Reflection Journal: Professionalism in Jakarta Workplace
Indayani Moeljo

My short writing on professionalism at workplace in Jakarta is based on my own experience in these past three months. Although this experience certainly cannot represent the condition at all workplaces in Jakarta, I hope this writing can bring a new perspective on how cultures affect the workplace and how we as Christians can deliver values at workplace. I am currently working as an Internal Process Analyst in a multinational company that is in the trading and construction industry. My main duty is to analyze the company's various business' processes and procedures (logistics, fixed assets, etc.) and give recommendations on how to improve them (make them more efficient).

The word professional or professionalism is used in many different occasions. When we see somebody wearing a tie that does not match with his shirt, we say he does not look professional. An employee found cheating on his work hours is considered not being a professional. In essence, professionalism includes certain values or aspects of a person such as integrity, honesty, responsibility, and respect for others. It is often referred to as “a class of act”. Being professional can bring healthy working atmosphere, good team spirit, motivations, and naturally efficiency to the workplace. Professionalism is not something that can be enforced easily among the workers, because it works best when there is a culture that can support it and there are role models that can set the examples.

From my experience, I found that there is a certain degree of professionalism at workplace in Indonesia and there are few aspects that I think are unique to Indonesian cultures. In Javanese culture, which is predominant in Indonesia and many workplaces, you are not supposed to express your disagreement to the person who is considered respected or older, much more to do it openly in public. Indonesians accept this, and consider this as a way to show respect. I believe that this is not a culture that needs to be cultivated. When a person is making a mistake, that person needs to know so he can avoid making the same mistake in the future. This is for his own benefit, and this becomes the responsibility of his friends or colleagues to inform him wisely. We should not be afraid or be uncomfortable in doing something good like this, as long as we do it with good intention. I put this into practice at work. I pointed out to my coworker, who is older and has an important position in the company, the mistakes he has made. I think he was shocked when he first heard my comments. But after he listened to my explanation of what would happen if no action is to be taken, he understood my good intention and we managed to retain good working relationship.

Friendship is highly valued in Indonesia. The element of “kekeluargaan” or family bonding is very strong in Asian countries, including Indonesia. At workplace, this is also very obvious. Sometimes unfortunately this gets overboard when applied in workplace. Some employees receive special treatment because they befriend to each other. Sadly, this leads to the defeating purpose of making corporate rules and regulations.

Building trust takes longer time in Indonesia than in America due to the cultural differences. At the same time, I observe that Indonesians are not that impelled to trust other people either. When it comes to work, I find this quite disturbing as the company is trying to achieve optimum efficiency. Employees are doing extra work such as making extra documents, waiting longer for an answer, etc. because they do not trust their coworker. Even though they know that they will save time and efforts if they can trust somebody, they are not willing to take the risk of being cheated or taken advantage of.

Workplace is certainly a public square where Indonesian Christians can engage in and deliver as many Christian values as possible. Some cultural values in Indonesia inhibit people to be themselves, put them like in a bondage, etc., and they need to know that these cultures are not right. Obviously when we are in a workplace, we offer professional skills (according to your talent and interest) that are needed and helpful for the company. Other skills that I highly encourage every Indonesian Christian to learn, especially those who are still in campus, are organizational, leadership (i.e. decision making), and community development (i.e., team building). They can learn these skills by participating in an organization. These skills are very much needed in order to bring professionalism almost in every workplace, especially in Indonesia. Having said that, I cannot express it enough how grateful I am having had the opportunity to be part of Fellowship of Indonesian Christians in America (FICA) for about five years, because I have learned so much about these skills during those time.