Indonesia is not perfect; it is indeed not as rich as people wanted. For so long, Indonesians have been dreaming for a perfect country that is able to accommodate their needs: a rich country with wealthy society. But there is one thing that we Indonesians need to realize: Indonesia is not a mother who feeds you up while you do nothing about it. Indonesia is a home which you need to build it yourself, decorate it and make it comfortable for you. People are too much dependent on the government as their “revelation” for a new good life. Sadly, the government could not accommodate all people demand. Indonesian government has set up their own priorities, but it could not cover all what people want.
In this condition, people have 2 options to do, let’s assume that the government has no support for you. The choice, then, would be whether you get up and fight for your own life, struggle until the last drop of blood or just give up and cry. Your call: put or give up the fight.
In fact, we are the one who responsible to change our country and our life as well. Because Indonesian power depends on how the people develop Indonesia. Indonesia has lots of potentials and it is waiting for us to be used. From the tourism, Indonesia has millions of places to be promoted as tourist destination along with its local wisdom such as Yogyakarta and its Sekaten event, Bali with Kecak Dance, Lake Toba and many more. In the maritime sector, Indonesia has 70% sea territory with economic potential up to 1,2 billion Dollar per year but only 30% over 70% that used optimally. There are many facts that can be taken into the account, yet, it is about how Indonesian people willingly want to build Indonesia.
Defining Our Nationality
We have seen people who experienced their very bad lives, their level of wealthy life down to zero, even minus. People like Bob Sadino, one of the most successful entrepreneurs, would agree that we are responsible for our own life. Even though we are in the worst condition, there will always an opportunity to success. As an example, Bob Sadino did not complain to the government about his life at the time he stumbled in the worst condition. He rather built himself up and started his businesses over again.
Nationality is not something that could perish easily. We may live abroad for a long time, but we will always miss our home in our country. The former President of Indonesia, Prof. B.J. Habibie had the offer to become a citizen of Germany. He, at that point, could have said yes easily, but he decided to stick and be proud to be an Indonesian. No matter how bad or good your country is, nationality is something that you carry in your life even when after you live abroad for quite a long time.
Nationality is defined on who we are, how we act, the ethnic we have and the first language we spoke. Hence, nationality has a strong bonding between a person and a state in the heart to heart level. We may change our nationality in the administration, but we could never change true nationality identity in the very first beginning.
Breaking Down the Complaints
We are actually blinded and focus on people who hate Indonesia, drowning into critics and facts that Indonesia is not perfect. Media and social media are full of mean comments and contents, spreading Indonesia’s defects, and comparing to other countries which they think is better than Indonesia. So let’s settle this, in ASEAN region, we Indonesian often compare our country with Singapore. Singapore is indeed the strongest country in term of Economy among the rest of ASEAN members.
According to World Economic Forum (2014-2015), Singapore is the most competitive in Southeast Asia, leaving as number 2 rank among 144 economies. Singapore’s infrastructure and city have amazed people so that no wonder people tend to see Singapore as an ideal city to live. But do you know that the people who live in Singapore are complaining about their country as well? Started with the fact of the high living cost they need to spend to survive, comparing to the salary, both elements have no significant range.
Move to the bigger country, let’s say about The United States of America where many people want to live in ‘American Dream’. There are so many stigmas that people who live in the US, Indonesians who lived in US to be precise, are fancier and considered as wealthy people. For some people, that might be applied, but some are not. Then, living in the US does not mean you are living the American dream. The complaints about the country still remain. For instance, the living cost they have to afford band pay before the IRS will take their property out from their life or the cops that shoot black people that are ‘allegedly’ harmful, and even worse, the racism issue which threatened the non-Americans. All of these points show that complaints will never stop, even in the countries that we always thought to be perfect. There will always be complaints from the citizen itself.
Lots of People love Indonesia
Despite these complaints from Indonesians towards their own country, there are a lot of people who love Indonesia. Started with a successful entrepreneur namely Wempy Dyocta Koto who originally came from Padang, Indonesia. He is one of the Outstanding Leaders in Asia according to The Business Times Newspaper of Singapore. He was recently invited to the Buckingham Palace in London to attend Pitch At Palace Global event in order to share his thought about entrepreneurship with many entrepreneurs across the world. He wants to make the youths of Indonesia to be successful by building Indonesia through entrepreneurship, therefore, he often comes to Indonesia to speak and inspire the youths of Indonesia. Every time he wrote something, whether in Facebook or Instagram, the word “Your Uda” is always written there. Uda means “uncle” in Padang’s language.
The other example of people who loves Indonesia is Pete Smith, a Gamelan teacher in London. He has been spreading Indonesian culture for more 20 years in London by teaching Javanese musical instrument in Oxford University, Kingston University, and Southbank Center. In Russia, there is a band that used the name of Sumatra Dan Indonesia. A singer from French, Fransoa and his band made a song that contains the name of Indonesian foods with tittle “Aku Lapar”. These are just some pieces of evidence that show there are still lots of people out there who love Indonesia
Start to do something
Instead of drowning in eternal loop of complains in which obviously produce nothing but pessimistic thought and destructive behavior, why don’t we start something that will lead us to a better future? Taking Wempy Dyocta Koto as the example, he experienced tons of failures and pains but he did not whine or yell or even condemn the government. He decided to struggle for his life and now becomes one of the world‘s most successful entrepreneurs in the world with millions of dollars in his pocket. Although his success has reached stratosphere, he does not forget that he is an Indonesian and he is absolutely proud to announce his nationality to the world.
As of now, Indonesian students who are studying abroad have 2 missions in their life. First, they want to make their life better through education because education is a promising career nowadays as they can become a lecturer or researcher. This path is beneficial for their life, not only they can improve their capacity building through education, but they also can improve their life when they work as a lecturer. Being a lecturer is not an easy job actually, they need to study more and more to make the best way of educating their students.
Second, they want to build their country for a better future sake. By having education abroad, they will able to see a new perspective that might be applied in Indonesia. In a scholarship application or interview, there is a question of “what will you do for your country after you finish your study?”. This question has put in mind to the awardees about the contribution for Indonesia after they graduate. The ‘hope’ that they want to take and fight for Indonesian development. Some of the awardees now become a powerful person in Indonesia.
For instance, a graduate of Berkeley University, United States of America, Ridwan Kamil. He changed Bandung in very innovative ways by engaging creativepreneurs in Bandung and used the current technology to help Bandung to develop. However, his struggle is not flawlessly happened without challenge, but the important thing is, he wants to help Indonesia.
Every single of us is diplomat and changemaker. As John F. Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, a what you can do for your country”.
If we do believe that a country is a home that needs to maintain, we will come to realize that we are the hope of our country. We determined what this country would be and where it will go. For the sake of the future, we have to enhance our capacity building, thinking through about what we ca`n do for our country so that in the future the ‘home’ we have stayed for a long time will become big and beautiful. We need to put in our mind and heart that we are the legacy of Indonesia.
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