This is the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton in Kuningan, Jakarta.
The hotel is posh. Grand. Luxurious.
Hotel towels are embroidered with the Ritz-Carlton crest. Even the bathtub comes with a water-proof pillow, embossed with the same crest, of course.
Rack rate for one night’s stay in a standard room in this hotel is USD240, which is about Rp 2.2 million (Rp = Indonesian Rupiah).
Based on the current minimum wage a.k.a. UMP (upah minimum propinsi), the average Indonesian earns less than Rp 1 million in one month. To be exact, in Jakarta Capital Special Region, the UMP is Rp972,604.40 per month effective 1st January 2008, using data from the International Labour Organization’s website.
So using simple arithmetic, it’s easy to work out that one night’s stay in Ritz-Carlton Indonesia is roughly equivalent to 2 months’ salary of the average worker in Jakarta.
It’s shocking. Pathetic. Appalling even. But this is the reality of life in Indonesia: the super-rich, some 10% of the total population, are chauffeur-driven into parties, hotels, the poshest shopping malls while the majority of its 235 million population work for a pittance.
Tags: Indonesia, Jakarta, minimum wage, Ritz-Carlton, UMP
June 25th, 2008 at 09:23
sounds like manila too.
the rich drives by in luxury cars, goes to expensive schools, bags and jewelry in hundreds of thousands each. while on the sidewalk, a family sleep cramped in a small wooden cart lined with cardboard boxes.
June 25th, 2008 at 10:16
Indonesia does remind me of the Philippines a lot. Whenever we’re stuck in yet another traffic jam in Jakarta, I look around and think to myself — just change the language and you can easily think you are somewhere in the Philippines instead of Jakarta! The same traffic jams, roadside sundry shops (sari-sari stores), bad roads, pollution, beggars, squatters under overpasses and beside railway tracks, vendors peddling cigarettes, water, newspapers at street corners…
August 4th, 2008 at 02:29
Sad but true…