One may call it a possibility or an opportunity, yet to appreciate the significant arbitrage of currency between the US and Indonesia necessitates something of an introduction. Like most of its surrounding countries, Indonesia was under colonization, in their case by the Dutch, for 400 years. No sooner had they gained independence they soon found themselves having to fight off foreign communism. The country has had its independence for less than 50 years. On top of that, it is the world's largest archipelago, comprised of some 17,000+ islands.
Although it has a rich cultural history, it has hardly been in a position to gain any kind of traction to aspire to first world status. In the west and north the people's had originally migrated from the Himalayas; consequently stretching from the Himalayas to deep into the archipelago, being the last in that stretch of the Malay languages (with Malaysia in between). It shares the island of Guinea with Malaysia (eastern half, PNG, is the latters) as well.
These are hard-working people. It is common, even in urban settings, to find the majority of markets to be more like bazaars. Fresh meat often means picking out a live chicken, having its neck twisted, and handed over to you. Alternatively, pointing out a fish in a tank, having it grabbed, lifted out, slapped on a cutting board and watching its head separated with a cleaver.
Contrasting with the United States, it has been the better part of this century since most Americans had to have such an intimate relationship with their food. Similarly, Americans have had united States for most of the period more than four times longer than Indonesians have. Indeed, that goes for colonization as well.
The point being sought here is that most Americans have had the luxury to have a different relationship with mortality, the value of life generally, than Indonesians have.
“In Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, there are an estimated 700,000 child domestic workers. … Although child domestics can be as young as five years old, most are teenage girls, who are especially vulnerable to sexual abuse”. (Amnesty International USA, 2010)
In the logging industry in Papua New Guinea (the Malaysian side of the one large shared island), a veritable museum of human rights abuses has been chronicled by the Australian government. (The Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights and The Australian Conservation Foundation, 2006)
Then there’s the infamous Nike scandal. Thailand and Vietnam shared in this with Indonesia. The CEO and founders’ attitude was that the company was not responsible for any human rights violations in that it was actually the subcontractors. (Gordon , 2003) As despicable a rationale as this may be, and despite the scandal having created significant damage to the Nike brand, hiding behind subcontractors has become a very popular way to accomplish the ugly.
I just looked at a handful of abuses in Indonesia alone, but it is far from Indonesia alone. For some corporations leveraging any disadvantage is a way to their purpose: increasing shareholder wealth. However, more and more, the innovative material steering the future direction of business states otherwise; and is poignant about avoiding any implication in such horrors at all costs.
References
Amnesty International USA. (2010). Humankind owes the child “the best it has to give”; 1959 UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child. Retrieved from http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=B0275B42F3B4C25380256900006933EF
Gordon , N. (2003). Strategic violations: the outsourcing of human rights abuses. Retrieved from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1374/is_5_63/ai_107897330/
Nation Master. (2010). Lifestyle Statistics > Happiness net (most recent) by country [bar graph]. http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/lif_hap_net-lifestyle-happiness-net: .
The Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights and The Australian Conservation Foundation. (2006). “Bulldozing Progress: Human Rights Abuses and Corruption in Papua New Guinea’s Large-scale Logging Industry”. Retrieved from http://www.acfonline.org.au/uploads/res_ACF-CELCOR_full.pdf
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