Experts Emphasise the Urgency of Building Human Resources Rooted in National Culture

Culture is the way humans manage and interpret the universe. Jakarta (ANTARA) - Professor Melani Budianta, a professor at the Faculty of Cultural Studies, University of Indonesia (FIB UI), emphasised the importance of building human resources (HR) that are strongly rooted in Indonesian culture to face the challenges of progress in the future. In the Denpasar 12 Discussion Forum held online in Jakarta on Wednesday, Melani stressed that forming HR based on local cultural roots will become a differentiator and strength for the younger generation amid the dynamic and open currents of globalisation. She criticised the narrow understanding that often views culture merely as artistic products, artefacts, or tourism commodities aimed solely at increasing the country’s foreign exchange earnings. “Culture is the way humans manage and interpret the universe. Regarding their lives, relating to nature, fellow humans, and also relating to what is transcendent in nature,” she said. Melani also highlighted the shift in language values in early childhood education environments, where the use of foreign terms is beginning to replace calls that more reflect identity and the hospitality of Indonesia’s original culture. According to Melani, innovations such as the Sound of Borobudur music project serve as real evidence of how ancient legacies can be revived through new creativity to build imagination of the past for the benefit of the future. In addition, she continued, arts and humanities education plays a strategic role in sharpening sensitivity to human values, building social cohesion, and healing wounds from past conflicts through various means of expression. “So how the legacy of the past, that cultural heritage, needs to be cultured to be lived again in the present, but not just preserved, but updated through innovation, through industry, through any creativity,” she stated. Melani added that the preservation of regional languages is also crucial because the loss of one language means the loss of an order of knowledge about nature, endemic plants, to traditional medicine systems. Towards that ideal, Melani emphasised that building the nation’s identity greatly requires exemplary leadership from national leaders so that noble cultural values are firmly embedded in the daily habits of Indonesian society.