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Awakening Day: Indonesia in the mirror of Ukraine [Part 2]
The most important thing for ordinary Indonesians was to survive, to cling to life. “A good government is one that kills less” has been their motto.
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![Awakening Day: Indonesia in the mirror of Ukraine [Part 2]](https://img.jakpost.net/c/2019/05/20/2019_05_20_72699_1558366172._large.jpg)
A student walks through a diorama on May 20, 2019 at the National Awakening Museum in Jakarta. Indonesia marks National Awakening Day on May 20 each year to commemorate the 1908 establishment of youth organization Boedi Oetomo, which marked the beginning of the independence movement. (The Jakarta Post/Seto Wardhana)
To understand how Ukrainian poet Andrij Bondar’s reflections on his native country can be transposed into the Indonesian context, we can begin by mirroring his description of Ukraine as an historical metaphor.
If we think of Indonesia in this light, Bondar suggests, this metaphor will definitely on of loss and lack: a loss of something/someone and a lack of something/someone, losses in the past and thus shortfalls today, losses in the present caused by lacks in the past; political, social, cultural, demographic and economic.
Indonesia has never seen development. It has only formed and been deformed chaotically over successive post-independence regimes of continuous loss and lack from Sukarno’s Old Order (1945-66) to the current era of Reformasi (1998 to present).
These regimes varied: sometimes they were cruel, sometimes they were moderately repressive or authoritarian. Some, like the Dutch East Indies (1818-1942), were alien and imposed from above with their own rules, restrictions and laws.
The most important thing for ordinary Indonesians was to survive, to cling to life. “A good government is one that kills less” has been their motto.
