The Age [Australia], November 15 2002
Laughter 'not always about humour'
By Farah Farouque
The idea of captive and captor enjoying a laugh is alien to Australian culture. At home,
many have been disturbed by images of the chief suspect in the Bali bombing
laughing and joking with police.
But those familiar with the mores of our northern neighbour suggest the images won't
inflame Indonesians in the same way.
"I do understand that it's very difficult for Western people to accept," says Dian
Islamiati Fatwa, an Indonesian journalist working for the ABC's international service
Radio Australia.
"But for Indonesians, laughter can mean something very different... it is sometimes a
manifestation of nervousness or embarrassment. It's not always about humour."
Melbourne University's head of Indonesian studies Professor Arief Budiman, says
cultural differences are definitely at play in this case. "Indonesians keep smiling when
they talk, whether it's good news or bad news."
A certain kind of personal relationship often develops between the captive and the
captor in an Indonesian context, he suggests.
"In Australia, when police arrest people they are very formal, businesslike and
detached," he says. "In Indonesia, they are detached initially but later on there is
often a 'rapport' between suspect and police... they still arrest and punish, but
somehow communication is more 'personal'."
An Indonesian specialist at Victoria University, Richard Chauvel, notes that a public
interrogation conducted in full view of the media is rare in Indonesia.
He suggests Indonesian police might have staged it like that for domestic
consumption to show they were making progress in the investigation. However, he
says the police miscalculated how such scenes would play internationally, especially
in Australia.
"The style in which it was done in our eyes is inappropriate," he says. "It wouldn't
carry the same negative connotations to an Indonesian audience."
Dr Chauvel says Australians have reacted in the same way to the public interrogation
as Indonesians reacted to ASIO raids on Indonesians resident in Australia.
"Our inability to imagine how particular sets of events are read in Indonesia is
matched by their inability to anticipate how that (interrogation) would play in
Australia."
Copyright © 2002 The Age Company Ltd
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