesn't appear that they waste their time working up crazy schemes for scamming others. They just quietly go about their work.

Personal Pride:
There is a pride in workmanship here that we rarely found in Nigeria. This is true, even in Jim's company. In Nigeria, the local co-workers cheated the company as often as possible -- huge scams, embezzlement, or simply not doing their jobs. Here, the local co-workers work long hours in order to accomplish their very best results.

This can be seen even in the art.

Baskets: The baskets of Ghana and other surrounding African countries are colorful and detailed. Modern-day Nigerian baskets are basic, without much color, and lacking in the artistry of more detailed work. Don't get me wrong -- I LOVE baskets and have many, many Nigerian baskets. They're functional and "cute" but they're not works of art. Here ... well, 90% of the world's rattan comes from Indonesia and 80% of that comes from this island. The detail AND functionality is to be admired. A basket fiend, like me, has a tough time in places like Africa and Asia! :-)

Batik: Nigerians produce a lot of batik, mainly tablecloths, that sell well to the expats. But the work is very simple and imperfect -- very charming, but definitely imperfect. Batik reaches a whole new level here in Indonesia. The batik, here, has gained world-wide fame. The government has now asked everyone to wear batik to work on Fridays -- a way to further draw attention to the batik of this region. I'll get some photos very soon so that you can see what I mean. At first, you only see the duller-colored batik -- browns and blacks. But, after going deeper into the heart of the batik world you can find an amazing array of colors. Just yesterday I bought an antique batik stamp. (Will take photo later). It's an amazing art form that is worthy of more explanation in another blog post. Here, let me just say that a gal named Arry, with whom I have become acquainted -- a batik vendor and designer -- told me yesterday that for most villagers, especially the older generations, the work is done from the heart and not for the money. They need the money to live, but the money in no way matches the time that is invested - weeks and weeks of work for one piece of cloth. The art is passed from generation to generation. (More, later, about the younger generation's response.) It is pride of workmanship, village pride, and respect for the previous generations that causes the art to stay alive.

Gardens and potted plants: Other than orchids (in Indonesia but not in Nigeria), most of the vegetation is the same in both places. But in Port Harcourt, Lagos, Abuja, and the various villages we visited, anything that was planted intentionally was either a garden or golf course for expats and wealthy Nigerians or a farm for income. Here, everyone seems to appreciate the beauty of a flower. Even the simplest shanty that's made of corrugated metal has a row of potted plants on the wooden porch. And orchids. They are loved in this place. (I'll get more photos of my own orchids, soon. I now have 6 plants.)

Trash: If you arrived here straight from the U.S. (but not a major city in the U.S. like L.A. or N.Y.) you might be shocked by the trash on the roadsides, sidewalks, and beaches. We, on the other hand, have been marveling at how clean everything is!!!! Yes, there is some trash to be found in some places -- it's not like Singapore! But, the trash is either brought in with an ocean wave, dropped by a careless person, or blown off of someone's burn pile. The average person doesn't drop trash anywhere, here. And in Nigeria ... well, I'm reminded of a company party -- Environmental Day, at that -- where the football field was covered with trash even before the party was half done ... and the rubbish bins were empty!

Basic Attitudes:
Nigerians are some of the most aggressive people on the planet. Indonesians are some of the most timid, gentle, and polite people on the planet. Enough said about that one!

Nigerians are some of the happiest people I've ever seen. It's not that they have much to be happy about; it's just that they are very demonstrative about every emotion. When they're happy, they're dancing and shouting about it; when they're sad, they're weeping and wailing about it. Here, the emotions are kept in check much more. Smiles are everywhere but laughter ... not so much. Tears ... no. People look more serious around here. And it's harder to figure out what they think about us ... they hide their true feelings quite well.

Traffic:
Lagos and Jakarta have equally congested traffic and motorcycles are like locusts in both countries but the similarities end, there. The bike drivers seem to drive wherever they want to go -- the wrong direction, even. But in Nigeria they drive without any regard for life and limb -- and the fatality numbers support that. Here, they follow most laws (other than the directional law) and they drive with caution. Much fewer fatalities. I'm grieved, here, just as I was in Nigeria, when I see such little children on the bikes, though. And now, in both countries, helmets are the law. But there's no helmet law for children. Though the drivers in Jakarta are more aggressive than drivers in Balikpapan, they are sooooooo peaceful compared to the drivers of Nigeria. At night they blink their lights instead of using their horns to alert another car about something. In Nigeria, we jokingly said that the car part that needs the most replacing is the horn. Here, horns are used with little "toot-toots" to say "I'm coming around you" or "you may cut in front of me" but that's about it. Drivers are often rolling down a window to wave another driver on -- to cross in front or turn or whatever is needed. All politeness. A rude and fast driver is a rarity, here. Seeing a group of motorcycle drivers gathered in a crowd and shouting at some car driver -- in Nigeria that was something you saw often in a day, very often; here, never.

Poverty:
How does one compare various levels of poverty? If two people each have nothing, it would seem that it would look the same. But not so. I would say that the poverty in Nigeria was more desperate. More hopeless. Some of that relates back to corruption and the government's total disregard for human beings in Nigeria. Just last night, we called our dear Nigerian driver, Jide. We were worried about him because we knew that he was working for a very stingy man who wasn't paying him his overtime. Well, we found out that Jide's family was recently made homeless. Briefly: they lived in a little row of apartments. Someone in the local government was mad at the building's landlord. Maybe he didn't co-operate with a required bribe, maybe he cheated someone else, ... Bottom line: with 2 weeks' notice (better than in some situations), the bulldozers arrived and demolished the entire building. Jide pulled together cash from a few sources and rented a truck to pack out their household items (mainly all stuff we'd given them over time) and he said that the first thing he grabbed when he loaded stuff out of the house was the American flag that Jim gave him! They're now all living in a room in Jide's father's house at the village by the beach. But it's too far for Jide to go there at night (especially 'cuz his boss has him work late every night -- without pay) so he goes home on Sundays. Fortunately, Jide's rent was due in November so he wasn't out too much rent money -- imagine the families who had just managed to gather up enough to pay the 1-year-in-advance rent (or 2 years if they're new). All lost, now. And Jide's school fees for 3 of his children were all wasted for the new term that had only recently begun. Nigerians face a hopeless kind of poverty -- all of their scrapping and saving to pay for something necessary -- gone. Here, it's caused by tsunamis and earthquakes. But, as I once blogged, a Nigerian once said "All of the natural disasters in Nigeria are man-made." I would have considered the poverty, here, a hopeless poverty ... had I not seen the poverty of Nigeria. Here, maybe because the agricultural opportunities abound, there's always SOME work SOME where ... even if it means the children are raised on another island by the grandparents.

This is getting so long that I shall continue at another time. Further topics to be explored -- religion/superstitions, family, economy, shopping, music, taking photos, ...