Nationalism plunges to lowest level: Youth activists

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In observance of the Youth Pledge Day on Oct. 28, some activists were saddened that nationalism in the country had fallen to one of its lowest levels ever due to numerous conflicts, violence and terrorist issues threatening the country's survival as a nation state.

Leaders from the Indonesian National Students Movement (GMNI), and the Indonesian Catholic Students Association (PMKRI) said separately on Sunday that the prolonged conflicts in Aceh, Maluku, Papua and the series of terror bombings were threatening the country's national unity.

GMNI Presidium Chairman Bambang Rumada said the bloody conflicts in Aceh and Maluku and other regions had a lot to do with the inequality of power distribution and the absence of justice during the New Order era.

"As long as the distribution of power and justice are considered unfair, national unity will remain threatened. People will become more and more cynical about nationalism," he told The Jakarta Post.

In addition to domestic threats, globalization with its free market system also posed a threat to people of losing their national identity, he said.

According to him, globalization was affecting the country since international organizations and institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank had dictated to the country to save it from bankruptcy.

"We can't stop globalization, but we must be able to develop our character, our ability to compete with other nations, not just follow orders from other nations," he said.

He added the oaths of one nation, one language and one motherland youths uttered in 1928 were real challenges for all the groups of people to cope with the problems, including the present terrorist issue.

PMKRI Chairman Robert J.E. Nalenan said that nationalistic feelings needed to be "refreshed" to prevent the nation from collapse.

He said the country had so far failed to develop a common national character, but only produced people who believed in communal politics and primordialism.

"We must dare to get out of our obsolete frame of mind to maintain our national unity. Better understanding of pluralism is needed, otherwise the country will collapse," he told the Post.

He said bloody conflicts in Poso, Central Sulawesi, and in Maluku and demands for separation in Aceh and Papua were part of the failure to understand pluralism.

Consequently, Pancasila, national ideology, had been weakened because everybody was reluctant to talk about it, he said.

Pancasila comprises five virtues on one god, humanity, national unity, democracy and social justicem.

Robert also urged the government to seriously implement decentralization to meet regional demands so they would have wider power to manage their own regions.

"In the past, centralization (overall control from Java) only created problems of unfair wealth distribution and injustice to all the outer islands. So don't just pretend to carry out decentralization to appease people," he said.