Characteristic of Indonesian :: Sifat Orang Indonesia

Many times I have read and heard about the negative label given to Indonesian people. These are some of them :
.: Lazy
.: Hypocrite
.: Easily jealous
.: Only think about their self

The question is then what is the basis for all those claims? Is it base on subjective personal experience? or objective research finding? If it is based on research, then is the research valid? Has it been done under correct method? Does the sample represent the Indonesian people in general? Has it been taken from all provinces in Indonesia?

One thing, it is not easy to make a generalization about something. It should have been conducted under a correct, valid research.

Second thing, if these statement was made during a casual, informal daily conversation between friends, then it is okay. But it will be very different if it was spoken to many people in a formal occasion, for example when you say it in conference, speech in which many people listen to you, and worst if it is covered by mass media. Because it will reach every corner of the country, even every corner of the world. Especially if these kind of unreliable statement made by public figure, then widespread this news will be delivered.

Negative Effect
When the reader is foreigner, then it will be one very negative advertisement about Indonesia. A businessman who plan to invest in Indonesia might gonna cancel his plan. And even worse if uncritical Indonesian read this, he/she will believe that they are naturally negative people, and it will effect to their self confidence. One thing we should remember, the tendency of people is to believe that what they read or heard from news it the truth.

So, my suggestion is for public figures, please be careful when you make statement, as it might have long term negative effect.

Now, I invite anybody, if you ever heard any proper research conducted about the characteristic of Indonesian people, please inform me.