Ginseng, dried fruit or banana milk, anyone?: Visitors try various Korean food products at an event held in a mall in Central Jakarta last month. October was a colorful month in Jakarta, with various Korean fairs and festivals held to promote the country’s culture, art and products.JP/Dina Indrasafitri
Lunchtime is often regarded as a noisy affair, with people exchanging gossip and jokes while they eat.
One lunch inside a Korean restaurant in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, was no exception.
There was plenty of conversation accompanying the meal, however only those fluent in Korean language could understand.
Those who spend much time in the Boulevard, home to many restaurants, might already know about the daily lunchtime ritual when its three Korean restaurants become filled with people who regard the taste of kimchi as home.
Even visitors, who cannot understand what the guests are talking about, can sense the atmosphere of camaraderie and kinship.
“Two of the most important features of Korean culture are family and education,” Kim Yongkwan, Counsellor of Forestry, Agriculture and Fisheries at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Indonesia, told The Jakarta Post.
It was no wonder the air in the restaurant was thick with familial affection, despite the fact the guests were not in their homeland.
Interaction with staff, who were mostly Indonesian, was also friendly. There was plenty of smiling.
The restaurant held a sense of harmony.
However, this doesn’t mean Koreans find living in the city and communicating with its residents easy, especially when they first arrive.
Yongkwan, who has spent over two and a half years in Indonesia, said his first impressions of Jakarta was that it was laden with problems.
“When I first arrived, I found a few inconveniences such as slower Internet speed, a high level of air pollution, and macet [traffic congestion],” he said.
There were also problems beneath its surface.
Even though both countries are a part of Asia, some Koreans who came to live in the city experienced noticeable cultural differences.
“Korean people are used to efficiency and making prompt decisions, especially in business,” Yongkwan said.
He said this proved problematic when Koreans were faced with bureaucracy and services that tend to move at a slower pace.
“Also, when we order at restaurants, we need to ask ‘why’ if the food hasn’t arrived in about 15 minutes” Kim Yongkwan said laughing.
Another difference between Korean and Indonesian culture in general is communication manner.
“Korean people like to use direct speech when we communicate because we value speed,” Kim Yongkwan said. “If we speak indirectly, we feel we are not effectively
communicating.
“However most Indonesian people use indirect speech.”
But along with an improvement of the city’s Internet speed, Koreans have better adjusted to Jakarta.
“Koreans have lived here for about 40 years now and we understand there will always be differences,” Yongkwan said.
Yongkwan added that Indonesia’s shores had been familiar to Koreans since they first entered the country in the 1940s, along with the Japanese army.
However, it wasn’t until 20 years later Koreans arrived for business.
“In the 1960s, the first Koreans came here to work,” he explained.
“Koreans began receiving citizenship because they wanted to start their own businesses here.” Koreans mostly work in the manufacturing business, he said.
“We like to work in production.
“[Koreans] don’t enjoy working in the service sector as much,” he said.
A taste of home: Cars fill the parking lot of a Korean restaurant in Jl. Wolter Monginsidi, South Jakarta, during lunchtime. The street, along with several other areas in the capital such as Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta, house Korean restaurants, which are popular meeting spots for members of the city’s Korean expatriate community. JP/Dina Indrasafitri
Over the years, the number of Koreans who have taken up residence in Jakarta has increased
significantly.
The city does not only have statistics to show this.
Jakarta’s infrastructure demonstrates this, such as Koreatown in Pulo Mas, East Jakarta.
The increasing Korean population called for an institution to provide them with extra support while living in a foreign country.
An institution was built and is known as the Korean Association in Indonesia. It was established
in 1972.
“It began as a support network of Koreans.
“Then in the late 1980s, the population of Koreans increased sharply,” Kim Young Min, Korean news editor at the Korean Association said.
Young Min added that currently there was about 27,000 Koreans living in Jakarta.
He also said the surge meant the association would need to deal with many more issues.
“We are handling more issues compared to the past,” Kim Jae
Min, secretary-general of the Association said.
The association assists its members in dealing with legal and business issues, especially members who are unfamiliar with the country’s laws.
It also organizes gatherings, celebrations and charity events for Koreans living abroad.
On Aug. 15 each year it holds an Independence Day ceremony, encouraging its members’ to exercise their patriotic spirit.
It also holds a “Night of Farewell” ceremony, which is conducted once every two years.
Jae Min said members of the association also form recreational clubs such as arts, music and sports clubs. Some sports played include volleyball, baseball and basketball.
In 2004, the association provided aid to victims of the tsunami disaster.
In the aftermath of the Yogyakarta earthquake, the association conducted a fund-raiser to construct a school, which was designed to be earthquake-resistant. (dis)
| 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|