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Since
we have received many comments, suggestion and questions,
we
summarize them and post our answers in this Q
& A format. Thanks for those who have
contacted us.
CONTENTS
Answer:
As clearly written in the
mission statement, our goal is to help Indonesia's young
generations understand the country's current and future affairs. There are at least three foremost
problems the country is and will be engaging in.
The first one: the future development of DEMOCRACY
(whether the country will be turned back to
authoritative regime or we will be living in a
democratic society). In this matter, we also
very concern of the balancing dynamic of the three
pillars of democracy: executive, judicial and
legislative branches). The second problem is
WELFARE. Welfare is related to economic and social
development. We can explain this matter in a great detail, but
as a prelude, it's sufficient to read some of our articles on
poverty, debts and human development in this
website. And thirdly
is UNITY. As Indonesia is experiencing secessionist
movements in some part of the country and as the
country's in serious lack of dialog among
different groups, our concern on unity is valid.
Therefore
the country has serious problems and unfortunately, the older generations
seem do
not really take them seriously, in fact they are part of the
problem itself. That’s why we
want our young generations to avoid their mistakes,
learn from their ill knowledge and understanding
and keep away from their poor commitment to a
better
future of the nation.
As a brief fact, in terms of
forestry, we are one of the richest countries in
the world. But look, who benefits whom? Lack
commitment for people.
We are one of the most
indebted nations in the world. But look, who
benefits whom? Lack commitment for people.
And so on.
Is this
personal website and
dedicated for certain people?
Answer:
Elwin initiated and built this
website and mission, but it’s dedicated for our people.
It’s true that almost all (or perhaps
all) the articles and opinion are belong to him, but does
not imply that this is dedicated for him. If one
takes a look and reads the articles and opinion,
one will clearly see the point to whom he speaks against and stands for. We are looking forward to
receiving articles from others and soon there will
be many.
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Answer:
First of all, we
are certainly still part of the
young generations of the country although we are not teenagers anymore. Whether
we are idealist individuals,
all we can say is “yes” and you can read that
through our writings and missions. But we don’t stop at that
point. We also have to be rational and work for
it. The older generation people seem do not want
to hand over the management of the country to the
young generation. This is not entirely their
fault. We also made horrible mistakes. Think about
KNPI, AMPI and many youth organizations during the
New Order regime. They were
just the tools for the establishment and will
continue to be unless there is significant change
at their mindset. Look at the
young generation joined in ‘warrior’ and
some of them even ready to die to defend a
particular party. They are nothing but pawns of
the older generation. Again, we do not say that
this is completely a serious mistake committed by
the older ones, but we, the fortunate and well
equipped young generation, are also ignorance
about that.
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Answer:
No,
we are NOT part of or either associated with
any political party, as we see none of the existing
parties really commit to our national welfare
and unity.
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Answer:
Although
he is a minority in
terms of religion, he is not talking about religion
matter here. WE are talking about DEMOCRACY,
WELFARE and UNITY. We believe also you want
to live in unity with people regardless their
backgrounds.
But when we live in unity - we, again
regardless our backgrounds - want to live in
prosperity, not poverty. At the same time, we also
want our rights to be acknowledged. The rights we
mean are such as the right to live, the right to vote,
the right to worship whatever God we worship, the right to
do the work we want as long as it is legal and the
right to speak the truth without afraid of being
jailed and killed.
In
our view, those should be
the agenda of the majority as well and I believe
many of them have the same view as ours and it is
to them we firstly express our appreciation and
our invitation to work together to achieve that.
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Answer:
Here is how.
- You
can take part on this effort by sending us
your articles or opinion about the country's current and
future challenges.
- You
also can participate in translating some
materials we have (from Indonesian to English
and vice versa).
- You
can join us as a representative network in the
area you live. What we mean a representative
network is the one who will proactively
involve in the implementation of our real
world mission (such as organizing meetings,
discussion and etc) as well as the advancement
of The Indonesian Institute.
- You
can take part in maintaining and managing the
website.
Again,
our real goal is to convey democratic messages to
our young generation, enhance their knowledge and
understanding about our national problems and
constantly remind them of the importance of UNITY.
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Answer:
Although
our English is not perfect and sometimes is even
poor, but we have to live with it and consider it
as a major second language otherwise we can only
watch people progress while we are just sitting in
the corner listening to other people all the time.
No one can deny that English is the major language in
the world today and whoever wants to be successful,
needs to understand the language. In addition most
information freely available on the Internet and
in libraries are written in English. So we need to
encourage the young generation of the country to
learn and master English.
Nevertheless,
we also need and have to provide everything in
Indonesian. When we have more resources, we will
translate all the materials into two languages and
make them available on this site. So, there will
be English and Indonesian versions which are both
similar in contents.
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Question:
Can
I send articles via email and is there any monetary
reward for published articles?
We
welcome articles sent via email and we prefer so
to a hard copy format. Articles can be attached or
just typed directly in the email editor. Unless
there are some pictures and graphs, the first
option would be the best way.
Unfortunately,
for the moment we are not providing monetary
reward for published articles. It is based on two
factors. First, The Indonesian Institute is a
non-profit organization. Second, we are trying to
enhance the mindset of Indonesia's young
generation so that in the end we expect the young
generations can learn how to serve their nation's
best interest without asking first what they can
get from it. It is more or less like what John F.
Kennedy said to his nation, "Don't ask what
your country can give for you, but ask what you can
give to your country."
Nevertheless,
it is our hope to be able to provide some kind of
appreciation to contributors in the near future.
For starters, think about that this is your lab to
conduct experiment. For experienced writers, think
about that this is your way to help the nation
without asking first monetary reward.
Regarding
the deadline, in most cases, we publish accepted
articles within a one or two days.
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Last revised:
November 10, 2002
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