Faire la bise
Last semester I took LAB 1201 which was an introductory
language module to Bahasa Indonesia. Within class, there were exchange students
who came from various parts of the world such as France, India and Laos. During
the very first lesson, when the Ibu*was introducing herself to the class, the
French guy actually stepped out to the Ibu and in front of the entire class,
kissed her on the cheeks.
From observing my classmates facial expression, I could tell
that they thinking somewhere along the lines of ‘Oh my god this blond guy is
kissing the teacher’ because of their surprised and shocked look on their face.
From an Asian perspective, the guy’s behaviour was seriously offensive and rude
because he is just a stranger who is meeting everybody for the first time. Such
a behaviour is deem inappropriate as Asians are generally more conservative and
do not welcome such liberal gestures. However, from the guy’s point of view,
the Faire la bise (the kissing gesture) was simply nothing more than a
greeting; even if it was the first time being introduced to a stranger.
However, to the Ibu credit, she did not push the blond guy
away but rather gamely return the Faire la bise. I believe she understands the
cultural context of the Faire la bise and exercised tolerance to his behaviour.
As a result, the friendly atmosphere and the goodwill that have been created
during the introductory lesson were maintained for the rest of the subsequent
lessons.
I personally felt that while the Ibu had handled the entire
situation professionally, the same could not be said about the French exchange
student. I felt that he could have been made more culturally aware of the
different etiquette that exits around the world. What is considered as a
friendly greeting in one culture may be considered rude in another. Perhaps the
French exchange student could have learnt more about Asian culture so that these
kinds of awkward situations could have been avoided entirely.
*Superiors are often called "bapak" or
"ibu", which means the equivalent of father or mother, sir or madam.
