The latest statistics show the population of men in Indonesia is increasing over women, indicating there are fewer women up for grabs in the country.

Data from the Central Statistics Agency for 2010 reveals that the male population was 119,507,580, while the number of women totaled 118,048,783.

Even though experts believe the disparity is not significant yet, the gap between the number of men and women in the world’s fourth-most populous country is widening from year to year.

The differences in the populations of the two sexes in Indonesia reached more than 500,000 in 2000, and the discrepancy almost tripled 10 years later.

Looking at the trend over the last decades, there are chances that things could get even worse, leaving many Indonesian men unmarried, experts suggest.

No wonder some men here have become worried when faced with the news. Among them is Romano (not his real name).

The 31-year-old admitted that the data was something of a wake-up call.

“That means I have to work harder to get a girl. I have to put in extra effort,” said the social worker who has been single for two years.

In January, Time magazine cited a study by the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management in the US showing that men are prone to spend more, save less and are willing to go into debt when they believe women are scarce in their neck of the woods.

The study revealed the surprising fact that when women are in short supply, savings rates for men drop 42 percent, and they say they are willing to borrow 84 percent more each month via credit cards.

Romano may not go that far in his attempt to find a date, but he says he is willing to expand his horizons regarding friendship for a better chance at getting a partner.

Indonesian men seem to have reason to worry, for a scarcity of women has occurred in other parts of the world, triggering men from wealthier countries with high populations of men over women to come to Indonesia to find wives, making the competition even harder here.

This has occurred in Singkawang, West Kalimantan, a place for single and wealthy Taiwanese and Chinese men in search of wives.

The “love migration” of Chinese men is because there are not enough women in their own country.

Statistics say the world’s second largest economy is lacking in women, demonstrated by a worrying sex ratio of 1.05, meaning there are 105 men for every 100 women.

China’s skewed sex ratio is a result of the nation’s one-child policy, with many parents preferring to have boys and therefore aborting their female fetuses.

The Chinese population imbalance has therefore encouraged many local bachelors to go to other countries to find women to marry.

United Nations Population Fund national program officer Richard J. Makalew explained that the global male-female imbalance has prompted a worldwide phenomenon of transnational marriage, mostly spurred by economics.

“These Singkawang people are very poor. The local women marry Taiwanese men because they are rich,” Makalew said.

Apart from money motives, anthropologist Irwan Martua Hindayani Hidayana said culture was one of the major factors that encouraged the transnational marriage trend in Singkawang.

The small city is famous as an outpost of Chinese culture in Indonesia, with more than 80 percent of the total population of Chinese descent.

Makalew said transnational marriages like those in Singkawang may pose a threat to Indonesian men because the availability of single women in the country is then reduced.

Things can deteriorate for Indonesia, Makalew added, because the country’s men may also face competition from wealthy Indian men, whose country is also experiencing an economic boom and a decline in the number of woman in the population.

The latest data from the 2011 CIA World Factbook showed the Indian sex ratio stood at 1.08, worse than China’s. This is believed to be due to widespread acceptance of the aborting of female fetuses.

The scarcity of woman in the world’s 10th-largest economy will encourage Indian men to move to other countries, including Indonesia, which shares some values with India.

This is bad news for single Indonesian men as it could be more difficult for them to find women with such rivals from abroad.

However, 31-year-old Lumantas is determined not to worry too much about the threat.

The single man says finding a wife is not his current priority. He believes love works on its own time.
“Love is something you cannot force because when you force it, it may end up in failure,” said the man who claimed to have been in a serious relationship nine times.

But let’s look at the bright side for the ladies, who can actually benefit from the surplus of men in the country and the influx of foreign bachelors.

Latifa, 28, said she preferred not to take the statistics seriously.

The photo editor said she is not concerned with the imbalanced sex ratio in the country as she is still busy pursuing her career.

Sharing a similar attitude is 33-year-old engineer Mamik Setia-ningrum, who is still awaiting the arrival of “the one”.

With so many options available for husbands, she has chosen to take things slow and is enjoying her life.

The woman agrees with Lumantas that no one can hurry love.

“I am still waiting for the chemistry that only me and my future husband will share,” Mamik said.

Learning from Mamik, people should remember that — in the end — love works in mysterious ways, beyond numbers and statistics.

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