Thread by @BruceEmond

I got to a point in my life where I felt I wanted to become an Indonesian citizen. I had lived there for 23 years at that point, not including high school & university exchanges.
It wasn't just a "marriage of convenience", doing it to make my visa run easier.
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I felt more connection with Indonesia, much more so than the UK, my passport, that I left at age 15, or USA, where I went to high school & university but only spent 10 years. And certainly not South Africa, where I was born & spent 7 years.
It seemed natural.
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I tried. I went to an office in Kuningan, if memory serves me right. I looked around & realized I was the only "European" interested in exploring this option.
The middle-aged officer eyed me quizzically.
"What do you do?" he asked abruptly.
"I'm a writer."
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He almost scoffed.
"Indonesia doesn't need writers. We need investors. It would be better if you played football. I just did the visa of ...".
He named a famous player, with both of us fully aware I was no Beckham.
"Just get an Indonesian wife," he said to end it.
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As he shuffled me out, I asked him where he was from - as I always did, because I love the canopy of places of RI.
"Tasik. Do you know it?"
"Bang Rhoma right? Kerawang."
He seemed a surprised, but sent me on my way.
I didn't get the bini, or the green passport.
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It wasn't meant to be. I did come back to the UK, depressed & unhappy, something I never expected. That's life for you.
Indonesia is, of course, always part of me. It's always on my mind. That's why I hate it when Indonesia gets a raw deal. In all ways.
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Hate it when Indonesia is portrayed unfairly.
Hate it when Indonesia is given little respect.
Hate it - truly - when foreigners come to RI with passable skills & pass themselves off as experts because of that mantle of "bule brulee".
Faking till they make it.
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Right now, there is an Australian woman in the UK claiming to be Indonesian. Using Indonesia to flog a book. Being supported by some Indonesians, while others - who informed me of her - are aghast how she has got ahead through hobnobbing.
I met her a few times.
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Her knowledge of RI was limited despite having Indonesian heritage. She is Australian. She wanted to make RI food all fancy & something her socialite friends would be impressed by.
Iwan Tirta always said, "in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king".
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He would say it whenever he saw the posers, the attention seekers, the chancers. He could be a harsh critic; he slammed a magazine I did once, but also praise other things I did. He knew so much about Indonesia from doing his research, not claiming to know it.
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Unfortunately, this woman will publish her book, endorsed by lots of famous name who were charmed by her "enthusiasm", or all-out personal ambition. It's not enthusiasm that is needed to promote Indonesia and its culture; it is knowledge & understanding.
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She's not the first. An Englishwoman also published a book about Indonesian food, using avocado as a dip for savory fritters. Indonesians don't do it; an Indonesian pointed it out to her.
So this half-baked approach is dismaying to those who love Indonesia.
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Those who play politics to get ahead with no great talent except for self-promotion.
It's sad when people with grand ambitions appoint themselves experts. And that others blindly go along with it.
Ignorance isn't bliss - it's ignorance.
@bloomsburycooks
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