A Sense of Nationhood

Kompas/Bahana Patria Gupta

Participants of the 75th Indonesian Independence Day ceremony at Poetoek Suko, Trawas District, Mojokerto Regency, East Java, on Monday (17/8/2020). The ceremony was simple and used strict medical protocols.

A nation is a soul, a spiritual principle. ---(Ernest Renan, 1882)

On a small dot among thousands of islands in the archipelago, we were born. Woven in various ties of primordial community and memories of the past. Woven in the encounters of the nation\'s rich cultures, we grow looking to future ideals.

Between the struggles of life and destiny, we become who we are. Ones that process into becoming individuals. These individuals live in various tribal communities. Then they associate themselves with something bigger — what Benedict Anderson (1983) called – the"imagined community" named Indonesia.

Also read: Language and Indonesian Nationality

However, the basis of this imagined nationhood was land full of turmoil. This, among other things, can be seen in the historical experience of the archipelago as a crossing path of the waves of culture and civilization. The communication revolution that gave birth to the jargon of "a world without borders" and "the end of the nation-state". The digital revolution that gave birth to global citizenship and post-nation generation. The sense of nationhood continues to be challenged in the midst of globalization, although it has not disappeared.

Why? According to Tim Edensor (2002) in “National Identity, Popular Culture and Everyday Life”, we rarely realize the sense of nationhood that has built up through the narrative of popular culture. This awareness, for example, continues to be rearranged through school textbooks, media news, short stories, novels, music, films, arts, sports and other popular culture products.

Nationhood is also woven through small things everyday. This way, the sense of nationhood survives. In his book“Banal Nationalism”, Michael Billig (1995) wants to answer the question: why is nationalism in Western developed countries so pervasive and persistent? In fact, they are not a nation under threat. Nor are they a nation arming their people to defend their homeland.

Also read: 75 Years of Indonesia

Billig\'s work is not without criticism. However, he managed to discern the "shallow" way people in developed countries experienced nationalism. Their national symbols and discourse remain "underground", live on, even if they are not being realized. For example, the drooping flag hanging at public buildings that we pass every day to work. There are also various forms of expressions (“we,” “ours,” “here”) that fill the daily conversation and the news that is read, watched or heard. In fact, there is also weather information that accompanies the news.

All of those are "signs" that communicate "the nation" so that they are always present in minds and everyday life. The expressions of cultural symbols are powerful enough to shape the way people think and act in the world.

If history becomes a mirror for interpreting Indonesian-ness, the sense of nationhood is a very important element of a state formation. Historians agree that the birth of the "nation"is earlier than the "state" of Indonesia. If age is the standard of maturity, it is clear that the (Indonesian) nation is 17 years older than the state.

Historians Sartono Kartodirdjo and Onghokham called the Youth Pledge event, on 28 October 1928, as the proclamation of the existence of the "nation" of Indonesia. The Proclamation of Independence, on 17 August 1945, was a pledge to become a "nation-state" named the Republic of Indonesia.

KOMPAS/ZULKARNAINI

President Joko Widodo attended the National Festival at the Sukma Bangsa School, Bireuen Regency, Aceh, on Saturday (22/2/2020).

It is interesting that in this very important historical moment, Bung Karno and Bung Hatta, the founding fathers, did not act on behalf of the "state" or "the people". But, "We, the Indonesian nation, hereby declare Indonesia’s independence ... On behalf of the Indonesian nation. Soekarno-Hatta. " How important is the place of the "nation" in the Indonesian realm!

Experts in nationalism studies have long debated the meaning of "nation". However, it is generally agreed that a nation is different from a state. Nation is seen as one of the important prerequisites for a state. The state is actually a place of shelter for the nation because of a common fate or shared experience. Regardless of ethnic background, language or even religion.

The ideals that crystallize from a sense of the same fate in the fabric of shared historical experiences are the breath that continues to light up the sense of nationhood.

It is no wonder that Ernest Renan\'s classic work calls the nation a living soul, a spiritual principle. The ideals that crystallize from a sense of the same fate in the fabric of shared historical experiences are the breath that continues to light up the sense of nationhood.

Also read: Golden Indonesia 2045 No Pipe Dream

Indeed, the sense of nationhood faded due to trauma and disappointment. It was a winding road to achieve what the founding fathers called the common ideals of equality and justice. That is why national sentiment is not always compatible with the presence of the state.

Feelings of betrayal and a sense of being marginalized as traumatic experiences of national communities often require cultural approach rather than a political one. If politics relies on mobilization (forcing), culture prioritizes participation (embraces).

President Joko Widodo\'s move to wear the traditional clothes of South Central Timor, East Nusa Tenggara, during the 75th Indonesian Independence Day ceremony recently, is a symptom of the popularization of the elite clothing and the elitism of the traditional clothing.

ARSIP AZIS M

Idi Subandy Ibrahim

The most recent example, on the one hand, is the loud recognition of diversity as a way of emancipation through “nationalization” of cultural symbols. On the other hand, the mobilization of the symbols of popular regional culture has begun to find space for expression among the elite.

We still have to wait. Whether this is just a superficial and temporary phenomenon or something deeper: the emancipation of cultural consciousness is taking place among the elite.

IDI SUBANDY IBRAHIM, Culture, Media and Communication Researcher