11-08-2011, 01:17 PM
waalaikum salam sister.
First of all, I think it's better to tell you that Indonesia is different from Egypt, vice versa. Even sometimes we found similarities, but actually it's different.
Second, Indonesians are a little bit unique. They can tell you they don't have enough money, but at the same time they always keep up with the trend, such as fashion trend, gadget trend etc. You can say Indonesians are very consumptive, only few of them are not. This behaviour shapes up our society.
About poverty this is very complicated. If you listened to our government reports, yes, our economy is growing. They said 6% this year.
But when you look at the reality, you'll find many faces of poverty. Food prices are getting higher, many people don't have jobs, or have jobs but not enough to feed the family. Medical care, don't ask me, I even avoid to go to the doctors when I'm sick. (this is another interesting story). It's expensive and annoying. Education, it will clean up your pocket, very expensive.
The problem is that our goverment liberates all of the economic and social sectors. Especially this Mr. President Yudhoyono, he's very weak in leadership. He praises USA, even once he said "America is my second country," in one of his speeches.
Don't forget about the corruption. You'll get shocked.
Our president's weakness in leadership and our consumptive society, both create difficulties to our nation.
Egypt may take lesson form us about democracy, but don't take only the good thing.
After youth revolution in 1998 our leaders are more and more corruptive. Stupid (sorry I use this word, but it's correct) politicians are everywhere. Don't talk about "the right man on the right place". There's no such thing here.
That Indonesian maid you met, she/he would not go there just to be a maid if our country is prosperous. I don't know how much he/she earn there, but I'm sure it's more than average workers in Indonesia. Many of those maids have good houses in their villages, some piece of land, cows and goats, jewelries. They can live much better after working abroad as maids.