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Independence Day: A youth perspective
Traveling through Jakarta at the moment, when the buildings are draped in the familiar colors of red and white and hawkers push carts laden with flags of all sizes, I feel a familiar sense of excitement
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raveling through Jakarta at the moment, when the buildings are draped in the familiar colors of red and white and hawkers push carts laden with flags of all sizes, I feel a familiar sense of excitement. Aug. 17, Independence Day, is fast approaching.
As an elementary school student, Aug. 17 was a day when we sang beautiful and solemn songs in the school courtyard and later joined other children in our neighborhood for fun competitions. We were all from different ethnic communities - Batak, Javanese, Balinese, Menadonese, Betawi - and also different religions and economic backgrounds, but we had a great time struggling to eat enormous krupuk (fried crackers) from dangled raffia strings while our hands were behind our backs.
In Grade 2 of Junior High School, Aug. 17 was quite a different experience as I walked with our school choir from Lapangan Banteng toward Merdeka Palace.
We joined students along the way partaking in the Independence Day Celebrations, and I remember feeling so proud that all the young musicians in the orchestra were Indonesians. If we are to overcome current and future threats of both man made and natural disasters, we must believe in ourselves and feel good about our own identity.
But Aug. 17 undoubtedly has different meanings for veterans like my great grandfather who fought to free the nation. The experience would also have been much more emotional for my parents and grandparents who have witnessed the nation's past and present economic and political changes.
The young people of Indonesia must use our energy and creativity to focus on challenges such as developing education and eradicating poverty. If we come together and realize we are all in this together, then we can solve the nation's problems.
We need to remember the significant role of youth movements in Indonesia's history prior to the Proclamation of Independence, and how they could assist the current task facing young Indonesians today.
In 1928, or 17 years before national independence, young leaders from across the country declared the Youth Pledge: One Country, One Nation and One Language.
Our founding fathers also declared a national ideology (though today it is widely ignored) - Pancasila. It comprises of five key principles:
Belief in the one and only God; a just and civilized humanity; the unity of Indonesia; democracy guided by inner wisdom in the unanimity arising out of deliberations among representatives; and social justice for all the people of Indonesia.
We have only been independent for 64 years and as a young nation we must continue to learn from the past, while moving forward. We have clear rules and regulations, some which undoubtedly need revision, but in the current spirit of democracy, anything is possible.
The Nobel laureate in economics Amartya Sen said true independence comes through education, and one can't help but feeling that in 2010 that the greatest threat to Indonesia's independence is the lack of affordable education and persistent poverty.
When I decided to study economics at university it was to seek solutions to such problems through a greater understanding of our nation. Indonesia consists of thousands of ethnic groups, each with their own household behaviors and their own unique contribution to the nation's economy.
The writer is a third year economics student at the University of Indonesia
