PDA Rules

This Jambi Malay man was having some fun with the foreigner taking pictures in the traditional market. Many of the by-standers thought the man was funny for posing as if he were kissing the mannequin. Social etiquette in Sumatra regarding public displays of affection (PDAs) are much more conservative than in the states. It would be shocking to see a man kissing a woman in public other than on their wedding day.

In contrast, displays of affection between members of the same gender is normal. It’s not uncommon to see two men or two women holding hands, walking arm-in-arm, or even walking with an arm over the other’s shoulder. They don’t kiss on the lips, but women often greet each other with a peck on both cheeks. There are absolutely no sexual connotations to these PDAs.

The man likely posed as a joke about the sexual permissiveness in Western culture. This doesn’t mean that there isn’t sexual sin in Indonesia. It just means that God’s standard of sexual purity is more widely known and accepted, and that those who break God’s standards are still shamed by polite society.

Internet pornography is one of the hidden sins of many Sumatran youth. Parents are at a loss to know how to stop their children from this temptation of technology that they never faced because the technology wasn’t available to them.

Pray for Western workers as they struggle to break out of the stereo-typed view of Western men.

Pray for the hidden sexual sins of Sumatrans to drive them to confess their need of a Savior.

Pray for youth on Sumatra who have been caught up in the temptations of technology.