On freedom
On freedom
When Indonesians raise the red-and-white flag to mark the
country's national day on Thursday, the image that comes to mind
for most people is that of the fateful August day when a young
Sukarno proclaimed Indonesia's independence 55 years ago. Full
independence was subsequently achieved in 1949, after four and a
half years of bloody armed struggle by young republicans against
the return of Dutch colonial rule, which had ended with the
Japanese military invasion of 1942.
The nation, led by Sukarno, paid with the blood, sweat and
tears of its young people to defend its independence. In
recognition of their sacrifice, the nation pays a fitting tribute
to its heroes every Aug. 17.
But should national independence day be remembered only
symbolically the way we seem to have been doing every year? For
the last 55 years, it seems that the day has been commemorated
for the heroic struggle that the young men and women put up
against the mighty Dutch colonial forces. It has never been
remembered for the substance and the spirit that the word
"independence" really entails and for which many of those young
people sacrificed their lives.
Instead, after winning the war, the nation seems to have been
quite content to allow a new set of oppressors take over the role
of the Dutch rulers. These new breed of oppressors have been
equally ruthless, and at times probably worse, in depriving the
people of their independence in the true sense of the word.
Indonesia's first president Sukarno kept the nation in
perpetual crisis from 1945 to 1965, while Soeharto, the second
president, kept the nation in perpetual ignorance and in fear.
Both men were guilty of denying their own people many of their
basic inalienable rights, including most of all, their freedom of
expression, freedom of association and freedom from fear.
Although both presidents never failed to mark Aug. 17 as
Indonesia's kemerdekaan, they obviously never took the word
seriously. Instead, they used the occasion to fire up the spirit
of nationalism so as to shore up their own political support.
Neither lived up to the substance and spirit of independence the
way it was meant to be by the national heroes who died for the
cause.
Things only started to look up in 1998 with the demise of the
Soeharto's 32-year authoritarian regime. The era of reform has
rekindled the quest for real independence. The nation has started
to rebuild the foundations needed for a democracy, something it
should have done the moment it proclaimed independence in 1945.
Only through democracy can Indonesia's independence be fully
guaranteed. Anything less would lead to disastrous results, as we
have seen with our experience of the last 55 years. Democracy
ensures that the people's inalienable rights are guaranteed,
including, in particular, the three basic freedoms: Freedom of
expression, freedom of association and freedom from fear.
The nation is still far from reaching that goal, but it is on
the right path. It held its first truly free and fair general
election last year, which in turn led to the formation of a
democratically elected government. People are now relatively
freer in expressing their opinions and in forming associations
than they have been at any time since the proclamation of
independence in 1945.
They are not, however, free from fear, one basic human right
that this government, as democratic as it is, has miserably
failed to deliver to the people. If anything, this condition has
gotten much worse these last two years, not just in pockets where
there are violent conflicts like Maluku, Poso and Aceh, but just
about everywhere else with the ever increasing crime rates.
If some people are heard to crave for the return of the "good
old days" of Soeharto -- when things for the majority were much
more peaceful -- that is because freedom from fear to many people
is far more valuable than the freedoms of expression and of
association that this government has been able to deliver.
Indonesia is still far from reaching the goal of an
independent nation as its founding fathers meant it to be. It is
therefore an appropriate time to approach the national day this
year from a completely different perspective than we have been
doing for the last 55 years. When marking the independence
proclamation on Thursday, the nation should move beyond symbolic
gestures, such as hoisting the national flag, and contemplate on
the real meaning of the word independence.
The independence proclamation by Sukarno 55 years ago changed
the course of history and the fate of an entire nation. But in
that time, the nation has achieved very little in living up to
the spirit and in fulfilling the substance of independence.
The struggle, started by our brave freedom fighters, is far
from being over. Unless we take up the torch and resume the fight
now, we will be guilty of squandering the sacrifices that the
freedom fighters made for this country.