The Great Strides of Indonesia
“Before the twentieth century, there was no Indonesia and thus no Indonesians”, wrote RE Elson in the beginning of The Idea of Indonesia: A History (2008).
A student takes photos of a diorama at the Youth Pledge Museum in Jakarta on Tuesday (27/10/2020). The museum on Jl. Kramat Raya has seen its visitor numbers grow ahead of Youth Pledge Day, which falls on 28 Oct. The museum held a flag ceremony and a photo exhibition of Sartono, a democracy fighter, to commemorate Youth Pledge Day.
“Before the twentieth century, there was no Indonesia and thus no Indonesians”, wrote RE Elson in the beginning of The Idea of Indonesia: A History (2008).
This book was translated into Indonesian as The Idea of Indonesia: Sejarah Pemikiran dan Gagasan (2009). Mohammad Hatta, in his article in De Socialist, 8 December 1928, published in the collected works, Mohammad Hatta: Politik, Kebangsaan, Ekonomi (Mohammad Hatta: Politics, Nationalism, Economy, 1926-1977), with a foreword by Daniel Dhakidae, indicated that Indonesia for the first time appeared as a scientific term.
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Originally, a German named Adolf Bastian was called the initiator of the name Indonesia (Indonesie) because he used the word in his book: Indonesien: Oder, Die Inseln Des Malayischen Archipel (Indonesia: or the Islands of the Malay Archipelago, 1884). However, later it was known that he was preceded by JR Logan in the Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, who wrote The ethnology of the Indian Archipelago (1850).
Even, wrote Hatta, GW Earl had come earlier, who used the terms Indunesians and Melayunesians to refer to the people in this archipelago.
It means there was a process that made it “begin to be” and in this way, ideally every examination of the past is only meaningful if it serves to understand the causes of an “occurrence”.
Hatta’s description was meant to answer the reaction to the use of the name Indonesia, which was considered a “terrifying” word and, according to Hatta, in the eyes of the Dutch East Indies, Indonesia meant a demand for independence. The explanation can be interpreted as the following. First, Indonesia, as a term and later a national identity, formation of state organization and other senses developed by the progress of history, basically has its initial time although perhaps it cannot be precisely determined. It means there was a process that made it “begin to be” and in this way, ideally every examination of the past is only meaningful if it serves to understand the causes of an “occurrence”.
Second, based on the first understanding, every step of the nation is basically a “step forward”, which constitutes a chemical reaction of history between (subjective) intention and (objective) room of available opportunity.
Or it follows the formulation of B. Herry Priyono in “The Agenda of Indonesia, a Nation is Only Formed by Design”, presented at the Congress of Pancasila 2009 at Gadjah Mada University: “A nation-state does not emerge or renewed only out of intention and will (push), nor does a nation-state is born only out of ideological, political, economic, cultural, legal and other situations (pull). From this perspective we wish to utilize the celebration of the Youth Pledge as a moment of reflection of the nation’s march onward, from one period to another, and at the same time a moment to view far ahead, a century of Indonesian independence”.
Achievement landmarks
In the beginning it was a colonial order. AK Pringgodigdo in his book Sejarah Pergerakan Rakyat Indonesia (History of Indonesian People’s Movements), with its concept formulated in 1944-1945, stated, “From the history of this country, it is very evident that no contentment was ever felt with Dutch colonization”.
People’s resistance in the form of battles, rebellions and intellectual criticisms was practically a reaction to the performance of colonialism seen not only as “exploiting too much” but also creating suffering manifested in poverty or in living not as natives of their land with such abundant wealth. The feeling of misery or the awareness of being colonized on the one hand, and the desire to be free on the other, built the shared consciousness of being the party facing colonialism. What is recorded in history as the moment of national awakening (1908) is understood here as the first landmark in achieving the awareness of nationalism.
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Despite the widespread awareness, in practice each element remained in its identity and was not yet affiliated with an outlook sharing the same principles. The concept of Indonesia, already transformed, was no longer as understood by scientists who referred to it for the first time, but had concretely turned into an identity of struggle as well as aspirations that motivated the pursuit of change. Under such conditions the awareness arose that a power that could surpass the colonial ruler would not exist as long as unity is not achieved. The younger generation, which relatively had no historical burden related to the development of every existing group, had taken an important action.
The action was the promotion of the birth of a new awareness, which was the awareness of becoming one (Indonesia, Youth Pledge 1928). From here (today), we see the Youth Pledge event as the meeting of various elements to take an oath. From the viewpoint of that period, it was perhaps felt as a very tough undertaking. Nonetheless, it created an important achievement, which was the awareness to submit themselves to one identity: one nation, one language and one native land, Indonesia. This achievement is what we are supposed to call the awareness to unite.
A student takes photos of a diorama at the Youth Pledge Museum in Jakarta on Tuesday (27/10/2020). The museum on Jl. Kramat Raya has seen its visitor numbers grow ahead of Youth Pledge Day, which falls on 28 Oct. The museum held a flag ceremony and a photo exhibition of Sartono, a democracy fighter, to commemorate Youth Pledge Day.
If we let the texts published in the 1930s-1940s to bear witness, it is clear that the nation would not merely be finished with the goal of unifying the highly diverse elements into one, but had also come to the great ambition of gaining freedom and making independence an asset to organize national life. The defense notes of Bung Hatta (1928), Bung Karno (1930) and other works clearly addressed the aspirations to attain independence and establish a state.
History has described the meeting between the “desire and endeavor”, and the supporting conditions (Japan lost to the Allied Forces and the Dutch had not yet returned) so that the decisive historical step could be executed, which was the Proclamation of Independence on 17 August 1945.
Also well recorded were the tug of war between central and regional governments and ideological tensions.
As a nation, we were aware of the importance of the state as a means of changing the nation’s destiny. There was a conference of the Investigating Committee for Independence Preparatory Work/Indonesian Independence Preparatory Committee (BPUPK/PPKI), which was practically a culmination of the nation’s efforts to prepare the formation of the state precisely after independence was gained. This period marked the decisive achievement of the awareness of national life of freedom in a state. After possessing a new vehicle called the state, the nation faced difficult challenges: external (foreign) and internal (a consequence of living in a new state). We noted the ups and downs of the government. Also well recorded were the tug of war between central and regional governments and ideological tensions. It was the dynamics of the maturity process of living together with the prominence of identity still prevailing.
Self-confidence as a nation-state was not yet fully built. All attempts were made, internally—developing projects more intended to show the nation’s capability—and externally—striving to display the nation’s self-esteem and position in the face of other nations in the world. Through its own historical journey, the nation arrived at the full awareness that its nation-state was on a par with other countries in the world. This period is to be referred to as the phase of attaining the awareness of the nation-state’s identity (Indonesian identity).
With the identity as a nation-state on an equal level with other nation-states in the world, we certainly did not want to be a country isolated from global association. Indonesia was demanded to make adjustment to work in the framework of the state and therefore all its steps constituted the movement of the state. At this point the awareness was achieved that the state should have the capability of taking care of the interests of citizens by whatever means.
Thee Kian Wie in a foreword of the (translated) book entitled Pelaku Berkisah Ekonomi Indonesia 1950-an sampai 1990-an (Accounts of the Indonesian Economy, 1950s to 1990s) indicated: “With the restoration of
macroeconomic stability in the late 1960s, the Indonesian economy entered a period of rapid growth, which in general could be maintained for three decades”. The rapid economic growth went along with a declining absolute poverty rate and increasing per capita income. The population increased but it was accompanied by a decreasing rate of illiteracy and rising rate of life expectancy. With all its critical notes, this period can be regarded as making an important achievement that we call the awareness of development.
It seems the nation realized that development without democracy was not only inadequate but was also dangerous. From the early 1990s ripples of the demand for democracy were appearing, especially as a reaction to development projects that ignored people, even evicting them. The expansion of education not only enhanced citizens’ capacity to change their status of welfare, but also broadened their horizons and made the reality of people’s life with their tough challenges more apparent.
Visitors watch historical collections at the Youth Pledge Museum in Jakarta, Tuesday (27/10/2020). The museum, which is located on Jalan Kramat Raya, is crowded with visitors ahead of the commemoration of the Youth Pledge Day on October 28. To celebrate Youth Pledge Day commemoration, the museum manager held a flag ceremony and held an exhibition of Sartono, the fighter for democracy.
Development produced big and extensive impacts in line with the progress attained and the problems to be solved. Dr Nurcholish Madjid (Indonesia Kita/Our Indonesia, 2003) mentioned the heightened critical capacity and aspirations to be listened to as the unintended consequences of the educational progress of the new generation as the fruit of development.
The nation realized it was no longer possible to manage the state in a centralized and authoritarian way while ignoring the people’s voice. The state had to work intensely by involving the people so that finally the 1998 reform was born. This is the phase where the nation achieved the awareness of democracy.
Toward century-old independence
If we coolheadedly examine, it will be apparent that the nation’s movement for a century from the early 20th century to the late reform period actually constituted a consistent growth and advancement, despite the dynamics at each stage that not infrequentlytoas a hard blow. All this is inseparable from what can be called the nation’s ability to respond to growth in such a way that it seems to have always found paths of wisdom, which have not only overcome the challenges encountered but have also placed it in a more advanced position.
This is called the resilience of Indonesia as a nation. For us this resilience is something rare and worthy of preservation so that from time to time its capacity won’t be reduced, even it should be further increased as much as possible in view of the growing and complex challenges the nation is facing.
It’s at this point that we consider the importance of a reflection and dialogue on nationalism in the direction of discovering the “basic law” that has guided the nation in going through many changes safely, with the major achievements as described above. We deem the accumulation of knowledge and experience as the fruit of our long journey vital because it is with all this treasure that we will be able to enter a better phase, which is to strive for a better planned and managed change.
All this has come precisely as the performance of democracy is being questioned because in practice it doesn’t show the capacity to guarantee fair distribution of welfare, in which each element of the nation enjoys the opportunity to optimize the entire potential owned in an equitable way.
Good planning is the key in view of the quality of challenges that constitute a complex combination of (1) internal problems, including poverty, social disparity and the demographic bonus; (2) climate change and global pandemic issues; (3) the problem of geopolitical change, most likely to be triggered by the potential for food, energy and environmental crises; and (4) problems related to the revolution of information and communication technology, which has produced considerable change. All this has come precisely as the performance of democracy is being questioned because in practice it doesn’t show the capacity to guarantee fair distribution of welfare, in which each element of the nation enjoys the opportunity to optimize the entire potential owned in an equitable way.
In the theory of management of change the term “the burning platform” is known as the foothold that is “burning” or suffering a setback in function and usefulness. In such a condition an action and fundamental change are needed so that those on the “platform” are saved from bigger disaster. The capacity to make a fundamental change in the management of the nation-state has in fact been shown several times by us, including the periods of 1965 and 1998. In this way, once again, it has been proven that our nation possesses not only resilience but also the capacity to make adjustment to the demand of the “basic law”, however hard and serious it may be.
Sudirman Said
As for the situation prevailing at present, our capacity, resilience and flexibility may be put to the test in order generate a new awareness. We witness that the nation is taking historical steps, not backward steps but rather breakthrough steps. What is apparent is a new wave carrying the desire that people will not only offer their “voice contribution” in the process of democratic policy but also give their “economic contribution” that is more significant for the country’s health and journey toward its future. This wave apparently conveys the message that the nation’s fundamental problems can only be solved when the nation as an entire whole is involved.
Sudirman Said, Chairman, Institut Harkat Negeri; Secretary-General, Indonesian Red Cross
