My barber is conveniently located just across the road from my house and, believing that a hair cut is a hair cut whatever the trappings of the establishment, I am happy to opt for convenience
MY MONTHLY TRIPS ACROSS THE ROAD OFTEN serve as an opportunity to catch up on the neighborhood gossip. So it was a pleasure to find just leaving the chair the local motorcycle repair shop operator.
After the initial greetings were exchanged, I reverted to my usual form of delving the opinion of the grassroots.
“Who are you going to vote for as governor?” I queried.
“Vote for anyone, it’s always the same, nothing ever changes,” came the depressed response.
“How’s xxx going?” Same response: “What’s the difference, it’s always the same. You can’t hope for much from politicians.”
Bear in mind that this is a man who lives quite comfortably on a thriving business in which his workshop never seems to be empty.
Our host, the barber, has a couple of local level clip joints, his wife has a developing business trading vegetables. His pride in life is his painstakingly restored 1973 motorcycle, Which he admits has cost him a total of Rp10 million so far.
Life, then, does not seem so bad in my little neighborhood. While there is visibly high unemployment, no-one seems to go undernourished, the boy across the road has the money to buy heavy metal tapes that he can entertain us all with, and the rich (like me) are making increasing inroads into the area.
There is the fellow next to the barber who is virtually catatonic except when he roams out to his front step for a cigarette, but his wife holds down a job and the kids seem to get on fine.
Like most parts of Jakarta, it’s not paradise, but it is a step ahead of some inner city ghettos Where the drug addicts sit like vultures by the side of trash-strewn roads.
It thus came as some surprise to read in the local press that the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) believes that everyone around us is in a state of morbid depression.
The reports quoted IDI chairman Fachmi Idris as stating that a survey had found that 94% of the population was suffering from some form of depression.
Incidentally, another survey found that, in Aceh, some 85% of people in post-conflict zones were prone to fear and deep insecurity. The World Bank-sponsored study said 35% of people interviewed appeared to be suffering from depression, 10% had symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and 39% showed signs of anxiety.
Almost three-quarters said they had been exposed to combat, with 28% reporting they had suffered beatings, while 38% had lost a friend or a relative in the conflict.
This I can understand. Living for decades in fear of your life and having to come to terms with the loss of loved ones on a regular basis is undoubtedly stressful.
But 94% of all Indonesians are depressed? Dissatisfied, yes, but depressed? The statistic makes little sense, except to suggest in the most simplistic terms that a lot of people are less than happy with the way their lives are going.
Uncertainty
While the crisis brought immeasurable benefits by prompting governments and economies to enact far better standards of financial probity, it is also true that it left behind a memory of trauma that is hard to erase.
Authors bio is coming up shortly.
