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.