though my situation is not very similar,
I have prefered o be as low profile as possible.
when coming home very late, I prefer not to wear my helmet, let alone wearing jersey and bike pants.
wearing a helmet in indonesia, mostly will give the impression that you are a serious cyclist, not lke ordinary people on bikes, poor people who ride bikes because they cannot afford motorbikes.
serious cyclist wearng helmets, in my opinion, could give the impression they ride expensive bikes, or bring expensive stuff with them.
so to avoid all that, I prefer to look poor.