Tick Tock Issue
In Indonesia, if you want an event to start at 7pm, you better put the invitation for 6pm. If you put invitation for 7pm, most people will show up at 8pm. I have observed this over the course of 17 years that I managed to spend in my beloved country, and I’m sure many people will agree to pull such a stunt when organizing an event.
I’m not talking about being 5 or 15 minutes late. I’m talking about an hour, sometimes two, half a day, or they even forget about appointments altogether that the other party has to waste a whole day just waiting in vain while reading months-and-years-old magazines in the waiting room (yeah, personal experience while trying to get a pitch in a project)!
Some argue it’s a cultural thing. We as a nation are especially bad at keeping time, no matter what our race, religion, and/or other identities. My own family often arrives at wedding ceremonies over an hour late. I have witnessed an Indonesian diplomat abroad getting complaints for not being able to arrive on time for appointments. I have seen numerous times, one person putting an entire working team in jeopardy because he/she has “family matters” that he/she needs to take care of (yeah, people get away too easily with that reason, because their managers are ethically bound not to probe into personal matters). Even worse, I have seen one person hold an entire team so that he/she can have some time to eat or chat.
The other version of this scenario is that one person has become unavailable due to “family matters” or other issues that take higher priority. However, this person does not let his/her team know that he/she has become unavailable UNTIL the time of the appointment! And I’ve seen key persons do this too! Imagine 20+ people in a room, waiting for a key person. How much effort was wasted getting people together? Each person probably took some kind of transport, which costs money to operate and time to travel. Multiply that time over a whole nation, and you get how much time and money are being wasted! And that does not include any other amenities like food, or other opportunity costs.
I personally think it’s just a stupid bad habit that, over time, has become culturally ingrained. Every single person thinks the other person is going to be late, so he/she tends to relax and not keep time. This is especially true, too, if the person has “higher” rank in an organization (yeah, that’s the same person who made me wait for a whole day in the waiting room and read years-old Salvation Army bulletins).
If you’re reading this and think you’ve done some of the things I mentioned above, please, please I beg you, plead to not do it again. Indonesia deserves more prudent time keepers, otherwise this nation will always waste time (and therefore money) and will always fall behind the great powers of the world.