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he waving of the Red and White flag, the singing of the anthem, the shuttering of the hatches and the banging of the drums. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? It is good if the country, which means the government and all its offshoots, works in a way that is clearly beneficial to the nation and its people so all are rightly proud of their achievements.

Nationalism should have its roots in commendable achievements, as just to be proud of being Indonesian because you were born here is absolutely devoid of any justification. On the other hand you can support your national soccer team simply because you are Indonesian, but that is as far as it goes.  

Another thing is how the achievements were achieved, as they need to be seen as the result of honest endeavor by people that have, through hard work and honesty, achieved something worthwhile. You cannot hope to be proud of your nation if it carries the weight of endemic corruption and operates through an inefficient administration with people of no principles or morals.

Politicians often get out the nationalism drums and spout off about foreign investment, overseas pirates and colonialism, mostly because they think the audience is poorly educated and will respond to a good drumming. Unfortunately they are often right as many people are easily led, and of course they know that.

All countries need and should welcome foreign investment because it means that overseas companies see Indonesia as a worthwhile joint venture, which if negotiated properly, will be beneficial to everyone concerned. If Indonesia has got a bad deal from foreign investment it will be either due to inefficient Indonesian negotiators, or to in-house government officials that have taken the bribe money they asked for in the first place.

A lot of foreign companies will pay the bribes as that is how business is done in Indonesia, and always has been. So it would be wrong to blame just the foreigners if the internal policies are riddled with corruption. The other thing to consider is that all people tell lies, which is why all the guilty politicians that are now in Indonesian jails initially pleaded not guilty to their crimes.

So you need to think about what nationalism means, as clearly it is different things to different people, which of course it shouldn'€™t be.  And perhaps you may want to consider that all the politicians that are robbing the country and its people are often the ones that bang the nationalism drums, which for sure is not only grossly hypocritical, it is also tantamount to treason.

David Wallis
Medan