Blacks in Indonesia

Yes.

Blacks have a very bad reputation over here.
Some of this is because there are many black drug dealers and you know what a good stereotype can do for a whole population.
Add the black ghettos in a few areas and you have all the fun of racism.
The country of origin or personality is hardly important when you know ALL blacks are .

"Negroes" is a common word out here.

Sorry to be harsh, but racism and stereotypes are the same all over the world; only the targets change.

"Blacks have a very bad reputation over here."

Sorry, but that is just plain bollocks!

I'm curious...just where on the internet did you read "that living in Indonesia is a very challenging experience for black Americans?"

"Negroes" is a common word out here."

Not in my experience.  In fact, bule is far more commonly heard (bule meaning white person) than negroes. 

The truth is, Indonesians are among the least racist folks you're likely to meet.  In 16 years of 24/7 living here I have yet to witness even the slightest hint of racism being reflected by an Indonesian, but I can't say that about every foreign tourist or expat that I've met or run into here.

^
Sorry, dude, it's argument time.

I can't speak for Bali but Jakarta isn't always as free from racism as it could be.
Near SMS mall in Serpong, there is a reasonable sized black population.
When people see them, they cross the road or move away.
The looks these people get are clearly short of welcoming.

As for an American expat, hard to say as he'd probably be in an expat bubble, so rarely or never have problems.

Just another reason for me to avoid Jakarta then Fred...and let's face it, Jakarta hardly reflects Indonesia, or its people. 

I can envision some Chinese-Indonesians acting in the way you describe, but that's it.

I read this on a blog titled, "Blacks in Indonesia: Experiencing Racism".  It was done on 10/22/2012 by Diana Ogilvie.

She is African, so do all blacks receive the same treatment regardless of their country of origin?.

What cities in Indonesia do you feel would be more open?

I know some black teachers in central java and surabaya who have been here for years. As Mas Fred said Jakarta does not seem to be too tolerant here. I hear my chinese students calling black people the n word, thinking hitler is cool and consider all black people to feal in guns and drugs.
Some parents would remove students from schools if there is a black teacher there.
Last week I had to explain to a class why the n word is not welcome and what would happen should they use it. Most were horrified some not but sadly found it amusing.

Ignore those and come. Ignorance only effects those who do not know or something wise like that :-)

Seems Jakarta and Bali are different on this issue as well.
The Jakarta guys seem to be seeing the same things as me.
I hear "negro" most but I have heard "nigger" and I'm  lot less than happy about it.
I normally try to educate the person who uses it.
I once met a Black English teacher in BSD, but only one. Not sure where he works.

Jakarta is a big city so there's a wide mix of everyone, including racist fools.
No reason to avoid the majority because of a minority.

Curious, I decided to read that blog.  More bollocks!

“On my first visit here, people lined up to take pictures of me and my friends at Tanah Lot Temple in Bali.”

Well girl, they line up to take photos of blue eyed blondes too! 

“For the most part, I have been treated with Indonesian hospitality that rivals no other.  However, I feel that one racist encounter is too many.”

Really?  So one racist encounter damns the whole country? 

Sure, if a black person is ultra thin skinned and sees racism in every unpleasant  encounter they may have, then yeah, stay away from here.

Ubudian wrote:

More bollocks!

Sir, I would like to compliment you on your excellent use of British English.

Ubudian wrote:

“For the most part, I have been treated with Indonesian hospitality that rivals no other.  However, I feel that one racist encounter is too many.”

Really?  So one racist encounter damns the whole country?

someone I won't mention wrote:

Just another reason for me to avoid Jakarta

Or damns a whole city?

You may spank my bum for being a naughty boy.    

However, your point is correct. Some racist Indonesian don't damn the whole country; a country I'm rather fond of.

“Sir, I would like to compliment you on your excellent use of British English.”

Actually Fred, I was thinking more of the Australian use of the word.

“Or damns a whole city?”

Excuse me?

It was you, not me who wrote,

“Blacks have a very bad reputation over here.” And that's “because there are many black drug dealers."

Frankly Fred I thought your first reply on this thread was way, way over the top, and yes, definitely deserving of a good “bum spanking!”

It's no good pussyfooting around a subject because it may offend.
There are way too many black drug dealers as we see with arrests at airports.
There are also way too many Iranian, white british and other dealers.
However, the black skin seems to force the stereotype with whilst it does not with other groups.
Saying that, you should hear the rep we white lads have in Thailand.
I'll tell you a little story later.

Anyway, to flame the argument, you said, you would avoid Jakarta because of a minority.

“It's no good pussyfooting around a subject because it may offend.”

I couldn't agree more, but that is no reason to write off the cuff gross exaggerations either. 

“There are way too many black drug dealers as we see with arrests at airports.”

I don't follow drug enforcement issues in Jakarta, Fred, but in Bali I follow it rather closely and here the vast majority of drug arrests of foreigners either at Ngurah Rai or elsewhere on the island are most assuredly not black. Add to that the ever increasing numbers of local Indonesian involved in drug trafficking.   

Even without connections or visits to our prison in Kerobokan, you can read Kathryn Bonella's new book, “Snowing in Bali.”  Here in Bali the vast majority of foreign drug dealers are not black, rather they are white British grandmothers, Australian beauty queens, and other white or Asian foreign nationals from Australia, Britain, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, Spain, Thailand and the United States. 

In my experience the stereotyping of blacks that one is most likely to run into here, especially with kids, is due primarily to the movies and video games they are familiar with.  It should seem perfectly logical that some Indonesian village kid watching Hollywood movies or playing video games where blacks constantly refer to each other with the otherwise offending “n-ger” word, or are usually cast as pimps, drug dealers and gang members, that a certain amount of cultural confusion will ensue.  The “blame” for that isn't with the Indonesian kids, or their parents, rather the blame for that falls squarely on the shoulders of the rappers, and black actors who allow themselves to be cast in these roles.  And, if an Indonesian kid uses the “n-ger” word on a black tourist or expat, that isn't racism…not at all. 

Try explaining (as I have tried on numerous occasions) to an Indonesian kid why it isn't OK for them to call a black person “n-ger” but it's perfectly OK for black people to call themselves “n-ger.”   
 
Racism is a mind set of hate or fear for a race other than your own and it's not manifested by local kids misusing a word out of pure ignorance, nor does it manifest itself by extreme curiosity, pointing fingers, laughing, or gathering to take photos of a person of a different race and which is seldom encountered. 

Diana Ogilvie's blog is pure hogwash and IMHO, as much based on ignorance as some of the reactions she got when living a while on Bali.  She's supposedly an experienced travel writer and she should know better. 

“Saying that, you should hear the rep we white lads have in Thailand.”

I've been going to Thailand twice a year for almost 20 years Fred…so, aside from our rep of being butterflies with the ladies…moving from one to the next, I'm curious what rep you might be thinking about. 

Cheers mate, and have a great week, and a Merry Christmas to you!

Ubudian wrote:

I've been going to Thailand twice a year for almost 20 years Fred…so, aside from our rep of being butterflies with the ladies…moving from one to the next, I'm curious what rep you might be thinking about. 

Cheers mate, and have a great week, and a Merry Christmas to you!

I went to Phuket.
After a few days in the hotel, it was quiet at that point in 2005, the ladies on the desk plucked up courage to ask me a question.
"Why don't you get drunk and take prostitutes back to your room?"

Now, this was an expensive hotel and a lot of foreigners would normally be there so these young ladies have seen a good few white guys.
The rep we have in that town, is drunken sods who shag anything with two legs, maybe a third in the case of ladyboys.

I explained, all they ever saw was the bad foreigners and most, such as my morally excellent self, didn't do that sort of thing.

The same goes for the newspapers and general gossips; it's easy to tag a group with a given set of behaviours if there is suspicion about that group in the first place.

Luckily for me, the maids in that hotel must have assumed my wool  jumper was quite poor quality, hence the wool on the bed.

Oh, and have a very good Christmas.

Ah, so that was you I saw at the pool side bar sipping on a cup of tea and bemoaning all the farangs having a good time.

“I explained, all they ever saw was the bad foreigners and most, such as my morally excellent self, didn't do that sort of thing.”

Have I worn out the use of “Bollocks” too much already on this string, or shall I try it once more?  Ah yes, what the heck…Bollocks!

But of course for me personally, the only reason I was in Bangkok twice a year was for medical treatment at Bumrungrad tied into bi-annual visa runs. 

Medical treatment?

There's a whole new way to put it.
I've also played, doctors and nurses, with real nurses.

Pity they were male nurses but, any port in a storm.

Yes Fred, quite seriously, medical treatment.

Bumrungrad is one of the most top rated hospitals in the world and with the highest percentage of doctors who are either board certified in the US, or a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and often, both.  Expats in Indonesia (Bali anyway) tend to either go there or Mount Elizabeth in Singapore.  Surely, you have heard of both.

I don't do ill.

"I don't do ill."

Understood, but ill will do you sooner or later.  That's just life. 

Hopefully, when ill comes your way, and that's just a matter of time, you are well prepared to deal with it.

To your health! 

Illness will come sooner or later but I'm rather hoping to get hit by a train rather than go through all that snuffing it slowly thing.

I'd quite like to wait until I'm 80 or so and/or all the lead has gone from my pencil before I shuffle off the mortal coil and have to be nailed to a perch like a Norwegian blue.