Reviving 'SARA' talks would boost national awareness

Amid humiliation and gloom the commemoration of National Awakening Day on May 20 means reviving formerly taboo talks on social differences, to seek an acceptable "Indonesia" to all across the archipelago, says historian Anhar Gonggong, a member of the expert staff at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Question: What is today's context of commemorating "national awakening"? The founding of the Budi Utomo organization on May 20 1908 is considered a landmark in Indonesian nationalism.

Answer: There has been a misunderstanding over our process of becoming a nation. We have not become an Indonesian nation yet. The term Indonesia itself is still new. It was not a continuance of (previous kingdoms) Sriwijaya and Majapahit...

Budi Utomo aimed for heightened (awareness of) culture and education for a limited public, the Javanese... But this was the start of an ethnic awareness becoming a larger awareness in the context of a nation...

Other organizations followed like Sarekat Islam and the Indische Party propagating nationalism of "Hindia" which comprised the Dutch East Indies. "Indonesia" further developed from organizations like Jong Java (Java Youth), Jong Ambon... Young Indonesia... The nationalism process reflected changes.

Q: What changes?

A: Significant ones: A few educated, enlightened Dutch East Indies citizens acquiring education not merely to earn a living but to work for the interest of a nation.

Their organizations became new tools in the struggle. This marked a change; a struggle using brains, a departure from the previous three centuries in which struggle mainly used brawn.

Yet another change was the birth of another new tool -- dialog. Dialog among ourselves in meetings, those representing ourselves through organizations, and talks with the colonial parties. A third was the rise of another tool of struggle -- newspapers and magazines to launch ideas bringing about public awareness...

One dialog involved (leading intellectuals) Sutakmo Suryokusumo and Cipto Mangunkusumo. Sutakmo said the basis of nationalism should be Javanese nationalism because of its great culture and long history. Cipto said Javanese culture was crumbling, so we should build the nationalism of the Dutch East Indies. This kind of dialog continued... until the 1928 Youth Pledge declared one archipelago, one nation, and one language -- Indonesia. But the pledge meant that we are one nation with acknowledgement of our different histories; that despite unity, we remain a diverse nation.

All this was created through rational dialog. Organizations, dialogs and enlightenment led to the discovery of Indonesia.

Q: But many now fear the country's disintegration and feel ashamed to admit they're Indonesian when they're abroad...

A: This is our fault, mainly that of political parties which never conducted political education. After we proclaimed independence, it was as if Indonesia was completed. It remains a dynamic process... because we are a diverse nation.

Under (former president) Soeharto we could not talk about those things... we were told that talking about SARA (acronym for social differences of ethnicity, race and other groups) would make the country fall apart.

The deepest fault lies with our self denial; by not doing so (engaging in dialog) we have been (reinforcing) SARA... hence the divisions among us. Indonesia is the result of a dialog between enlightened people... Instead of developing "Indonesia" the government extorts its own people -- witness Aceh, Irian Jaya, Riau, East Kalimantan, South Sulawesi.

So we cannot stop drawing up strategies to bring about the kind of Indonesia that we want in the future. Does it have to be through continually extorting Aceh and Irian? Does Jakarta always have to be the capital? Our fault has been the inability to understand the dynamics that led to the emergence of Indonesia.

Q: What is the way out?

A: By reviving dialog and doing away with group interests. Political education is important. What's the difference between today's politics and those of the era of the independence struggle? The earlier political organizations succeeded in building national awareness for independence and the image that Indonesians were equal to others -- thanks to (scholars and leaders) Sutomo, Ki Hajar Dewantoro, Mohammad Hatta, Soekarno and Syahrir.

It was such people who managed to provide political education -- not the 1945 Generation, which did nothing after proclamation because they thought Indonesia had already been established. So we failed to understand ourselves and we stopped talking among ourselves. Now we have dialogs, but for our own group interests.

Q: So how should we commemorate National Awakening Day?

A: By discovering its true meaning again, by building Indonesia through dialog, unity and diversity. Unity must not be contradicted with diversity ... Party leaders must reflect on the leaders of national struggle.

Q: Is it worth preserving Indonesia as a unitary state?

A: I prefer a federal state because a country with so many diverse islands and people is too large to be led from Jakarta.

Q: What about regional autonomy within the framework of a unitary state?

A: The current concept is wrong, giving autonomy directly to regencies -- what about the provinces? Autonomy should aim first, for the empowerment of regions to identify and realize their own potential; second, for the benefit of Indonesia. Strong regions will result in a strong Indonesia ...

Q: The Anti-Communist Alliance has been commemorating National Awakening Day by searching for "leftist" books. Your comment?

A: That contradicts the spirit of National Awakening Day because in the struggle for independence open dialog flourished, likewise all sorts of books and ideas. Our leaders enthusiastically studied Marxism, communism and socialism. (M. Yazid)