Building a new Indonesia

Opinion and Editorial – July 04, 2007 Jakarta Post

Anand Krishna, Jakarta

Every year we commemorate the anniversary of the birth of Sukarno; the country’s first president and true man of vision, whose mission gave us the five principles of Pancasila:

Religiousness: The practice of religion and belief in the supreme. This very first principle was originally conceived by Bung Karno — as he is affectionately called — as the uniting or binding force for all other principles.

Nationalism: Brotherhood of all Indonesians based on common, relevant and practicable cultural values in line with religiousness.

Internationalism and humanity: Love of nation, without fostering fascism. Our nationalism should grow in the garden of internationalism. Even our independence, said Bung Karno, was a means to achieve the higher goal of the betterment of the world, and to actively contribute toward it.

Democracy: Not “the majority must win”, but “the cohesion of majority and minority” type of democracy. It should be a win-win solution.

Justice and Prosperity: Not to be reduced to a slogan, but to be achieved through diligent work.

These five principles speak of “practice” and “achievement”, of “hard work” and “sacrifice”, of the need to Berdiri diatas kaki sendiri — stand on our own feet. We will work with any country, anyone — but not be dependent on them. Such is the spirit of Pancasila, of gotong-royong — working together to achieve a common goal.

These days, it seems we have lost this spirit.

And, without this spirit, it appears that nation-building has been reduced to construction work that is not really building anything.

We are busy constructing malls, resorts and skyscrapers. We are busy decorating our nation, without even bothering to think if such decoration is necessary. We have, in our ignorance, covered up the natural beauty of our country with a thick layer of ugly make-up.

We have caused misery to many, all in the name of “development”. When a new mall or apartment building is constructed, it results in another area becoming prone to flooding.

We have completely overlooked or paid very little attention to the health and education sectors. How can we achieve our goal of social justice and prosperity for all if we continue to neglect these two important sectors? Moreover, do we realize that when all is said and done, finally, it is “happiness” that really matters? Are we happy? Are we nation of happy people?

Wealth, as surveys made by prestigious foreign media groups like BBC and Newsweek point out, is not the prime factor in happiness. Indeed, it is health.

State-owned insurance companies and hospitals should be service-oriented, not profit-oriented. Tax-payers have the right to low-premium or even free insurance and adequate health facilities. This is one way to motivate people to pay tax.

Insurance companies, especially foreign joint ventures, make it difficult or very expensive for people over the age of 60 to buy insurance or even to continue their old policies.

Relationships and interaction with others creates happiness. This is one major problem that we as a nation are facing right now: Our inability to “appreciatively” interact with each other. This has caused much damage; it has crippled us. How can we tread the path of nationalism and internationalism if we have forgotten how to interact with each other?

In order to interact “appreciatively” with others, we must consider others as our own — as Indonesians. We must set aside all our religious differences and base our relationships on the core universal and common values found in all religions, such as love, peace, harmony, non-violence, truth and appropriate conduct.

The State’s intervention in religious matters has divided Indonesians. No two Indonesians professing different faiths can marry, unless one of them renounces his or her faith. By allowing such a bill to be passed, we sowed our own seeds of separatism.

Our education system should be value-oriented and free of separatism based on religion. Religious education is the responsibility of parents; failing in which they can seek the help of religious leaders from their churches, mosques or temples.

Another factor in happiness is contentment; living consciously. While Oprah in the West is promoting a debt-free lifestyle, our banks here are promoting the contrary.

Development here is a myth. We have not achieved development as yet. We are merely constructing things. As a nation we have never been at such a low point as we are now.

But, there is no use complaining. We have to start building Indonesia, our Indonesia. This task does not lie on the shoulders of our politicians alone, but is the responsibility of each and every Indonesian. It is on your shoulders, and on mine.

The writer is an Interfaith Nationalist/Spiritualist who has authored more than 100 books.(www.anandkrishna.org).