Republic of Ideas, Sacrifice and Awakening of Indonesia
This nation needs a noble moral example, starting with the leaders themselves, in order to be able to stand at the forefront in realizing the ideals of a united, sovereign, just and prosperous Indonesian state.
By
SUKIDI
·4 minutes read
DOKUMENTASI PRIBADI SUKIDI
Sukidi Mulyadi
Electoral democracy that is controlled by money politics has produced many narrow-minded leaders. Instead of fighting for an Indonesian nation that is free from corruption, in accordance with the mandate of the Reform Era, they are proud to fight for power with money politics and, consequently, run the country with corrupt practices. Greed has controlled the mentality of leaders to accumulate personal wealth at the expense of the lives of many people.
In fact, as a “joint project”, said Benedict Anderson in a speech about Indonesian Nationalism Today and in the Future in Jakarta on Thursday (4/3/1999), Indonesian nationalism “requires self-sacrifice [from the leaders], instead of sacrificing others. This is why it never crossed the minds of the freedom fighters that they had the right to kill other Indonesians. On the contrary, they must have the courage to be imprisoned, persecuted and exiled for the sake of the happiness and freedom of their fellow citizens in the future.”
Anderson's speech should make all current leaders aware that the Republic of Indonesia was formed and founded by the founding fathers of the nation with ideas, with great difficulty, sacrifices and struggle. Long before the Proclamation of Independence was read on 17 August, 1945, the idea of the Republic of Indonesia had long been mentioned and formulated by Tan Malaka through ”Naar de Republiek Indonesia” in 1925, by Hatta through “Indonesia Merdeka” (Independent Indonesia ) in 1928 and by Soekarno through “Mencapai Indonesia Merdeka” (Achieving an Independent Indonesia) in 1933.
The three founding fathers of the nation also demonstrated the spirit of self-sacrifice, by living in exile and in other forms of suffering, just for the sake of achieving Indonesian independence, even though the choices and orientations of their struggles were different from one another. The common struggle to raise the awareness of Indonesian nationalism grows mainly because they have the concept as described by Anderson (1999) as “a common goal and at the same time a common future”, united by the ties of “deep horizontal brotherhood”.
IPPHOS
The conversation between President Sukarno and Vice President Moh. Hatta around the formation of the Cabinet. (June 1953).
The deep sense of brotherhood between citizens as fellow Dutch colonists with a strong desire to live together independently and prosperously, finally succeeded in bringing Indonesia to the gates of independence. Amid the fading awareness of the history of the Indonesian nationalist movement, today's leaders must fully absorb the thoughts, sacrifices and struggles of the founding fathers of the nation so that they will be able to follow the noble moral example of the founding fathers. More than that, the leaders are also bound by a constitutional mandate to realize the ideas, ideals and struggles of the founding fathers of the nation regarding Indonesia as a country that is “independent, united, sovereign, just and prosperous”.
Independence was indeed achieved more than 76 years ago, but the unity, sovereignty, justice and prosperity mandated by the founding fathers of the nation are far from reality. There is a wide gap between what was mandated by the founders of the nation and the reality of the implementation of national life today.
The celebration of National Awakening Day is the right moment to imitate the struggle for modern Indonesian nationalism, which began in 1908 through the Boedi Oetomo movement and reached its culmination in the realization of the dream for Indonesian independence declared by Soekarno and Hatta. This historic moment has also become a common "compass" for leaders in the ethics of organizing the life of the nation and state today and in the future.
It should be fully realized that the rise of Indonesia today and in the future can only be realized if there is massive and national-scale awareness, especially among its leaders, to be willing to sacrifice for the interests of the nation, to be willing to live a simple life for the welfare of its people, to be willing to tie themselves to the ropes of unity and integrity for the progress of the country and is willing to realize social justice for all Indonesian people amid a widening social gap. All of this requires not just commitments and promises, but also a high moral example.
Amid the moral bankruptcy among leaders, this nation needs a noble moral example, starting with the leaders themselves, in order to be able to stand at the forefront in realizing the ideals of a united, sovereign, just and prosperous Indonesian state.
