Complimentary or Comments of Mere Neutrality?

Compliments vary across cultures. Given the Indonesian example whereby one comments "You must've been tired from all the shopping" is deemed as a form of compliment in the Indo culture, but such a statement wouldn't even cross our mind as complimentary in our own culture. The example demonstrated in class left me puzzled initially and I began to ponder as to why the comment could come across as a compliment in the Indo context. And finally, it just occured to me that given the fact that only a small percentage of the Indonesian population is well-to-do, it must be a privilege for its people to have the purchasing power to shop. Likewise, the comment "You bought a new sewing machine" is viewed as a compliment in the Indonesian culture as well since apparently a sewing machine would be considered as a luxury good. Clearly, comments like these would not be thought of as complimentary in our own effluent Singaporean culture given our higher living standards and economic wealth.