Dear Indonesia, Other Countries Are Treating Your Talent Better Than You Are
Once upon a time, the job market was simple. You printed your CV, handed it over to a disinterested HR intern, got ghosted for three weeks, and finally received a rejection email written in the same tone as a “thoughts and prayers” condolence message. Then, you wiped your tears with an Indomie packet, recalibrated your expectations, and did it all over again, until some company finally said,
"Fine, you can have a job. But only if you agree to being underpaid, overworked, and forever grateful."
But oh, how the tables have turned.
Now, it’s not just companies that are hunting for talent. Countries (entire governments) are sliding into Indonesians' DMs with job offers. Canada wants you. Germany wants you. Australia is practically waving at you from across the street, shouting, “Hey, remember us? We have healthcare!”
And they’re not being subtle about it. Your Instagram feed? Plastered with ads for permanent residency. Your LinkedIn notifications? Flooded with "exclusive" visa offers. Even your YouTube ads are whispering, “Psst, wanna earn 5x your current salary?”
This is more than just a brain drain. And we’re holding the door open for the thieves.
‘Kabur Aja Dulu’: The Hashtag That Became an Escape Plan
At first, #kaburajadulu was just a joke. A lighthearted meme. A coping mechanism. Who among us hasn’t daydreamed about trading in daily traffic jams, skyrocketing living costs, and questionable policies for a country where things, you know, actually function? It was a fun little fantasy, something to laugh about while waiting two hours in line at immigration for something that should have taken 15 minutes.
But then, something happened.
People actually started leaving.
Not just the spiritual tourists moving to Ubud to find themselves. Not just the freelancers posting “living my best life” selfies from a cheap Airbnb in Chiang Mai. No, this time, it was serious professionals: engineers, developers, doctors, researchers. The kind of people you really don’t want disappearing en masse unless your country has a secret plan to regress to the Stone Age.
And the world noticed.
Well-funded, highly strategic governments saw #kaburajadulu, gave each other a knowing glance, and said:
"Oh, you’re all looking for a way out? Fantastic. We have free healthcare, functioning infrastructure, and salaries that won’t make you cry in front of an ATM."
Overnight, Indonesian professionals became a targeted demographic. LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram. Even YouTube ads started getting aggressive.
Canada: "Why work hard for breadcrumbs when you can have maple syrup?"
Germany: "Your salary in Euros, because you deserve more than ‘gaji UMR’."
Australia: "Global Talent Visa, because we actually value your skills!"
The campaign worked. People left. And as a result, Indonesia is now facing a coordinated intellectual exodus. The only ones left behind? The ones too broke, too loyal, or too confused by visa paperwork.
Countries Are Now Corporations (And We’re the Product)
Talent wars were simple, once upon a time. Google stole engineers from Facebook. Facebook poached them from Amazon. Amazon took them in, drained their souls, and spat them out with free Prime subscriptions as severance. It was a predictable, almost comforting cycle.
But now? It’s not just companies fighting over talent. It’s countries.
Governments have realized that attracting skilled workers is the fastest way to economic dominance. So, they’ve started behaving less like boring bureaucratic institutions and more like aggressive Silicon Valley startups. Their immigration offices? Now operating like high-powered marketing agencies. Their national branding? More polished than a VC pitch deck.
Let’s review the offerings:
Canada has its Global Talent Stream.
Germany rolled out Make it in Germany, as if daring you to prove you have what it takes.
Portugal is offering a Tech Visa.
Australia? They didn’t even bother with subtlety. They literally created an Attraction Taskforce. A taskforce. Like they’re sending in special ops to extract Indonesia’s best talent under the cover of darkness.
Governments are no longer ruling over citizens. They’re competing for them. And why? Because talent is the new oil. Countries with the smartest people win.
Meanwhile, what is Indonesia doing?
Regulating TikTok shops. Licensing influencers. Crafting new unnecessary layers of bureaucracy. And debating whether or not celebrities with no policy experience should run for office. Brilliant.
The rest of the world is out here playing 4D chess, securing the best minds for their future. Meanwhile, we’re still arguing over who owns Indomaret.
The Ads That Haunt Us: “Hey, Do You Want a Higher Salary and a Functioning Healthcare System?”
If you’ve been on the internet lately, you’ve probably noticed something deeply unsettling.
Foreign government ads won’t stop following us.
It’s like they know. They know you spent three hours in traffic this morning. They know you sighed in frustration when you saw your electricity bill. They know your boss just sent you a WhatsApp message at 11 PM with the classic "Quick revision, ya?". And they know that, deep down, you’re just one minor inconvenience away from yelling “KABUR AJA DULU” and bolting for the nearest international airport.
And so, these ads appear. Everywhere.
You Google “best ways to save money” and suddenly, an ad for a Singapore work visa pops up.
You read an article about AI jobs, and bam! Germany wants you to apply for their talent program.
You casually check flight prices to Bali, and next thing you know, Canada is offering you permanent residency.
It’s getting creepy. Like, “should I put tape over my webcam?” levels of creepy.
And the worst part? The ads work. Because what are they offering?
Higher salaries (you mean I won’t have to split a nasi padang with three people?).
Better working conditions (no unpaid overtime disguised as ‘team spirit’?).
Less corruption (imagine a world where things get approved based on merit, not “envelopes”).
A passport that doesn’t require 17 different visas just to go on vacation.
Meanwhile, what is Indonesia offering in return?
Traffic jams that double as meditation exercises.
Living costs that are rising faster than our salaries.
A healthcare system where you either wait 10 hours in a hospital or just accept your fate.
And a fun new tax on digital freelancers.
We’re not losing talent. We’re practically pushing it out the door.
We’re Not Just Losing Workers, We’re Losing the Future
This isn’t just about a few professionals leaving for better jobs. This is a national crisis in slow motion, unfolding right under our noses.
Because when a country starts bleeding its best minds, it loses everything that makes a nation competitive.
Innovation? Gone. No new startups, no new industries. Just another economy dependent on selling raw materials and cheap labor while other countries design the future.
Wealth? Drained. High-income professionals take their money elsewhere, investing in homes, businesses, and retirement plans in countries that actually want them.
Competitiveness? A joke. While other nations leap forward with cutting-edge research, we’re stuck playing catch-up, wondering why all the real breakthroughs are happening somewhere else.
This isn’t just about someone getting a cushy job in Berlin. It’s about what happens when all the best minds leave... and never come back.
Indonesia is at risk of becoming a country of consumers, not creators. A place where we train world-class talent, only for them to build someone else’s economy. Where our best engineers develop Singapore’s tech scene instead of ours. Where our top doctors, tired of being overworked and underpaid, take their talents to Australia because the salary is 10 times higher, and the hospitals have actual resources.
And if we don’t fix this?
Well, we won’t be a global player. We’ll be a talent farm for first-world nations. A breeding ground for other people’s success. Our role? Train, export, repeat.
The world isn’t stealing our talent. We’re handing it over on a silver platter.
So, what’s the solution? Simple. We stop acting like a passive bystander in our own talent crisis and start fighting back.
Stop pretending this is just a "personal choice" issue. It’s not. When an entire generation of skilled professionals decides to pack up and leave, it’s a systemic failure. If people are leaving, maybe we should ask why, and actually do something about it.
Make Indonesia a country worth staying in. That doesn’t mean throwing up another patriotic slogan or creating a "Stay in Indonesia" campaign. It means paying competitive salaries, fixing broken systems, and giving talent real opportunities to grow; not just promises of “sabar ya” and a pat on the back.
Steal talent from other countries. If Australia, Canada, and Germany can do it, why can’t we? Time to get aggressive. Put up our own ads in foreign countries. Offer fast-track visas. Make international professionals want to move here. Let’s play their game.
It’s time to wake up. Either we compete, or we get left behind.
And if we do nothing? Well, no worries, other countries already have job offers ready for us.