Things you need to know about Indonesian taboos 

Taboo is an activity or behavior that is not acceptable or forbidden in society. It can be different from one culture to another. If you are planning to visit Indonesia or want to get to know more about Indonesian culture, be sure to learn some cultural taboos in this country.

Using Left hand

Foreigner especially western culture might think that using left hand for eating, giving or receiving something is pretty normal. But not in Indonesia, don’t ever use your left hand while doing these things, because it’s considered impolite, since the left hand is also considered unclean. 

Even if you are a left handed person, unless people know that you are left handed, but it's still fine if you use it for writing though, just don’t use it for things I mentioned above.

 

Pointing with your index finger

Nah, I am not sure if this only applies in Indonesian culture or not, but pointing at something with your index finger is considered pretty impolite, you can use your thumb finger instead. Even in some region pointing a graveyard with your index finger is something you should avoid.

Sex/free sex

Not like most western cultures where unmarried couples can live together and have sex, free sex is rather taboo and forbidden in Indonesia, since Indonesia is a pretty conservative country in terms of beliefs and culture. In general, talking about anything related to sex is still pretty taboo. But it does not mean that sex education is not important and should not be taught at a very young age. 

In fact, parents nowadays are more aware of how important sex education is, since child sexual abuse is increasing.

 

Public display affection

As I mentioned above, Indonesia is also a country that adopts eastern culture where showing public display affection is something that should be avoided. If you want to do so, you can always do it in a private room, but not in public because it's disgusting.

Touching people's head

Many Indonesians believe that the head is the sacred part of human body, with that being said touching people’s head is considered highly impolite behavior. So, do not ever try to do this even if it’s your family.

 
Farting and burping in front of people

It sounds weird because both are a human thing that cannot be avoided. But, farting or burping in front of people is considered impolite. Be sure that whenever you want to fart or burp don’t do that in front of other people.

Calling someone with their name

Last but not least is calling someone with their name especially if they are older than you and you don’t really close to them. Indonesians tend to call people by using certain words like ''mbak'' for female and ''mas'' for male. It doesn’t matter whether you are older or younger but using those word are considered more polite rather than calling them with their name only.

 

Those are some taboos things in Indonesia you should know. It is important to learn about the culture of a country you are visiting, because visiting a country isn’t about come and enjoy the culture but it’s also learning and respecting their culture.

How about you? What are some curtural taboos in your country ? Feel free to share in the comment below