|
05/12/03
Few people will deny that the United States is the
most powerful nation in the world not only militarily
and economically, but also in terms of knowledge and
ideas. Higher educational institutions and
competitive research laboratories in the country are
the centers that produce world class ideas, knowledge,
thinkers are experts. But what drives the country so
powerful is not its military and economic power. It is
the dream of its people which is elegantly put forth
by the country’s founding fathers as stated in the
country’s Declaration of
Independence, "We
hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights,that among these are
Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
American historian James Truslow Adams (1878-1949) put
this eloquently in his
Epic of America
(1931). He wrote:
"The American Dream is "that dream of a land in which
life should be better and richer and fuller for
everyone, with opportunity for each according to
ability or achievement…. a dream of social order in
which each man and each woman shall be able to attain
to the fullest stature of which they are innately
capable, and be recognized by others for what they
are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of
birth or position." (p.214-215)
It is this dream that had motivated Latif Elessawi to
migrate to the US. Came
for the first time to the United States from Egypt in
January 1980, Elessawi
became a
U. S. citizen in 1988.
“I immigrated here because I
was looking for better opportunities. Life was a
little difficult once I arrived here. I didn't speak
English well, so it was hard for me to get a job and
get used to the system here,” said Elessawi. Leaving
family and friends at home, Elessawi discovered that
he was not totally missed his culture and social
life. “When I came here to the
United States, there were plenty of houses of worship
where I could practice my religion. There were also a
lot of people of the same religion with whom I could
socialize. This was part of the reason that I was
able to keep traditions and customs from Egypt.” And
then he said, “I am very glad that I came here. I
knew that I made a good decision.
The number of immigrants living illegally in the
United States jumped by 1 million in less than four
years. In the latest count, based on the 2000 Census
and INS statistics, the Immigration and Naturalization
Service reported that roughly 7 million immigrants
were living illegally in the United States as of
January 2000. It is estimated that about 100
thousands of Indonesians, both legally and illegally,
live in the United States. Recent news reported that
1,901 illegal Indonesian migrants face deportation
from U.S.
What makes the country so attractive that it becomes
the destination of millions of people yearly?
Just like in other countries, not all things are good
in the United States. But there is something good that
makes the country so powerful. That is the American
dream.
The principle guidance philosophy written in the US’s
Declaration of Independence did not materialize
instantaneously. In fact, the United States has
struggled for about two centuries to finally come to a
better understanding about it after experiencing Civil
Wars and slavery in the 19th century and
sharp segregation in the 20th century. It
has costed the country millions of lives. During the
civil war, lasted four years from 1861 to 1865, over
620,000 of Americans died.
Twice as many as the number died due to disease after
the war.
A great nation not only learns from its own history,
but also from other nations’ history. We are
fortunate to have chances to learn from other nations’
mistakes. And we are obliged to learn from our own
mistakes, as well. We have horrific experience where
hundred thousands of our people died in the 1960s.
Our nation has all its natural and structural
diversity that could potentially help sparking a small
conflict into a full blown chaos. Discovering
something that can glue all those differences together
and tie them into one is the urgent need. Something
found in human beings not in things. Where we can find
it? There is no need to search for it outside of
ourselves. And, there is no need to look for it in
others. It is within ourselves. It is a core element
within ourselves that every Indonesian has. That is
the element that each Indonesian is aspiring for in
his life, from Sabang in Aceh to Merauke in West Irian,
from Islam, Christian, Budha, Hindu and all beliefs;
from the youngsters to the oldies; from Javanese,
Sundanese, Bataknese, Chinese Indonesian and all races
and ethnic background; and from one generation to
another. It is an aspiration for a better life. That
is the Indonesian dream.
Once President Megawati Soekarnoputri spoke about this
eloquently. Speaking at the USINDO gala dinner in
Washington DC, September 19, 2001, she said,
“…although our history and cultures are different,
there is an important similarity between the
Indonesian dream and the American dream…. the dream of
creating a great nation where all men and women are
treated equal, where people of all races, ethnicity,
and religion live side by side in peace and prosperity
as one. America’s founding fathers dreamt this, and
ours did too. That dream remains dear in my heart and
in the hearts of millions of Indonesians.”
Indeed, our founding fathers have dreamed of it fifty
five years ago. Soekarno called the Indonesian
independence as a golden gate to a prosperous
Indonesia. And the Preamble to The Indonesian
Constitution states, “…And the moment of rejoicing
has arrived in the struggle of the Indonesian freedom
movement to guide the people safely and well to the
threshold of the independence of the state of
Indonesia which shall be free, united, sovereign, just
and prosperous.”
But for the last fifty years, the dream seems have
faded away. Our leaders are having difficulties in
understanding it, let alone in inspiring their people.
"[Soeharto] He was wrong about what people want here.
He thought that all that people in Indonesia needed
was televisions, cars, money. But it was wrong. The
most important thing for the people is their rights to
be respected," said Abdon Nababan, one of the
organizers of conference in the capital Jakarta in
1999 to address a matter that many say lies at the
heart of much of the ethnic tension: Land.
Habibie, who replaced Soeharto after the latter
stepped down in 1998, was dreaming of making Indonesia
become an advanced nation with his grandeur and yet
dubious vision of producing super high-tech products
such as aero-planes and ships. It was a completely
alien dream for majority of Indonesians who have to
dig soils for their sources of income. About 60% of
Indonesian population is still working in the
agricultural sector. Instead of offering dream, the
nation’s leaders have brought grieves.
What constitutes Indonesian dream? Just as the
American dream, our dream is a concept of how our
society should approach the challenges of life.
We can define the Indonesian dream as follows:
The Indonesian dream is the promise that all
Indonesian people have a reasonable chance to achieve
success as they define it, either material or
non-material, through their own efforts and resources,
to attain virtue and fulfillment through that success,
to be recognized by others for what they are and to
recognize others as that they are, regardless of the
fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.
Success (materially and non-materially) can be
measured by prosperity and liberty while virtue, being
recognized by and to recognize others are summarized
in peace and justice. And so, the Indonesian dream
has four components. They are liberty, peace, justice
and prosperity.
Liberty is the quality or state of being free. It is
a freedom from physical restraint and freedom from
arbitrary or despotic control. It is the utmost need
of any living creatures. Even animals and trees need
freedom to grow. Otherwise, they could grow to a much
worse condition or against their natural will.
Interestingly, freedom is not a self-centered
phenomenon. This is perhaps where many people are so
confused with freedom, mixing it up with egocentric.
Rather, freedom is centered on others. Once Carl
Schurz, an active campaigner against slavery in the
US, said, “If you want to be free, there is but one
way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of
liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other.”
Liberty is freedom. It is
freedom to live, freedom to speak, freedom to worship
whatever God wants to worship and freedom to pursue
one’s own happiness.
But freedom is not the end. As Albert Einstein said,
“Everything that is really great and inspiring is
created by the individual who can labor in freedom,”
freedom is the beginning of a more prosperous
condition. That’s why the majority of the prosperous
nations in the world today also enjoy a much greater
freedom. It is neither a propaganda nor illusion. It
is reality and has been proven to be true.
Liberty is impossible without justice since justice is
related to liberty, to freedom of choice. It
represents a deliberate effort to penalize those who
harm others and reward those who serve the public
interest. It is also impossible to realize peace
without justice. Without justice there is no dignity
and without dignity, it is extremely difficult to
achieve peace since peace is a state of security or
order within a community provided for by law or
custom. So, justice will strongly support the
realization of permanent,
not provisional, peace. A provisional peace can be
imposed by the strong over the weak but such a peace
cannot last. A lasting peace is not a zero-sum game,
where one’s win is the other’s loss. But it is a
win-win situation.
And without peace, there is no justice. Hidden or open
conflicts triggered by violent motives are blind to
justice.
Neither peace nor justice
can be promoted without vastly altered attitudes
towards others. There
is dynamic in the relationships among people.
But as long as people value others’ lives and liberty
just as they value their own, peace will prevail.
A continous renewal and
revitalization of our ethics is called for in a time
of changing world realities. It is in this process
that our diversity may be of immense value which is
centered on life and liberty. For instance, in today’s
Internet era one individual can affect the lives of
many easily by sending constructive or destructive
messages to thousands of people. The nature of the
Internet can make a single message sent to one
individual explode into a million different versions
and reach millions of people at an exponential rate.
Provocative, bias and hate messages of course can have
negative effect on national and international
community and hinder any peace efforts. That’s why
people in this era are demanded to hold a higher
quality of accountability and ethics more than ever.
Prosperity is the economic and social condition that
enables people to enjoy their own happiness which is
only possible if liberty, peace and justice prevailed.
Those are dreams that will inspire Indonesian people
to unite. In order for the dream to be one of tangible
achievement and not of ethereal fantasy, it must
include goals for the betterment of humanity as a
whole - not simply happiness for the individual.
While there have been numerous negative practices
committed by the whole spectrum of the Indonesian
society that tend to pursue their own happiness at the
cost of society’s happiness, the dream must go on. It
should not be wiped out by negative practices, such as
corruption, collusion, bribery and nepotism, committed
by other people. It is true that nepotism and
collusion destroy the spirit of competition and
discourage the fortitude of the ethical and hard
working dreamers. But our dream is a state of mind.
It is the vision implanted in our mind that would
drive the way we view ourselves and others, they way
we interact with others and the way we do things. The
opportunity is still there for those willing to work
hard in order to fulfill their personal description of
the dream as long as they value life, liberty, justice
and peace.
And those are dreams that should be introduced by
teachers in schools, taught by families, inspired by
leaders and public figures and supported by the whole
elements of society from the government, media and
other organizations.
If we are to make the dream a reality, we need to
destroy any mythology that hinders the realization of
the dream including the mythology of the past and the
mythology of exclusiveness. We should also draw on the
positive aspects each ethnicity, culture and race has
to offer. And in the end, it
is not about our government, it is not about what
others say and it is not about wealth or comfort. It
is about what we value - what we hold dear to our
hearts and what we are willing to sacrifice to keep
the dream alive.
It is not about the past, either. But it is about the
future, a dream of a better future for everyone. A
dream where everyone can accept fully that we may
have different ethnic group,
speak different languages,
practice different traditions,
live in different islands,
are different races,
eat different foods,
wear different clothes,
have different religions,
yet we are all
Indonesians.
Your
comment
Back
to top
|
The Prospect
is published by The Indonesian Institute. Our messages are
study, democracy and unity.
