By the way: Being Indonesian and proud of it

Sun, 03/29/2009 11:14 AM  |  Headlines

Another head scratching moment for me and for people who assist me — as an Indonesian passport holder I always face the same issue every time I need or plan to go to other countries outside ASEAN. Applying for entry visas, with stacks of documents and tedious preparations required. At the end I always feel overwhelmed filling in the forms and preparing necessary documents.

One has suggested to me to change nationality to make it easier for me whenever I need to travel overseas. You know, for citizens of some countries, they have visa waivers so they can just jump up and go overseas anytime they want.

As a spontaneous person I feel this visa issue burdening me a lot. When I am in the mood for travel I need to check entry requirement first, then have to start applying for visas. Depending on the country and my luck (and so far I have been lucky), I will get a visa approved in 1-2 weeks. But, hey, the anticipation may not be there anymore. But what can I do? Nothing. Just try to keep my name clear so every time I apply for a visa or when I enter any country the immigration officer’s computer will flash “Clear” or “Not in the dangerous list” or whatever.

Back to the suggestion of changing nationality, I suddenly remember one story of an Indonesian singer who already went international. She has been living outside Indonesia for many years and had established her reputation as a reputable international singer in Europe. She changed her Indonesian nationality to another nationality. She told the papers that as an international artist she had difficulties and often has a headache applying for and getting entry visas to perform or do overseas tours and the Indonesian embassy people did not help her much too. Exchanging nationality for ease of travel?

It is true that being Indonesian we often have to line up outside the embassy applying for visas that may or may not be approved, with stacks of documents and financial proofs that should be prepared, and we have to wait for at least 1 week or, it could be worst, 1 month to get it. In the process, our passports will be kept with them. Honestly I hate this waiting time. I am hopeless without my green passport.

Now come to think of it, why do people, in this case governments, always make things so complicated? Is it their nature not to trust anybody? So is it that we are guilty before proven innocent?

Maybe changing nationality is worth doing it. But, my blood is Indonesian. Although, like many Indonesians, I swear a lot about the country, but, it is my country, and I belong to it. I was, am and always will be Indonesian. No matter what.

I never knew that I loved my country until I realized it one day. I still remember vividly that day. I was about to move to Canada. It was late November. I was at Cengkareng airport in Jakarta, waiting for my flight. It was not a time when the national anthem was normally played publicly, but, suddenly I heard the Indonesian national anthem. I was dumb struck and started crying quietly. I missed Indonesia already. I promised myself that being Indonesian overseas meant that I had to represent Indonesia, make the country proud of me, and that I would be proud of the country and defend it.

Despite any troubling things that have been happening in Indonesia, I am never ashamed of being Indonesian. I am sometimes sad and disappointed with what’s happening in the country but am never ashamed of the country. If any bad news about Indonesia reaches the shores where I live, I will always take it as my responsibility to help the country to explain  — especially to non-Indonesian people or people who are not familiar with Indonesia — what exactly is happening.

I always believe it is our duty to learn the best things wherever we live overseas and bring them back to Indonesia someday, perhaps to help build a better Indonesia in the future.

Well, in the end, with my discovering my true love of my country, Indonesia, it is really worth going through the headaches and bother of applying for entry visas rather  than exchanging my identity. I am Indonesian. I will always be Indonesian. And I am proud of it.  

– Iene Muliati
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Ed Kristian (not verified) — Sun, 04/12/2009 - 5:24pm

Each time I read the letters or articles on the Jakarta Post; I am always amused by the variety of responses from the locals and foreign readers. For example one reader would say that he or she won't ever visit Indonesia again because of the somber mood they have received from the Indonesian immigration officials at the airport. Have these people ever traveled to other countries with similar reception at the airport? Believe me it is no picnic either. And how about the ones who complained about long queues at the airport? Have you ever traveled to Charles De Gaulle Terminal 1 in Paris? It is quite confusing and the queueing is even worse when the arrivals and departures are on the same level. And to those who complained about the 30 days visa stay imposed by Indonesia but forgot that the trend is also imposed from other Asean countries. And that staying over the 30 days stay, a daily fee will be imposed to the travelers for example like in Thailand. And what about those Indonesians who complained about the length of time and procedure to get visas to travel to Europe or the US; there is nothing you can rave and rant about but just follow the rules and abide by it. And how about a foreign national who overheard a high ranking ministry official saying that Western Countries give problems to Indonesians when getting visas therefore Indonesian embassies abroad will do the same as a reciprocity. It is an undiplomatic and ridiculous reasoning coming from a civil servant no matter how the circumstances are presented. And the Chinese Indonesians who feel that there are the center of discrimination may have to do some more efforts in knowing the cause of it and assimilate better among the pribumi Indonesians. The process of trust can eventually be achieved for one another. Anyway, the responses can go on and on forever about how one can be proud or not be proud of their own heritage. My Philosophy is that not one heritage or citizenship is perfect over another. But one can learn and appreciate what others can offer to make a difference for a better situation in life in which he or she is already accustomed to.

Pena Budaya (not verified) — Wed, 04/08/2009 - 7:24pm

I live and work in Europe and yes, I do feel that is annoying whenever applying visa to visit countries like UK or USA as Indonesian passport holder. Wait until you heard stories of my former fellow students from African countries when they tried to apply for visa to Europe. They faced more difficulties compare to Indonesian when applying visa.

I do envy my colleagues from the Philippines who can enjoy dual nationalities or my Canadian colleague who is having three different nationalities. Seriously, after learning from them, it doesn’t make them less Filipinos or Canadian by having multiple citizenships. Their working opportunities overseas are wider and could contribute to their origin countries either as remittance or knowledge. I wish Indonesian government and parliament will open their mind of these facts.

In other hand, I am afraid that Indonesians have too much pride already that only causing ignorant rather than nurturing. I don't think it's wrong to be ashamed of your own country as long as it will construct you as its citizen to contribute for its betterment instead of playing blaming game.

Sitta Rosdaniah (not verified) — Tue, 04/07/2009 - 7:21am

Mbak Iene,
What a great piece of story you wrote. I have travelled and lived in some foreign countries. Following one of the Indonesian wisdoms, "wherever we stand up, over there the sky is reverred", I always learn about people, cultures, values, systems, etc in every countries I visited or lived.Those have led to my stronger love for Indonesia.
I am very proud to be an Indonesian, no matters what governments or several groups of people have done there, that probably can damage the glory of Indonesia. There must be more good people than bad ones in Indonesia.
I am probably no one in a great Indonesia, but I really wanna make something beneficial for its glory. At least, I don't want my country to be humiliated by my actions and behavior.
And about visa? last year, I missed an important conference in London because the British visa for me was issued 2 weeks after the event :(
Nevermind...

Karina Soemarwoto (not verified) — Mon, 04/06/2009 - 3:09am

To Indonesians who are not proud of their own identity: Then I guess you were born into the wrong race. Better luck next time.

To non-Indonesians who have problems with proud Indonesians: You are not Indonesian. Your opinions are irrelevant.

Papayono (not verified) — Sun, 04/05/2009 - 9:21pm

there is nothing wrong to be indonesian and proud of it,being the only indonesian (am the eldest from four siblings whom three were born in australia)in my family,none of my siblings speak indonesian when they were kids,now they all grown up and want to know more about their ancestry and heritage,they went to indonesia stay at our parents village in west java,back to jakarta which they found very"shocking" and "interesting"..now they understand and proud with their Indonesian heritage as much as they are proud as an Australian.kind regards.

Milo (not verified) — Sat, 04/04/2009 - 10:08pm

While I fully understand the frustration that Indonesians feel concerning visas, I do not believe the comparison can really be made. Indonesia does not have a significant problem with illegal immigration. I am an American and so I will use that for comparison.

First, the most obvious difference is in the basic expected income. America's average annual income is around $46,040 a year. Indonesia's is around $1,650 a year. Indonesians, on average, earn about 3.5% of what Americans do. Anotherway of looking at it is an average Indonesian moving to America and earning the average income would earn 2790% of his annual income in Indonesia. The average indonesian would earn more working an average job in America than they would earn in half their life in Indonesia. While the pay gap shrinks for the more developed cities, such as Bandung and Jakarta, it is still at least a factor of 10.

If allowed, a massive portion of the worlds population would move to America soley for this reason. This boom in population would over whelm the demand for jobs and would put a rapid downward pressure on incomes in America. It would also, initially, put a larger demand on cheaper products, which would exacerbate America's already heavy trade deficit. While it would of course bottom out, the end result would be a completely different economy that would not provide any where near the per capita income it currently does.

Furthermore, America, as well as other developed nations, has numerous social programs designed to help the poor. If America allowed poor in to America unfettered, America would soon be crushed by the financial burden of our already expensive social programs.

As it is right now, America has an estimated 12,000,000 illegal immigrants. That means 1 out of every 25 people in America is there illegally. Illegal immigration to America already exceeds legal immigration, which is itself quite high. In the last 8 years, America's population has increased by over 13%, more than any other large economy in the world, this has been driven almost entirely by immigration.

In comparison, Indonesia does is not remotely in the same situation that America is. Indonesia is poorer than most other nations and offers a notably lower standard of living.

Peter Chang (not verified) — Sat, 04/04/2009 - 4:42pm

Proud being an Indonesian?

I will be proud of being an Indonesian if Indonesia is a good country, no severe corruption, no brutal killings, no cruel rapings, no tremendous hypocrites, and mainly, no heavy racism against Chinese.

However, the reality is Indonesia is one of the worst country and the most hypocrite people in the world.

So, I don't think I will be proud of being part of bad things. In fact, being associated with any Indonesia stuff is the most embarrassing moment in my life

That is the reality

Iene Muliati — Sat, 04/04/2009 - 8:12am

Good morning!

Thank you all for your comments, I really enjoyed reading them – it was such a learning opportunity for me. It is amazing how people react to words and how people choose and use words to express their reactions. Words, indeed, speak as loud as actions.

There are always 2 sides to a coin. To those who agree with me, I thank you for your support. To those who disagree with me, I heard you too – your comments allow me to see the issue from both angles. I respect our differences. I have a few comments though.

There is a difference between “was born as…” and “decide and choose to be …..”. One is the result of genetic and the other is the result of conscious mind. The question is how many people choose nationality consciously. Do you think millions of Indonesians will choose other nationality rather than Indonesian nationality if they are given a choice? I don’t know. Is there any data to support this? I would be very interested to know if there is statistics or data out there to support this argument. If no supporting data, perhaps it’s time to conduct the survey on this.

There is nothing wrong with nationalism. The founding fathers of all countries in this world must have had nationalisms in their mind when they founded their countries. If not, then, we would be the happy citizens of the world today. There would be no country. There would be no boundary.
However, nationalism combined with narrow minded and arrogant mindset is definitely a problem. Look what happened in the last few years around the world, not only in Indonesia. A country attacked another country on the basis of assumptions. My only amazement was how on earth even those smart, educated and intellectual people in those countries also joined in the ride? Nationalism? Profit-making intention? Pride? Self-believe? Ignorance?

Nowadays, it is very easy for us to come up with at least one reason for not being proud of any country. In the last few years or the last few months, we have also seen that even developed countries have their own flaws too. Do you think their founding fathers expect those flaws too when they founded those countries?

There is no perfect country in this world. In the context of Indonesia, yes, we still have problem with people mindset; yes, we still have problem with diplomacy, etc. But how can these change if no one wants to make a change? Change will come only if we work on changes.
The most important things now are to reidentify the roots of the problems/issues, start focusing and working on those problems/issues and solve them one by one. It will take times, good strategy and planning, strong law supremacy, better diplomacy, hard work, effort, teamwork, integrity, professionalism, dedication, goodwill, etc to make things right and better. Not everyday recipes for all, I think. But, my fellow Indonesians, we all can do our part and make things right and better even in a small way, in our own way – if we want to.
It sounds cliché, but, if you want a change, I think this applies: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.

Have a good weekend!

Hilds (not verified) — Fri, 04/03/2009 - 9:40pm

Interesting comments...

I have to say not so profound and impressive piece of article, but sure managed to capture and raise issue of most people's interest.

Crying when hearing national anthem is one thing but really feel proud about your nationality is another. I for one feel very strongly about nationality. I think that it says more that just whether or not you will get to travel around the world more easily. I feel bad for people who change their citizenship JUST because of that. I don't want to judge, but i think it's rather shallow, but then again people must have their own reasons.

I think that nationality can say a lot, it says where you come from, your heritage, your values, your customs, all of the things that make you unique and different with the rest of people in the world. Of course, in the borderless world today, people might not appreciate it as much. But i think otherwise. Nationality should be more than just a status or else it will loose it's value. A value of commitment of a person to their nation for better or for worse.

Indonesia might not an ideal nation, but see it this way, it is opportunity for those of us who really care to help set the country into a better one.

At the end, WE as DE FACTO and DE JURE INDONESIANS who has a full right to call Indonesia as HOME.

P.S: I reckon some diplomats and consulates might be one of reasons why many Indonesians prefer to change to other nationalities. Oh I hope reformation will soon reach that Department, and i pray for the day when the Minister would actually say out loud that their jobs is not only to attend Gala Dinners and held parades and actually SERVE (underlined and bold) Indonesians who are abroad - whether they are in trouble or not!. Just for the record their system is.... let me just say appalling.

Mr. M — Fri, 04/03/2009 - 8:17pm

Too many things about Indonesia that make me proud of it. one of them is the fact that Indonesia has more than 600 local languages.. and for god sake, no countries in this world has local languages as Indonesia does, right?.

when talked to my french friends about it, they're extremely shocked and almost could not believe that such fact exist...

so miss muliati, I'm completely with you in this case.
Indonesia will always be in my heart till death comes to me.
Hiduplah Indonesia Raya!!!

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