Archive for the ‘politik dan budaya’ Category
The Burden that Every Young Indonesian Has to Carry
This article was published by The Jakarta Post on May 19, 2008 as part of a special report celebrating Indonesia’s 100th Year of National Awakening. Read the article on The Jakarta Post, here.
It’s not easy to be a young Indonesian. The challenges are great and tough. Some of you might wish that you had been born in an advanced country like America or Japan so that you wouldn’t have to witness the poor crying for food every single day.
It’s the burden that I have to carry. A burden that you, your friends, and any other young Indonesian have to carry. It’s the burden that our founding fathers wanted us to carry.
It’s what young Indonesians have been pressured to do: To make a big change to our society.
Some say that a country’s greatness depends on its young people. Some say that it’s always the young people who make the great changes to one society. They say that the young people are the ones with a great motivation and energy. They are the brave and the optimistic ones. They’re the ones who dare to fight against injustice.
In 1908, several young Indonesian intellectuals living in The Netherlands established the first Indonesian political organization called Budi Utomo*. This organization was probably the first group of young Indonesians who felt the urgency to spread the spirit of nationalism throughout the country. Their efforts proved to be revolutionary.
Ninety years later it was the young Indonesians who fought and stood up against the dictatorship. The 1998 movement resulted one word that would be part of our daily conversation and lives for the next several years, and that word was reformasi. The young Indonesians were praised at that time for their courage.
But ten years after reformasi and a hundred years after Budi Utomo, it is sad to know that I see more pessimism than optimism among the young Indonesians. Everywhere I go I meet young Indonesians who think that there’s nothing we can do to Indonesia. They simply say, “It’s Indonesia, what can you expect?” Read the Full Article!
