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Kado untuk Bangsa (A gift for the nation)

Author: Audrey Yu Jia Hui

Publisher: Bentang Pustaka, Yogyakarta

First imprint: January 2024

Pages: 135

Audrey Yu Jia Hui, a cosmopolitan writer with an international reputation who was born in Surabaya, East Java, is one of the emancipation figures of the millennial era that was.

Writing is one of the more unique competences that can save someone. In Audrey’s case, writing made her a prodigal survivor.

This genius survived a childhood full of thorns and thistles. Her teen years were full of steep steps and mountains to climb. As an adult, she has had to make her peace with paradoxes and contradictions.

All of these issues stemmed from her status as a genius of Chinese descent. She once compared herself to a supersonic jet, but the only trouble was that she could only find a bicycle repair shop.

Forced into a solitary existence since childhood, she has spent most of her days locked in her room, studying or reading books. Her way of thinking is often misunderstood.

As a female nationalist, Audrey admires the values of Pancasila and in 2017, she became one of 72 recipients granted the Indonesian Achievement Icon Award from the Pancasila Ideology Development Board (BPIP).

Rather than giving voice her opinions to a general audience, Audrey prefers writing, which is for her one of the best forms of therapy.

To date, she has penned Pancalogi Patriot (2011), Mellow Yellow Drama (2014), Mencari Sila Kelima (2015) and Terobsesi Bungkus Lupa Akan Isi (2020), and most recently, Kado untuk Bangsa (2024). Throughout her 35 years, she has dealt with loneliness and alienation in her studies, research and writing.

In Kado untuk Bangsa, Audrey refutes an anecdotal tale of a pious king who is worshipped by a despotic king. The authoritative writer also elaborates on her updated views on Pancasila, religion, humanity, justice and democracy.

Audrey is anxious that tyranny will rise, and warns that Indonesia must avoid the fate of tyrannical, oligarchic leadership models like France’s King Louis XVI and Russia’s Tsar Nicholas II. These kind of dictatorial leaders like to force their beliefs, formed from behind a horse’s blinders.

Louis XVI was executed by guillotine in 1793 by a mass of rioters, and his wife Queen Marie Antoinette was executed nine months later. Their son Louis Charles, who was only 10 at the time, died of malnutrition in prison.

Nicholas II, along with his wife and their five children, were executed by firing squad in 1918 in Siberia during the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution, after the family had been imprisoned in several locations.

Louis XVI was the last king of France, and his personality was praised. Other kings before him lived a life of hedonism in the arms of their mistresses, but Louis XVI was loyal, very modest and pious. His hobby was learning to make keys from experts all over his country. He became a victim of the French Revolution in 1789-1792 because he failed to reform the tax system that burdened the people by using the collected taxes to fund the aristocracy.

Tsar Nicholas II was no different. He led Russia into World War I, which it lost and became bankrupt. The people revolted and ended the Romanov empire that had dominated them for 300 years.

It is rare for poor leaders like Louis XVI and Nicholas II to emerge, and relying solely on a leader's personal charm and charisma is not enough to fulfill the duties of leading a country. A leader must be able to control people whose characters contradict theirs.

The Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI), during 25 years of reform, dealt with pro-democracy people who behaved as if they were mini tyrants. As they fought for freedom and democracy, they crashed through the morals of expressionism, lowering their moderation, ignoring caution and considering insanity as sanity. These mini tyrants actually favored opposing those who speak in a measured manner and act with tolerance.

The NKRI, as Audrey describes it, is no different to the human body, and contains many different parts and functions and comes in different shapes. A healthy body has a strong immune system and will not easily fall sick. It is able to fend off germs, viruses and bacteria.

But eventually, all these different parts of the body came to fight against one another in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election. The NKRI was made weak and sick because of this autoimmune response. The antibody that was supposed to strengthen the body's immune system from all kinds of diseases instead fed on its own body.

All kinds of biases and conflicts caused by this autoimmune response has certainly endangered the well-being of the NKRI. The weakening bonds of brotherhood will make the NKRI fragile, broken and afflicted by crises.

Audrey offers a “vaccine” in Kado Untuk Bangsa to counteract the disintegration of the NKRI. It is a vaccine that’s worth injecting into the veins of Indonesia’s political system. This vaccine is presented with a dose of humor in the second part of this book, which talks about nationalism and tolerance adapted from real-life events.

Audrey’s thoughts on nationalism were inspired by Lu You (1125-1200), a Chinese poet who shares her heritage that lived during the Southern Song Dynasty. During exile, he wrote a poem called “Bing Qi Shu Huai” (Awake from my pain, I put a book in my arms): “Even if I'm the lowest amongst the ranks, I will never forget to think and worry about my country.”

Audrey has made some mistakes through her consequential choices as an organic intellectual. She is more worried that worse things will come and threaten the NKRI. If the country’s bonds of unity and brotherhood weaken, she is willing to prevent her nation from swimming in tears as a result of a democracy that is held in the hands of oligarchs.

This article is published in collaboration with Y. Sumardiyanta, a teacher at SMA Kolese De Britto Yogyakarta senior high school and an enthusiast of classical literature.

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