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This entry was posted on 18 May 2008 at 15:05 and filed under Are you celebrating the day?
18.05.08 at 15:05 in Indonesia # 34 Comments
Do you remember that our beloved Indonesia STILL have a national day called ‘Hari Kebangkitan Nasional’? It is a commemoration of the establishment of Budi Utomo in May 20, 1908 and regarded as the starting point of national movement in Indonesia. I hope you still got something from history class in your mind. It has been 100 years since that memorable day. And, do any of you remember the tag line “celebrating 100 years of national awakening“? Are you celebrating the day?
I still remember that every year my school always have their own way to celebrate the day; something like ‘pesta rakyat’ where all of the students having fun doing some games like ‘balap karung’, the tug of war (tarik tambang), and even things like essay contests with a topic: “Do you love Indonesia?” or “What is the meaning about national awakening to you?” The essays were, of course, fulfilled with heroic words and prides. Indonesia was just perfect in my mind. I didn’t even know what the term ‘corruption’ mean back then. I really enjoyed the fun that time.
But now, I guess we are now mature enough to see what is happening in Indonesia. Is the national awakening really there? I wonder if it would be easy to celebrate the day with the national pride inside our heart. I’m not saying this because we’ve just lost the Thomas and Uber Cup (is the word ‘lost’ the right expression? I forget when those cups are still in our hand actually). And this is not about the ten years vigil of the forgotten massacre May 1998 tragedy. And also not about the riots that are complaining about the fuel and food price rise. And I don’t even talk about the massive church destructions that happened in Situbondo and all other places in Indonesia several years ago. How about Chinese discrimination issues?? Nope.
It’s just.. hmm.. I’m starting to lose all of the momentous reasons to commemorate the day. What were I thinking when I was writing the essay back then?? Now everything is just.. different.
Well, I am Indonesian. I guess that would be one simple-yet-crucial reason to celebrate the 100 years of national awakening. Happy national awakening day, everyone.
PS: I don’t know why I am so pessimistic this time. Weird. This is not me.
Well, I am sorry for such a pessimistic opinion I’ve written above. It is indeed very skeptical. Here’s what I got:
We are now mature enough to see what is actually happening in Indonesia. It is in fact still far away from the ideal condition of national awakening. To be honest, are you starting to lose your faith? But please, try to look deeper to everything that this country is currently facing. Yes, we lost that Thomas and Uber Cup, but do we realize how bold those athletes tried their best to keep their dignity by fighting in bravery to the very end? Doesn’t it mean anything to you? Yes, we are all in the grief and sorrow remembering all those victims in May 1998 tragedy, but don’t we see how they succeed to change the fundamental mistakes in Indonesian governance then bring it to a so-called reformation? Doesn’t it mean anything to you? Yes, they are riots on the street complaining about the price rise and the poor citizens are in stake of becoming poorer and poorer. But don’t you see that most of the rioter are college students who were trying to show their empathy to the poor ones considering that they are the nation’s agent of change? We still have hope. Don’t let it fade.
We don’t need momentous reasons to commemorate the day. We need spirits, not reasons. Happy national awakening day, everyone.
PS: It’s good to be bad some time, but for only a short period of time. Thanks to christin and yuki.
@M
abis gak tau masalahnya jadi positive thinking aja, gak belain M atau Marisa, elo bedua udah gue anggep temen (*sok akrab) jadi palingan cuma bisa ademin dikit dengan kasih joke garing
ya gue ndiri juga kapok berdiskusi ma blogger tertentu yang galaknya minta ampun, bukan marah, benci apalagi dendam yah, tapi kapok aja, kalo baru mendiskusikan topik ringan aja judesnya udah seubun-ubun apalagi mendiskusikan topik agak berat dan serius? gak mau cari musuh ah
makanya gue japri ke M dan Tasa soal topik artikel yang rada sensitif, sekedar jaga-jaga kalo ada blogger lain yang gak suka ma tanggapan gue dan daripada ribut mending gue berdiskusi berdua aja ma empunya artikel aja. i’ve learned my lesson and i’ll always try to do so. mistakes are welcome, but same old mistakes are not welcome (prinsip pribadi), salam
*maaf ya mike, jadi menuh2in deh tuh
bel, gue justru balik terus ke blog lo karena merasa belajar sesuatu dari lo dan komen2 lo. terutama mengenai lingkungan dan science, kayaknya kita se pola pikir. mungkin background pendidikan mempengaruhi pola pikir orang yah. gue cetek banget kok kimia dasarnya. biochemistry lumayan. tapi gue maunya sih fokus ke nutrition and biodiversity for pro poor development. serem yah. idealisme. semoga kesampean. amien. but jangan sebut2 s1, s2 bel. malu gueh. ilmunya masih cetek geneh.
yonna, masih atas khusnuzon nyah.. kamu positive thinking banged. hehe.
marisa..wah i thought we r in non talking term, as i have been blocked from ur blog. soal m yang suka manis2 gitu gimana yah. it’s me by default in blogspspeare. kalo ketemu siy si m jago nyela juga. hehe. so i can’t change style just because some people think i m faking. trust me i (o no, u wont) wish i cud be more firm but i can’t and that’s a problem. my professor keep telling me, “m, here in europe we say thing in straight forward. no need to feel impolite”. still hard
.
Soal komen ituh; mengusir dengan halus? Sungguh interpretasi bermuatan negative thingking. Itu adalah himabauan tegas
. Coba gue list satu2;
1. sebagai saksi kejamnya program transmigrasi yang mindah2in orang dari habitat mereka, gue juga gak setuju orang yang sudah beranak pinak di jakarta dipindahkan secara ’usir’ ke daerah asal mereka. I agree that it is inhuman.
2. tapi pembangunan Indonesia selama ini arahnya salah. Pembangunan sentralisasi tidak memberikan hak sepantasnya pada daerah2 yang memberikan pajak. Hal ini alasan kuat masyarakat aceh memberontak, juga irian jaya. Karena natural resource nya diperas tapi mereka gak kebagian apa2. akhirnya yang kaya Jakarta dan semua orang mau ke Jakarta. Pembangunan di Jakarta tidak memperhatikan hak hak masyarakat local. Sebenernya bukan di Jakarta aja. Di Kalimantan logging tidak memperhatikan hak masyarakat dayak. Di papua logging jadi penghasilan terbesar kedua terbesar tapi 90 persen masyarkat adapt yang tinggal di hutan adalah masyarakat termiskin di papua, freeport nambang emas 40 tahun dan CEO was on the list of richest person in Forbes, tapi Papuan notabene HDI nya terendah di Indonesia (See BPS data).
3. masalah ini, bukan Cuma terjadi di Indonesia sebenernya. Di Norway sini misalnya, kota kota di bagian utara sepi, anak mudanya pada pengen ke oslo, Bergen, kota2 besar mereka. Akhirnya pemerintah menerapkan program potong pajak, UMR lebih besar, dll bagi mereka yang mau tinggal di sana. Bahkan, kalo mahasiswa mau kerja di daerah utara, loan pendidikannya disubsidi negara pertahun 25,000 NOK. Policy2 ini supaya pembangunan bisa merata.
4. you got some point there, and it got me thinking. Emang bener, bangunan2 tinggi di Jakarta itu dibangun oleh uang masyarakat dari sabang sampai merauke. Sedikit banget yang haknya orang Jakarta asli. Dan memang sedikit dari itu yang kami nikmati. Akan tetapi, kemudian muncul analogy. Kebayangnya kaya kalo environmentalist bilang, selamatkan pohon di Kalimantan, jangan tebang, illegal logging kejam. Terus logger bisa bilang; yah kalo gitu balikin tuh furnitur2 di rumah kalian yang notabene dibikin dari pohon2 tebangan kami. Nah lo. Bagi gue masalahnya bukan memperbaiki keadaan dengan re-do, undo or mengulang masa lalu. Tapi bagaimana kita memperbaiki masa depan dengan kondisi yang ada sekarang. salah satunya dengan mendukung program otonomi daerah itu. that’s what i meant.
5. FBR? syerem amat. ini di clear kan yah. gue sendiri gak tau itu FBR mewakili siapah. tapi mengidentikan orang betawi sama FBR sama dengan mengidentikan islam dengan al qaeda, katolik dengan church in medieval era. gue yakin marisa gak termasuk orang kaya gitu.
6. sampe bisa dibilang ngusir gituh, ada dua kemungkinan. You got me wrong or I make you got me wrong. Kalo yang kedua kejadiannya, mohon maaf lahir batin. Itu aja yang bisa gue sampein. Kalo kejadiannya yang pertama, lo dah gue maafin.
7. c’on Marisa, mungkin Indonesia gak maju2 karena orang dengan beda latar belakang kaya kita gak bisa kerja sama. Terus terang gue siy terpukul amat jadi kaya punya musuh gini. Gue mikir melulu, gue salah banget apa ya. Soal icon itu kan Cuma becanda. Tapi ya sudah lah. Mungkin buat renungan lo aja, yang mana lagi gue renungin juga. Apakah memang kita bisa menerima perbedaan? Atau selama ini kita Cuma menerima perbedaan yang in our kind, karena kita memang berbeda? udah dulu ya. lagi santai2 nih baru selesai nesis. please dont ruin my mood
Oh ya bel, gue submit tesis tadi, with all those tragedy. Makasih banget yak. Walau Cuma sebaris dua baris tuh bagian air nguap2, berguna. Giling cumin dua baris mikirnya berjam2. hehe. Makasih banget yak. Gue masih harus persiapan siding nih. Doain terus yak!!!
Salam,
M
@M, Marisa, Michael (*coba nama gue Monna ya, maksudnya biar genap Empat M, garrrriiiinnnggg)
Kayanya Marisa dan M gak ada masalah deh, mungkin hubungan mereka berdua agak mirip-mirip saya dan si guebukanmonyet, kadang eh sering malah saya gak setuju ma pendapatnya gbm dan sebaliknya, sering ledek-ledekan dsb, tapi sebenernya kita baek-baek aja kok walau jarang akurnya
M and Marisa:
Am I in the middle of something? Hehehe.. what happened between you two? Hehe.. Well, yes it’s true that M has always been very critical, tapi kok gua agak mencium permasalahan bertumpuk yang ada sebelumnya ya? hahaha.. emang M memberi komentar apa di blog-mu, Marisa?
No offense loh buat orang Jawa. Sekedar ngasih analogi.
Btw, M. Ngga usah ngeles dengan nada manis, anda kan biasanya begitu. Bikin eneg. Sekalian aja kita debat. Atas dasar apa anda mengusir penduduk Jakarta dari rumahnya sendiri?
@ M
Lagak anda itu dari dulu manis tapi nyolot ya.
Anda kalau mau mengusir secara halus penduduk Jakarta dari Jakarta, silahkan dirobohkan dulu segala infrastruktur ibukota yang sudah dibangun mereka yang (kebetulan) suku-nya berbeda dengan anda. Kalo perlu usir dulu orang bersuku Jawa. Meskipun Jakarta letaknya di Pulau Jawa, gpp ngga ngaruh. Minta tolong aja ma FBR kalau perlu.
Yayi - menarik juga ya acara di trans tv itu.. hehe.. gara2 komentar lu ini barusan gua ampe ngucapin Pancasila dan Pembukaan UUD 1945. ternyata masih hafal. hehehe.. yup bener bgt.. mari kita mulai dari yang paling kecil.. jadi inget iklan koran KOMPAS yang ada di atas meja.. apa hal kecil yang Anda miliki untuk Indonesia? dan jawabannya tuh sederhana tapi menarik.. ada anak SMP yang menyebarkan kabar baik dr Indonesia lewat internet (blog), ada karyawan yang mengambil satu bungkus sampah di jalan setiap hari, dan ada polisi yang memberikan minimal satu senyuman kepada para pengendara kendaraan bermotor. simple bgtt! tapi coba bayangin kalo ada domino effect dan butterfly effect.. who knows? jadi, jangan lupakan hal-hal kecil! hehe..
M - gua mulai tergelitik untuk mengetahui tentang elu nih. blog elu dilink dong! hehehe.. pantes aja dah S2 ya.. abisnya pemikiran lu terkesan dewasa.. pengetahuan tekim nya juga gak dangkal.. ehhh taunya S2.. hehe.. tentang betawi emang kompleks ya.. masalahnya Jakarta itu emang ibukota negara.. sangatlah wajar bila banyak pendatang.. tp bingung juga. hehe..
inda - iya lumayan heboh perayaan harkitnas nya.. dan ngabisin dana besar juga.. walaupun mungkin pemahaman maknanya kurang, tapi gua yakin deh, perayaan ini bisa sedikit membangkitkan nasionalisme yang udah lama dilupakan.. dah nonton acara perayaan di TV tgl 20 lalu? itu keren bgt. hehe.. Indonesia terkesan SANGATT sempurna.. gua yakin saat melihat acara seperti itu, orang-orang akan mulai tergerak untuk kembali bangga pada negaranya.. hehe..
perayaan 100th harkitnas menyaingi kemerdekaan ya? yaah mungkin susah mengukur seberapa jauh efektivitasnya untuk mendidik bangsa tapi seenggaknya ada juga kan manfaat jangka pendeknya, kan banyak juga tu orang yang diuntungkan secara finansial dari perayaan ini. ah, nanti kesannya jadi dangkal deh. yah gimana juga, bangsa kita mungkin tingkat pemahamannya tentang perjuangan bangsa (halah … bahasanya :P) baru segitu, baru bisanya ngadain acara rame-rame, belum banyak mengupas refleksi maknanya. tapi bolehlah … mungkin perayaan ini jadi titik balik kita untuk berikutnya
yayi, aku juga lupa pancasila. malah aku pernah kira burung negara itu cendrawasih
aku kontructivist siy, gak atributist. hihi (ngeles ajah, padahal emang PMP ku gak pinter)
“us, the batawianese, are urban indegenous without land”
correction:
“us, the batawianese, are urban indegenous with less and less land”
iya kalian para bataknese pulang lah ke tempat asal kalian..hehe, bukannya sukuisme nih. tapi itulah fungsinya otonomi daerah kan. propinsi dikasih penghasilan lebih dari 50% supaya bisa memajukan daerahnya sendiri, bukan memajukan jakarta. semoga dengan begitu putra putri daerah terpanggil pulang. dan gue, sebagai orang betawi jadi terpanggil pergi. gue kayaknya semangat kerja di daerah euy. i have no land, us, the batawianese, are urban indegenous without land
.
medan is cool. i like medan very much. but aceh is a home, and papua is a dream..
hmm
)
(duh ngayal ngayal..tesis dulu benerin!
hehe sedikit mngenai HarKitNas ini..(padahal banyak..maap ya bel :D)tadi pagi gue bangun langsung setel trans tv..ada acara khusus john pantau dalam merayakan hari kebangkitan nasional ini. Doi ngewawancarain org2 jakarta dr mulai anak sma,orang kantoran, tukang ojek, anak punk/preman (mungkin), polisi, tukang sapu, artis sinteron dll dsb. Dia ngewawancarain mereka ttg seputar pancasila trus dia juga nanya isi sila2 di dalam pancasila.
Tau gak, dr 7 profesi yg gue sebutin diatas, yg tau isi sila ke tiga dalam pancasila cuman sebiji! waw..dan yg menjawab benar ternyata bukan bapak polisi..tpi anak punk yg lagi nongkrong di jalan..ckckckck..
Ga usah soal mengatasi korupsi, reformasi dan segudang masalah kenegaraan Indonesia.lah warga negara bahkan aparat negaranya aja jarang ada yg afal isi Pancasila.. Kalo kata John Pantau di akhir acaranya, “dulu Pancasila bukan dibikin hanya untuk dihafal, tapi juga untuk diperjuangkan!” nah tuh. anak2 muda, lanjutkanlah perjuangan pahlawan2 kita yg terdahulu. mungkin bisa dari hal paling kecil yaitu afal pancasila. hehehehe… peace ah. Selamat hari kebangkitan nasional!
Yuki: “udah jarang orang Batak yang masih mikir tempat asalnya.”
Jubel: (infinite silent)
bener yuk.. gua baru sadar betapa kampungnya tanah Batak kita. gua baru sadar gua kaya gini karena gua dah lahir di Bandung.. sangat berbeda dengan mereka yang baru datang ke Bandung saat SMU atau kuliah.. good point. gua gak pernah kepikir sama sekali.
waduh.
Hope is always there, as long as each of us has confidence in the future. The thing is that government has already made us waiting for loooooonnnnggg time and I do understand that people’s patience is limited.
You see, poverty is still there, much much severer outside Java Island. Look at those poor people in Tanah Batak bel, I am really concerned about them.
This story below might be out of topic, but it tells us about people who have confidence in the future.
One day in Tokyo year ago, we, some Batakneses, had lunch after church in our favorite retaurant. One of them talked to me in low-deep voice:
Dia: Win, lo tau gak gimana caranya jadi walikota atau bahkan gubernur? Paling gampang dari Depdagri yah?
Gw: Kayaknya, entahlah, dari partai juga bisa. Siapa yang mau jadi gubernur?
Dia: Gw
Gw:
Dia: Serius gw Win, gak usah gubernur atau walikota pun gakpapalah, yang penting jadi seseorang berposisi di sana. Gw udah jauh-jauh daept beasiswa belajar ke sini dari Balige, gw gak kuat lagi ngeliat pemerintah pusat nyolong semuanya dari kita, gw sedih ngeliat banyak dari kita masih miskin. Gw percaya gw suatu saat bisa memajukan hidup mereka semua. Dan jelas lo nanti harus bantu gw, udah jarang orang Batak yang masih mikir tempat asalnya.
Gw: (..infinite silent..)
[...] i’m still optimistic that we can do something for remembrance of national awakening day. Okay, a bit. Not too much. But even better than totally lost of hope. Still wanted to be agent of [...]
Exactly. We need spirit, not reason. Many thanks too for reminding me that we still have this 20 May remembrance. The spirit awakening things of course, not the fuel price awakening
Grace - great analogy. hehe.. so, it would be better to realize it before it’s gone, aye? hehe..
yonna - ups, i guess this is actually a series of AWAKENING DAYS! maybe that is the celebration all about! hwahahaha…
M - yup, I hope i am included in the ones who only have a few good reasons but implemented in actions.. great opinion!
aku enggak.
lupa juga sibuk sama yang lain. makasih diingetin. aku suka pahlawan2 jaman dulu. kayaknya baik2, gak ada kesan kaya politisi jaman sekarang. hehe. apa ini propaganda orba. lol
kalo diingetin trus dikasih libur khusus untuk merayakannya yah dirayakan kali.
but u are absolutely right. we celebrate every day we can with spirit. and those youngsters who are demonstrating on the street, as much as we hate their action, we should take example of their spirit.
some of us, do good things for bad reason, some others have good reason with bad implementation. few only have good reason, implemented in action.
semoga Jubel and readers yang terakhir itu yah
off course im celebrating the day
tomorrow is Vesak Day, it means holiday, it means i celebrate the holiday
funny, several days ahead we will “celebrate another awakening day”, it is fuel price awakening day.
happy awakening day too
geez..i almost forget actually…
@ calvin:
yepp..totally agree..
its like, “u dont know what u got till its gone”, isnt it?
Calvin — i got your point. I think it would probably be true that we would feel more proud of Indonesian identity if we are outside Indonesia. (christin and yuki are living example. Hehehe..) maybe that so-called awakening should come (again) from outside Indonesia? maybe?
Back then, we have one external enemy, they were dutch, and now the enemy of the people is none other the government, thanks for being kleptocrat, issuing discriminative laws and marginalizing certain ethnic groups.
The enemy now probably is government, the one that legitimized to govern this country. No wonder if the nationalism has been declining all of these years, I’m sure you all know already.
Also, I’m pretty sure I’m more proud with my Indonesian identity outside Indonesia than being here. Weird huh?
christin — go youngsters! hehe.. i’m optimistic too.. i’ve stated above that it wasn’t the real me..
yuki — bwhahahaha.. whatever.. anyway i’m optimistic. the one who wrote this post don’t. (?) twisted, huh? hehe..
I do. We will have ceremony in Indonesian Embassy here and I am so eager to come. I second Christin, it is now the time for the young people to wake this country.
If those young people in 1908 were pessimistic, would there still be a national awakening?
This years is also remembrance, that 100 years ago, few students made a movement in The Netherlands, built up a student society - now called PPI which first in Netherlands then spread out throughout the world - shared thoughts, mind and dreams, and later brought the fire to indonesia.
I am still optimistic with the youngsters (not the elders anymore! Sorry to say but i already lost of hope of them), hoping someone will make something different and be an agent of change for our country Indonesia - just like 100 years ago.
Happy national awakening day too, Jubel.