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We all have it. Everyone s is different. It holds us together, it protects us, and the miniscule differences in pigmentation cause no end of trouble around the world today.

We call it skin , the Indonesians call it kulit , pronounced cool-it as in relax, don t get heated, man . So, what do people think about the divisive subject of skin here in Jakarta?

This is what I found out:

Indonesian attitudes towards skin are simple, almost unexplainably simple. In other words, they are not able, or are reticent, to tell me why they think dark skin is bad . Oh, but it is bad , everyone knows this for a fact . The argument goes something like this: if you have dark skin it means you work outside. If you work outside it means you ve got a crap job. If you ve got a crap job here it means you are very poor indeed, probably living on or below the poverty line. And if you live there then death and degradation are a-scratching at your door& .if you re lucky enough to have a door that is. Next time you spend a day at the pool check out your fellow swimmers. Between 10 a.m. and sundown you will have only mad dogs and Englishmen for company. After that the vampires come out followed by the rest of Jakartan society. Why? Simple. Social status. People with money want to look different from those without it, with or without their clothes on and staying out of the sun is one way to do it.
Light skin on the other hand is considered good; ask any of your Sundanese friends. It s a sign of health, wealth, and beauty. We ve all seen local women in the street, a 10 second burst of ultra-violet radiation (the phenomenon we call sunshine) has them reaching like twitchy fingered gun fighters for umbrellas, magazines, bags, anything to prevent the sun from burning through their uv -enhanced make-up and reaching their sensitive, apparently react-a-light faces. It s like watching the duck and cover instruction film in colour, Agghhh!! Run for your lives! The sun s coming out! Radiation suits have yet to be seen on the catwalks of Indonesia, thank goodness, but perhaps it s only a matter of time. But, then again, if you have the lucre you really don t need to go outside anyway.


Bule or Western attitudes are at first glance the polar opposite of Indonesian attitudes. Not historically but certainly today, dark skin, or at least tanned skin, is thought to be desirable. We associate the tan with wealth though not super wealth but rather nouveau riche arriviste wealth, leisure time, foreign holidays, and overpaid celebs. We refer to a person s healthy or ruddy complexion. They ve got a bit of colour in their cheeks my mum s generation would say admiringly of a recovering invalid. To create sexual tension our romantic authors would often look towards the hot blood and the olive skin of the Mediterranean races. The tall, handsome stranger is not dark by accident and don t forget, Emily Bronte s romantic Heathcliff was a dark skinned gypsy in aspect .

So, fair or pale skin is deemed less desirable. We say, he was as white as a ghost , or she had turned deathly pale . Our pale skin, our pasty, pallid complexions show every blemish and highlight all the signs of age. We find only disease, death, and poverty in our whiteness. Hence the universal bule desire to loll around in the sunshine.

Here in Indonesia you can never hide your bule credentials. You will always be a target for over-charging, for the rip-off merchants, and for beggars who think your pockets are lined with gold. Ever been spotted in a taxi at the traffic lights and had all the beggars swarm en masse to your window like bees to the honey pot? However, there are also distinct and powerful advantages to being fair in a country that applauds fair skin.

Skin bias has a very strong affect on newcomers to the city. It s a little taste of what it must be like to be famous. There s an energy to it and you feel the buzz everyone pointing, laughing and staring and following you around the shops. You can t walk anywhere without people trying to engage you in conversation, and all to a chorus of Hello Mister! How extraordinary it is to be asked to pose for a photograph with total strangers in the mall or in the park, just like you d do with real celebrities.

The euphoria of new fame (which soon wears thin if you enjoy privacy) is often accompanied by strong feelings of guilt. The first-time traveler, the naïve tourist and the young businessman come freshly cut from the predominantly democratic, politically correct, somewhat green fields of their host nations. Trumpets blow for liberty, fraternity and equality for all races and creeds, and any racial bias is strictly regulated by law. Rampant political correctness has even driven the humor underground. How strange it is then, to arrive in a country and be elevated to a position above your normal station for doing nothing more than being pale or the opposite of being black?

Black people can become president of the US. White people can be nasty trash.

The point is that many indonesian people are not educated well enough to realize that skin is of no importance at all and are therefore racists.

IN OTHER WORDS THEY ARE RACISTS!, But positive discrimination for white folks
You can still see that they are primitive beings and that is what makes them so fun

This culture makes them ignorant and they'll remain ignorant untill they've travelled abroad and see different culture mixes living together.

Hi there,



I think they have an image of white people carrying bags full of US Dollars
which makes them act nicer to them then as black people for sure. SO in that way yes they are still discriminating against race many underdeveloped countries in asia they do.

The thing is for expample, I'm indian from Holland. The first thing in here is that people most of the time judge people on the color of their skin. I hear everyday "Dari mana?", I say "dari Belanda". Most people just don't believe me, because they expect me being from India. They don't realize lots of indians are living in Holland, England, Amerika etc. Same counts for chinese, afrikan's etc. Im getting tired sometimes to explain it, so most of the time i say, "Saya dari Dunia(from this world)" or someting similar. The truth is that most of them have never been to another country or doesnt have a good education, which makes them ignorant.

We are here to help them, thats the way I see it. Only i see little improvements so far. Internet is still not any faster. Traffice doesnt get any better. Burocration with Visa's for foreigners are getting more difficult etc.

I'll see what happens, at least im still having fun in here

Hello,

I am indonesian and I would like to say the following about judging people on their skin.
Most of the people in here(speacially from village), thinks that Dollars are more valuable then Euro's and all the other currencies.

All white people are rich, because they have DOllars they think. So whenever they see coloured people, they think that they are not rich, and woman wants to have a better life going out and following white people.

Also there are a lot of cases, in Indonesia most of the black man doing the drugs and many get caught. Thats maybe also a reason that people become racists.


Me I think all people are unique and has to be judged from the inside. not the outside