I’m going to start with the pros and then the cons.

pros

  1. The foods are varied and taste really good. This is anecdotal evidence and also I’ve never been abroad so I can’t compare but I’ve also read from foreigners and fellow Indonesians who live abroad that even if the country that they’re residing has decent food, the level of spice and variety of Indonesian food is unmatched.
  2. The people are very nice. Indonesia is a relatively community based, somewhat traditional values based country. Most people are friendly and are eager to help each other. This is the common norms found across suburban communities and people who live in the rural areas of the country.
  3. Economic and political stability. There are around 190 or so countries in the UN. Half of them are not a good place to live. Indonesia is the third largest democracy and the largest economy of South East Asia. For the past thirty years the economy always gets better in nominal terms even if it only averages to around 5% (which is still higher than global average). There are initial signs of democratic backsliding, but every election since 2004 has been free and fair according through third party international observance. Every change of power has been peaceful (with some having major protests especially the 2019 presidential election), and collectively the transition to democracy has been unexpectedly successful. This is even more of an amazing accomplishment when neighbouring countries like Thailand and Myanmar has absolutely failed to strengthen their democracy. Thailand has had 19 coups since 1932 and the last three occured within the last twenty years. Myanmar meanwhile, is in chaos and a raging civil war. Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia are authoritarian. Whereas Singapore is not a true democracy and Malaysia has had four prime ministers over the last five years. Philippines just elected a former dictator’s son through massive disinformation campaign through social media. Indonesia arguably has the best democracy in ASEAN.
  4. Indonesia has so many nice tourism spots. The country is really big, it spans wider than continental US and if it were to be put on top of Europe it would stretch from London to Kazakhstan’s capital Astana. It has more than 10.000 islands with around 6.000 of them that are inhabited. It has at least 700 regional languages and dozens of ethnicities. The tourism potential is immense. The infrastructure to reach them however, is insufficient. Nonetheless, it’s a pretty good place.

cons

  1. Very inefficient bureaucracy. To start a business, to gain permits, to pay taxes, to get a document signed or a civil paperwork takes time here. Not only that, most of the time if you want to make it faster you have to bribe the officer in charge.
  2. Corruption. From all three branches of government down to everyday people, we’re all corrupt.
  3. Bad infrastructure. Indonesia notoriously has really bad sidewalk. You have to go by scooters everywhere. Mass transportation is non existent. There are potholes everywhere. Rail travel is the only very notable improvement that has been made during the last ten years.
  4. Ramadan: Warga keluhkan penggunaan ‘speaker’ masjid yang ’terlalu lama dan berulang’ - Mengapa imbauan Kemenag tidak digubris? - BBC News Indonesia
  5. Parkir liar: ‘Saya kerja halal, enggak merugikan orang’ – Polemik penertiban parkir liar yang disebut tidak selesaikan akar persoalan, mengapa sulit diberantas? - BBC News Indonesia
  6. Akibat Lemahnya Paspor Indonesia