Opinion | Why visitors to Indonesia should avoid using their left hand – it may cause offence

Shaking hands, offering a gift, giving or receiving something, eating, pointing or touching someone in Indonesia? You’d better not use your left hand

Why? It’s the one traditionally used to clean yourself after going to the toilet; however, as tourism increases, people are becoming more understanding

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Money changes hands at a market in Lombok, Indonesia. In Indonesia, the left hand is traditionally the one used to clean yourself after going to the toilet. Photo: Alamy

Published: 3:00pm, 2 Nov 2019Updated: 3:02pm, 2 Nov 2019

After Hong Kong, Jakarta is the city I visit most in Asia. I often drop by the capital of Indonesia to visit my girlfriend. With more than 200 million citizens identifying as Muslim, Indonesia is the most populous Islamic nation in the world and I often face distinct differences between the lifestyles of people from Hong Kong and people from Indonesia.

When my girlfriend and I dine out in a restaurant in Jakarta, do the groceries or see her friends, I sometimes use my left hand. My girlfriend gets annoyed when I do because Indonesians don’t like it and think it’s rude.

In Indonesia, the left hand is traditionally perceived as the hand used to clean oneself after going to the toilet.

When shaking hands, offering a gift, giving or receiving something, eating, pointing or touching someone, among other things, it is considered proper etiquette to only use the right hand. Using the left hand can be seen as impolite and offensive.

Indonesians will take offence if you use your left hand there. Photo: Alamy

These days, when we are hanging out in Jakarta, my girlfriend often stares at my hands. She taps my left hand if I lift it up. “Right hand!” she says. And, doing my very best, I try to remind myself to only use my right hand.

Although I have sometimes mistakenly used my left hand, in general I still find locals treat me in a friendly way. My partner and her friends explain that locals can easily identify me as a foreign Christian based on my characteristics. Indonesian Muslims understand and tolerate the cultural differences between Muslim and non-Muslim communities. So they usually “forgive” the improper etiquette of foreigners, including the use of the left hand.