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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Pram_gwpa — Sun, 03/29/2009 - 11:45pm

I am definetly agree with mrs. lene's opinion.

But, unfortunately, nowadays, many of Indonesian are being proud because of their relegion rather than their 'nationalsm'

Indra_muis — Mon, 03/30/2009 - 8:18pm

To Ms Muliati with love
Life is a matter of choice. Once we decide to do something there must be a consequence. Whatever it is, you have to live with it willingly. The consequence can be energy, time & money consuming. I am certain the consequence has been fully considered and understood.

The money you have spent to the Government due to your staying abroad is legalized by law. It is for building the nation. We need to wait for the accomplishment of the 2009 general election. Let's pray together with a hope this issue will be discussed and settled as we all wish.

The service is slow; we wait for ages to get what we want. Yes, that is 100% right. They do it on purpose, believe me. They want you to pay more than the official tariff. That is a strategy of corruption. The more we need, the longer we have, and the more money we spend to make it quick. So,it is about corruption mentality our people have. It is also about lack of supervisory roles of the state-men.

They know how much you love your nation. They do know. Love sometimes means sacrifice. In the name of love, sacrifice is the most enjoyable thing to summon. Good bless us.

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!!!

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!

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