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Letter: Indonesian complexity
Sat, 05/10/2008 10:34 AM | Reader's Forum
Referring to T. Tettamanti's letter (The Jakarta Post, May 7, p. 7), I would like to say that he is thinking as far as the borders of his own small country. The standard of living in his country is so high only a handful of rich foreigners can afford to live there.
He omitted to mention that many blue-collar criminals park their ill-gotten money in his country. He also forgot to mention that all their lakes are contaminated by their pharmaceutical industry. Please do not tell us what to do when you only see us through the eyes of a foreigner.
Indonesia was not handed independence on a silver platter, like some of our neighbors, this country struggled for freedom for over 100 years, ever since Prince Diponegoro and many others took up the fight against Dutch colonialism to free us from bondage.
This archipelago united and together they succeeded in proclaiming independence. Each country has had its share of problems, even the U.S. had to convince Texas to join the country.
Singapore and Dubai are as big as my hand, they do not need to think about feeding 220 million people. It is easy for you to destructively criticize; what we need is constructive criticism and solutions for our many gigantic problems.
West Sumatra and North Sulawesi rebelled against the Jakarta government in 1958 but they were squashed and afterward realized that they could not stand alone, but needed to be part of Indonesia.
Papua will realize this fact in due course. Aceh already pledged loyalty and they now have full autonomy. Please do not try to tell us what to do, we have only been independent for a mere 60 years. Europe needed 300 years to be where they are today. To quote a foreign ambassador:is like a baby trying to learn how to walk and is doing it very well."
Of course the Swiss have never tried to rule anybody because you do not have the manpower nor the means to do so. You would be squashed in a few minutes.
Sorry, Swiss chocolates are only enjoyed probably by a few million people globally whereas Indonesian chocolate is enjoyed by more than 100 million nationally.
You should wake up and start going to college again to study international history concentrating on Southeast Asia.
LYNNA VAN DER ZEE-OEHMKE
Bogor, West Java
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Tomaso Tettamanti (not verified) — Sun, 05/11/2008 - 11:02pm
I find it comical that the critics of my letter are attacking Switzerland, when they are missing the point entirely: that sometimes an empire is too big to be governed successfully and will eventually distintegrate, no matter how well governed: for instance, the Mongol, Ottoman, Roman, Persian, British empires. History is full of them. Of course the Dutch had an empire and created Indonesia by overpowering primitive islanders with modern weaponry. When the Javanese defeated the Dutch after WW2, they inherited an artificial construct: Indonesia. There was no Javanese hegemony over those islands previously.
With such a large population dispersed over 13,000+ islands, of course not everybody will enjoy the "benefits" of rule by the Javanese. For instance, why are the security forces in Papua Javanese? Why are the police chiefs in Bali, etc. Javanese? Why can't the police chief in Bali be Balinese? Why was there so much transmigration of Javanese to other islands like Papua, Sumatra, Kalimantan, etc?
Why do the resources of, say Kalimantan get sold and the taxes and royalties therefrom get sent to Jakarta to subsidize the fuel for people who drive luxury cars in Jakarta? Why can't the people of Kalimantan, the indigenous people, enjoy a higher standard of living from the wealth of their resources? And then the wealth that is sent to Jakarta is squandered on efforts to impose central rule on the disparate parts of the 13,000+ islands. (I.e. a very large army in a country which needs a navy or coast guard).
The best thing that happended to Singapore was when it was separated from Malaya. It avoided the religious-ethnic problems from which Malaysia now suffers. And then Singapore became the new home for wealthy Indonesians to park the fruits of their corruption (a loss to Switzerland!). Think small: it is easier to govern small countries.
The Reader (not verified) — Sun, 05/11/2008 - 4:16am
The question is not if the taste of the Swiss choclat is better than te Indonesian once but the issue is whetter Indonesia is making progress or not.
I'm sorry for Mrs. van de Zee-Oehmke but I come already many years very often for a longer time to Indonesia but I do not see any progress in this country.
Poor people are getting more poor every day and the wealthy people are becoming richer and richer in the same time.
You know why??? Because 10% of the population has 90% of the money in this country and the remaining 10% of the money must be spread over the rest of the Indonesians. No wonder that they are and will be kept poor!!!
A. Farouq (not verified) — Sat, 05/10/2008 - 3:34pm
That was a pretty pathetic attempt at trying to belittle Switzerland - by comparing its chocolate industry to Indonesia's. I swear, I would laugh if it was not so pathetic.
Sofar what Mr. Tettamanti said, even if it may be bitter, rings true. And frankly, I don't see the so-called progress thats being made by our so-called leaders in tackling any of the issues.
I speak this as a concerned Indonesian; an Indonesian whose pocket will further be depleted from the soaring prices, an Indonesian who has seen the basic tenets of freedom slowly erode because of the vocal minority (Islamo-fascists), an Indonesian who further questions the integrity of his leaders and the future of his children because education is being less and less concentrated on. Not as a flag-waving shmuck.
Maybe it is better if those regions had more autonomy - who knows? Maybe they would run their part of the world better than that of the current (Javanese imposed ones).