|
11/18/02
Last week experience reminded me once again of the
reality in this world that fire and ice do exist.
Perhaps this is an irony: Although we often dream of
having ice, in reality we frequently ask for it with
fire.
A
week ago I started an online discussion forum where
the main goal is to share opinion and idea of how to
make Indonesia a better country. A storm of fired
comments from an old virtual friend, Basirun in
Australia triggered the discussion into a hot debate.
Not only did he write provocative words but also use
foul language that could be enough to make an average
Joe retaliate. As it turned out, he
provided a good example of how the real world is all
about.
For
instance, Basirun wrote (all edited), “Oh please wake up. Your country is so big and rich
but you just sit there and let the strangers (the
West) exploit your country. You let all your young
people just sit and do nothing” Or, “You are nothing
but just a rubber stamp of your leader in your
country. You are a yes man. Just kiss your … ass. I
don’t give a f… what you think anymore. Just f… your
system. Who love
Indonesia if she can’t deliver my needs? F….you.”
Not
willing to be judged wrongly, some members responded
Basirun’s messages with fires. Some responded by
questioning him back why he wrote such provoking
words. Their responses were all justified. And in a
response I wrote, “You
have a good point but it was delivered in an
unconstructive way. Off-putting words will never make
things better.”
In a reply, Basirun wrote, “You are saying I’m talking garbage while you are
not? F… you. Show me how you are going to get out of
the West's trap.”
An
editor (?) of
Parahyangan Magazine
wrote, “We should read messages with a clear mind and
take the good ones. That way we can learn to enhance
our mindset. Hopefully the forum can offer interesting
issues to follow.”
Evita Ginting sent a wonderful message, “We all know
that our government’s already got tons of problems.
Our country needs very good people to recover. But if
everybody is just running away to enjoy luxurious life
in other country, I think Indonesia will continue to
suffer for the next two centuries. Always criticizing
is not helpful, but giving contributions to the
country, even if it is very little, will help.
Another great message posted by Eva Hutabarat, “Let’s
think and discuss what Indonesia’s current and future
challenges are. History has taught us that location
does not matter in building a better Indonesia.
Soekarno was in Indonesia and Hatta was in Netherlands
but they fought and finally led the country into its
independence. There was no Internet at that time. We
now have a different kind of struggling and we are
living in the Internet era. We can use this medium to
share our good idea that might be helpful to others
and to the Indonesian society.”
In fact, whether this might sound silly, it was the
works of Hatta and Ki Hajar Dewantara who founded
Indisjhe Party in Netherlands in the late 20s which
inspired me to establish the Indonesian Institute. The
idea came to my mind in the late 1999 and invited my
Balinese friend, Agung, who studied at Boston
University to join the effort but there was no
response since he thought that the idea was stupid.
While in the late 20s the Founding Fathers needed a
strong party to energize the independence of the
country, today we need many institutes or centers run
from overseas to promote a better Indonesia. Many
Indonesian groups founded overseas are mainly based on
religious and gathering motives. There are only a
handful numbers which are trying to promote unity,
democracy and prosperity back home.
Yuni in Scotland wrote, “When I was in Sydney, the
hard time actually was given by Indonesian people who
tried very hard to get Australian permanent
residencies and at the same time showed their hatred
to Indonesian government. I really wanted to remind
them that they're born in Indonesia, managed to live
and got support in Indonesia before they successfully
reside in Australia. I understand that home is where we
belong. But in today's global era, home can be everywhere
in the world. I can't blame Basirun and others who
run away from Indonesia to get a better live, but I
disagree if they make nasty comments about Indonesia.
Every country has its own black history.”
“I am in Scotland now, but to be honest with all of
you, I don't know how to start improving Indonesia.
So far, all I can do is just keep in touch with my
University back home and share my opinion with them. I
don't know much about politics, although I try to keep
up with the situation back in Indonesia.”
After firing back Basirun’s provocative words with fired
responses, rational questions, eloquent enlightenments
and polite reminders, an iced tone was played by Joe
in Canberra.
Joe wrote, “This forum is for us to share our thought
for a better Indonesia. For me, Basirun has provided
an example that we can never agree with others all the
times and at all things. But although we may disagree
with others, we should treat them as they are and if
they do bad things, we should make efforts to turn
them into good people.”
It is an excellent point. As we are living in a
dangerous world today where many people are striving
to destroy others, Joe’s words are worthy of thinking:
how to turn bad people into good ones. This
is one of the very important problems these days where
(good) people do not make enough efforts to educate
the bad guys.
Alia and Indira in Jakarta closed the last week’s
discussion with strong reminders. Alia wrote, “Well, I
think that most of you in this forum are living
abroad. I'm not. I live in Jakarta and have to put up
with whatever is going on here. While the rest of you
can easily observe everything from a distance. It's
safer to be brave from a distance.”
“As Indonesia’s image is now poor around the globe,
this is the time for us to do our responsibility as
good citizens. We can start from small things and from
a small neighborhood. Be a successful person in our
field or job is one example,” wrote Indira.
That’s true. But the greatest achievement I got last
week was that a reconfirmation of my principle that to
accept others, no matter how differ they are from us,
is the first step toward having a harmonious
relationship and a united nation. And thanks to all
who have written such wonderful reminders. It is now
our responsibility to spread the message to others.
Your
comment
Back
to top
|
The Prospect
is published by The Indonesian Institute. Our messages are
study, democracy and unity.
