Indonesia forum

Teaching for 9 months - Malaysia or Indonesia?

pete3377

newbie
Posts: 2

I am applying for a teaching assistant position in either Malaysia or Indonesia. Salaries and job openings aside, what do a I need to know in terms of differences between the two? I am a 26 year old American female and want international experience for my career in Peace Operations and International Development. I'm a social person and up for an adventure but also want to have the ability to communicate with people back home on a somewhat regular basis.

I'm also considering Laos and Thailand if either of those trump your opinions on Malaysia or Indonesia all together. Thanks in advance!

#1 Posted: 26/7/2011 - 04:30
CrankyCarrot

som tam seller
Posts: 658
Located in:

Private message

As far as keeping in touch with people back home, I can tell you the internet in Indonesia is woeful. It's reasonable in Malaysia and best in the main hubs of Thailand. Can't vouch for Laos as I've not yet been, but man - good luck getting Skype working properly in Bali!

#2 Posted: 7/9/2011 - 23:13

------------------------------
www.crankycarrot.wordpress.com/
savorygal

tuk tuk driver
Posts: 109

I had no problems with internet or Skype in Bali. My dad was in the hospital back home when I was in bali & I skyped with his nurses & MD's twice a day with no problems at all. so please don't let internet be a deterrent to visiting Indonesia.
Internet in both peninsular Malaysia & Borneo were also reasonably fast.

#3 Posted: 8/9/2011 - 08:54

------------------------------
www.savorygal.wordpress.com
savorygal

tuk tuk driver
Posts: 109

I had no problems with internet or Skype in Bali. My dad was in the hospital back home when I was in bali & I skyped with his nurses & MD's twice a day with no problems at all. so please don't let internet be a deterrent to visiting Indonesia.
Internet in both peninsular Malaysia & Borneo were also reasonably fast.

#4 Posted: 8/9/2011 - 08:56

------------------------------
www.savorygal.wordpress.com
savorygal

tuk tuk driver
Posts: 109

Internet access aside there are some notable differences between Malaysia & Indonesia. Malaysia is more developed & the people are better educated. Most people speak english fairly well. There is more ethnic diversity in Malaysia with large populations of chinese & indians. On borneo the people are mostly indigenous tribal malay vs muslim. The food in malaysia is FAR better than Indonesia IMO. more variety & more interesting flavors. However, I found the indonesian people to be more open & more friendly than in malaysia. Not that Malaysians are unfriendly, they're not, it's just I think Indonesians are exceptionally hospitable. The landscape of Indonesia is probably more beautiful:more jungles & mountains & lakes. Malaysia, unfortunately, has given up large swaths of land to the palm plantations which means the landscape is less varied. Palm oil plantations as far as the eye can see...... so there you have my comparisons & contrasts of the 2. Just my opinion, of course, others may see it differently.

#5 Posted: 8/9/2011 - 09:09

------------------------------
www.savorygal.wordpress.com
mooball

tuk tuk driver
Posts: 127

Don't agree that Indo is less ethnically diverse than Malaysia. It's the other way around really. You look at the people in Papua and compare them to the people in Aceh 5000km away and they're vastly different. And then all the people in between are their own ethnic groups. There's hundreds of them.

I have no problem with skype in Indo either. Either use a 3G modem which is very cheap or find some fast local wifi.

That said, Indo is certainly more rustic than Malaysia because of it's lack of development. This is good and bad for the visitor. It's good because you can have a much different experience to that you might have at home. The bad is that there are inconveniences to deal with such as bad roads. I vote for Indo.

#6 Posted: 12/9/2011 - 21:07
Rufus

under-employed
Posts: 820
Located in:
Private message

Are you a qualified teacher? Do you have a degree and teaching qualifications? If the answer is no, please do not come to teach.

#7 Posted: 9/10/2011 - 12:59
mooball

tuk tuk driver
Posts: 127

Hey Rufus, why not? Seems many countries in SE Asia could use the help, especially with the quality of English Language education being so poor.

#8 Posted: 9/10/2011 - 17:29
CrankyCarrot

som tam seller
Posts: 658
Located in:

Private message

Posted from within Vietnam.

"Buy a cheap 3G modem or find some fast local wifi"

Buy a modem specifically for a short period of travel in Indonesia? Who would do that?

As for "fast local wifi," there was no such thing. At least not in Bali.

#9 Posted: 3/1/2012 - 08:33

------------------------------
www.crankycarrot.wordpress.com/
mooball

tuk tuk driver
Posts: 127

Most people wouldn't do that, but that's because most people have no idea about internet in Indonesia. A modem costs $20 with one month of data.

There is fast wifi in Bali. Again, most people sling around these broad statements like "internet in Bali is appalling" without any real knowledge of the situation.

Internet in Indonesia is not that bad. Sure, it can be unreliable, but it can also be fast, cheap and accessed in very remote areas. It's actually astonishing how good it is considering the wealth of most people.

#10 Posted: 3/1/2012 - 08:49