On Youth Pledge Day
On Youth Pledge Day
One country? One nation? One language?
Those question marks weren't there when the words were first
stated on Oct. 28, 1928 by a handful of young Indonesian
intellectuals meeting in Batavia, the present-day Jakarta.
"One country, one nation, one language" was the motto that
inspired the Indonesian nationalist movement in those early years
of its existence and that has since continued to arouse the
spirit of freedom and unity among Indonesians. It became the
battle cry that has so far effectively united this nation
consisting of hundreds of diverse ethnic and cultural groups.
It is therefore not without reason that Oct. 28 is
commemorated each year with deference as national Youth Pledge
Day, in homage to those pioneers of Indonesian independence who
had the momentous foresight to see and treat this vast
archipelago of more than 17,000 islands as one political and
cultural whole.
At present, however, 72 years after the 1928 youth pledge,
Indonesians would do well to ask themselves where 55 years of
political independence has led them on their journey toward
realizing those ideals.
As a unitary republic, Indonesia still stands intact,
undivided and whole -- for now. But religious and communal strife
in several parts of the archipelago make it seem increasingly
doubtful that the unity of Indonesia can be maintained, unless
Indonesians remain true to the ideals promulgated in the 1928
pledge and put their sectarian differences aside.
Up to this moment, unfortunately, there is little indication
that this can be effectively accomplished any time soon. The
general situation in Maluku seems to have calmed down, but the
tendency for violence to flare up unexpectedly at the least
provocation still seems to prevail in various parts of the
islands.
Conflicts in restive Aceh continue to claim victims on both
sides and although a so-called humanitarian pause is in effect,
there is little sign that it is being observed by the parties
involved.
In the latest case of sectarian violence, a savage conflict
erupted without warning in Pontianak, the provincial capital of
West Kalimantan. At least six people have so far been killed in
clashes between indigenous locals and migrant settlers.
Indeed, all across the Indonesian archipelago, Jakarta
included, violence seems to have become the accepted way to
settle differences -- a clear token of a loss of authority on the
part of the administration. With the specter of disintegrating
hanging over the country, the very cohesion of the nation is also
endangered.
As for the Indonesian language, experts and educators have
long complained about the chaotic use of Bahasa Indonesia. Even
television announcers, who are university graduates, seem to lack
the ability to speak the national language properly.
For this, it is not only the education system that is to
blame. The authorities, too -- from the national leadership down
to the lowest ranking subdistrict officials -- commit the offense
of abusing Bahasa Indonesia.
It is no exaggeration to say that, as far as its public use is
concerned, Bahasa Indonesia is on its way to becoming a defunct
language, its place being taken over by a kind of gibberish
without any set rules of grammar or idiom.
On this propitious day, then, Indonesians had better start
giving more substance to their commemoration of the 1928 youth
pledge. It may be difficult to put the national house in order,
but it is not too late.