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Exceeding all expectations

Those of you who have seen the biographical sports drama Invictus (2009) — based on John Carlin’s book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation (2008) — would remember scenes where South African President Nelson Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman) inspires the country’s national rugby team captain, Francois Pienaar (played by Matt Damon), to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup

Julian Aldrin Pasha (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sat, May 14, 2011

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Exceeding all expectations

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hose of you who have seen the biographical sports drama Invictus (2009) — based on John Carlin’s book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation (2008) — would remember scenes where South African President Nelson Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman) inspires the country’s national rugby team captain, Francois Pienaar (played by Matt Damon), to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

More than just motivational talk, conversations between the two men can actually serve as an awakening. My favorite lines in the movie are spoken by Mandela’s character, “How do we inspire ourselves to greatness, when nothing less would do? How do we inspire everyone around us? I sometimes think it is by using the work of others… We need inspiration, Francois, because in order to build our nation, we must all exceed our own expectations.”

And as history tells us, exceed they did.

I could not help but think that the same can apply in our beloved country. We too, need to exceed our own expectations, because that’s the only way we could build this nation.

When President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono received the UNISDR award for being a “Global Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction” this week, represented by National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) chief Syamsul Maarif, in Geneve, Switzerland, this should be greeted as a sign of positive momentum.

In a country regularly struck by natural disasters (BNPB records that more than 4,400 natural disasters hit Indonesia between 2004 and 2009), emergency management is an obligatory skill. Appreciation as such coming from the UN affirms that we are on the right track.

As the current Chair of ASEAN, Indonesia is also taking the lead in the region’s emergency response management, seeking better and more innovative coordination and coherence in implementing the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster and Emergency Response and the ASEAN Coordination Center for Humanitarian Assistance. Indonesia is also ready to open the doors to its newly established Peace and Security Center for joint use by friends and neighbors.

Exceeding expectations also requires steadfast commitment to one’s journey. This applies to any person, group or entity, such as a government.

Those serving in President Yudhoyono’s second term would notice a great deal of importance being placed on the need for strategic actions and constant evaluation. No issue is too big or small to escape the President’s attention, as seen at his desk or at Cabinet meetings. Some have mocked these meetings as countless and bearing no tangible results. But the truth is ours is a government running and at work. Let the people be the judge at the court of democratic elections, and let there be no misgivings about them.

As for room for advancement, there should be no restriction.

This is especially relevant in times when there is still a “struggle between forces for change and forces fighting change, people who work for democracy, the rule of law and human rights protection, and people who stand to profit from retaining the authoritarian structure of New Order times” (Stockmann, 2009).

In this consolidation of democratic reforms we’re going through, compromises cannot be dismissed and will continue to take place until the right mixture is achieved. The leader’s role is to guard this process, lest it go astray.

The system to be achieved is one that promotes tolerance, guarantees press freedom and upholds the rule of law. When that happens, it will be one uniquely Indonesian mixture, and part of the Indonesian experience.

A steadfast commitment — that’s what the government is asking from you. As Nelson Mandela once said, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” Let us do it!

The writer is the spokesman for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

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