Seeking new meaning of independence
By Harkiman Racheman
JAKARTA (JP): Every year the anniversary of Indonesia's independence has been commemorated in a most ritualistic manner. The monotony of celebrations, as evidenced by the virtual absence of creativity or novelty on a national scale, has made all rituals quite formal.
Over the past five decades what can be best remembered on these anniversaries are instances of physical mass mobilization. Except for a handful of involved historymakers, those ceremonies do not seem to really touch the psyche of most Indonesians.
The absence of participation, apart from people taking part in all sorts of community contests and matches, can be traced back to the monopoly and the "mummifying" of the standard interpretation of independence.
As a result, the dynamic substance of independence has hardly been unraveled. Renewed or refreshed interpretations have been discouraged and prohibited out of fear of shaking well- established assumptions and axioms.
After it was gained in 1945, independence meant "being free from" alien intruders and breaking free of suffering under colonial rule. Liberation stressed heavily the concept of vengeance. Every symbol of colonialism, including various forms of infrastructure, was demolished.
Such emotions are still encountered today. Ambiguous attitudes are still around, reflecting a hatred towards anything alien or foreign. Such attitudes seem to stem from a diminished sympathy toward the religion of the former colonizer, Christianity, and the legacy of the leading economic role of the Chinese Indonesian minority.
Typical xenophobia towards former colonizers was reinforced throughout the New Order era by the annual broadcasting of films depicting the independence struggle.
In other words, the celebration of independence under the New Order from 1967 to 1998 was in fact an emotional commemoration of 350 years of torment. More specifically, however, it was a special celebration of the excellent services of the 1945 Generation in liberating the people, largely through armed struggle.
This has led to a uniform way of thinking about the significance of independence. Everything disagreeing with the values and interests of Generasi 45 was unacceptable. In contrast, blind loyalty to the determined yardsticks surrounding "independence" manifested in the protocol of anniversaries -- they were excessively regularized and militaristic.
So to transform celebrations of independence, Indonesians need to broaden their traditional definition of independence. It should now also mean being free to carry out any activity during such anniversaries; otherwise commemorations would only have special meaning to a handful of people involved in that part of history.
Independence should really mean the freedom to embrace any religion, the right to lawfully protected human rights, the freedom to observe one's culture and so forth.
People should feel free to express their opinions, to join any political organization without being charged with subversion, to freely earn a living without being chased around by local authorities.
To be meaningful, any celebration of the country's anniversary should accommodate the entire populace who have been emancipated from all kinds of structural oppression, either by alien or local authorities.
Today, Independence Day should therefore be a commemoration of people regaining their long lost personal sovereignty and human dignity.
The writer graduated from Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. Based in Medan, he is currently a freelance writer and university teacher.