Survey results on Indonesia

RI ‘the most confident country’ in facing crisis!
That was the title of an article in the 24th April edition of The Jakarta Post quoting the result of survey conducted by an international survey company Nielsen which show that the Republic of Indonesia topped its Global Consumer Confidence Index with 104 points, followed by Denmark (102) & India (99).

The Jakarta Globe has quoted another survey report by Nielsen which stated that during first quarter of the year 2009, advertising spending in Indonesia has increased by 19 % compared to same period in 2008.

These results of survey bring mix feelings for me. On the one hand I am very happy that our country is not badly affected by the current global economic crisis, thus we are luckier than other countries.
On the other hand, the survey results are confusing. Because from the situations in big cities like Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Medan, with their traffic jam & shopping malls packed with visitors, it can be assumed that Indonesia has not been badly affected by the current global financial crisis.
But, if we see and/or read & listened to news media reports about the decrease of export quantity, frequent lay off of workers, closing down of companies and “jumping” prices of Eggs, Rice, Vegetable, etc. then we can assume the survey results are not only confusing but perhaps misleading too.

As a conclusion I think that the above results of survey should not soften our serious efforts to overcome the impacts of the current global financial crisis which has devastated the economies of many countries of the world. They should in stead make us optimistic and more passionate to work as hard as we can to do everything we can to survive the crisis.