Some Bad Habits of Indonesians

As we know, the majority of Indonesian people are muslims. Those who know the teachings of Islam know well that this religion commands the people to follow ‘the divine road’ that is full of good values. Being honest and responsible, having good work attitude, keeping the environment clean, and having healthy lifestyle are some of the values.

Unfortunately, we all see that in fact, muslims in this country can not implement the values in their real life. Some of them can, but many of them can not. Here I will give some examples of this terrible fact.

Smoking in public places: Many people in this country are used to smoking in buses, cabs, parks, and even offices. They do that without any feeling of being guilty. Don’t they realize that what they do doesn’t harm only theirselves, but also others? The others even face more danger than the smokers. Experts always say that passive smoking is much more dangerous than active one. Realizing this, the people are supposed to not smoke in public places.

Moreover, if we take a look at prosperity of the people in this country, we will find that most of the people are considered in poverty. In such condition, it doesn’t make sense that many people are used to smoking in their everyday life. Rather than spending money to buy some cigarettes, it is far better to spend it to get all basic needs such as food, clothes, houses,  education, job, and so on.

Always being not on time: I wonder why it is so hard for the people in this country to be on time when they have appointments. Give an example, if one is invited to attend a meeting at 8.00, he will come to the meeting at 8.15 or even 8.30. We call this bad habit ‘rubber-clock disease’. Something that makes us so sad is that all the people don’t consider that serious problem. They even think that such thing is usual and common.

Furthermore, this accute disease now becomes something very hard to cure. Many people that realize that being on time is important even don’t want to get on time anymore, because they are afraid that they have to wait too long. You also may find something ridicilous, when one comes late but he is the first that comes. He will say to others: “I was afraid I come late. Fortunately, I didn’t come late.” Look, he did come late, but he don’t realize that he did. He even feels happy only because there are many people worse than him.

Throwing rubbish onto road or river: I also wonder how easily the people here throw away rubbish, particulary that is not degradable like plastics, onto road or river. We all know the terrible result of this terrible habit. Water drainage beside road doesn’t function well, the river becomes swallow, and river water becomes polluted. Consequently, there is always flood every year only because of not-too-heavy-rain. It’s also hard to find adequate clean water supply.

Bad habit is always bad habit. Many people are so accustomed to throwing rubbish away, instead of put it in rubbish bin available in many places. Even if one doesn’t find any rubbish bin, he can bring it for a while or put in in his pocket until he find a bin. I think we still have a hard job to make the people realize that keeping the environment clean and preventing any pollution are important to keep our life safe and comfortable.

— These are some of bad habits we, indonesian people, have. I think there are many other bad habits to mention. However, I dont want to make this article too long, and for this reason I only mentioned the three bad habits. Last but not least, something more important than knowing what the bad habits, is how to cure ‘the diseases’. Don’t be desperate, Indonesian people. We can if we want!