State of the nation address from a roving flag vendor

State of the nation address from a roving flag vendor

Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post

If he were to read and understand the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, this man would not be complaining about people's
apathy and would not likely heavily invest in a high-risk
business.

The middle-aged roving flag and flagpole vendor, grumbled to a
woman who said his flag was too expensive. "Look, nobody cares
about Independence Day now. Where is the people's pride as
Indonesians?"

For most of this week, the Sundanese vendor complained that he
could only sell an average of one flag a day, fewer compared to
five last year. And much lower than his sales 10 years ago, when
Indonesia celebrated its 50th Independence Day.

"They are not ashamed to use their dirty, old flags!"

After explaining that he had not had lunch because there had
been no buyers all morning, he soon was able to buy a bowl of
instant noodles from a nearby warung (stall) after the woman
eventually bought a medium-sized flag. The 60th Independence Day
commemoration will likely be disastrous for him, because there is
only a slim chance that he will be able to repay his loan to the
money-lender that gave him the money for the flags.

People living in Jakarta can easily sense that the 60th
Independence Day commemoration is not comparable to 10 years ago,
or even to the 2004 festivities. Last year, people were joyful
because they were expecting a new president, whom they would
directly elect one month later. There were high expectations at
that time that Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would win the
election and the nation would be better off.

On Wednesday, the nation celebrated its 60th Independence Day.
It is a milestone, but people are responding in a cool way so
far. Why? Are people losing their sense of nationalism, as the
vendor theorized?

Ten years ago, The Jakarta Post reported that over one million
people attended kenduri nasional (national thanksgiving day) at
the National Monument Square (Monas) as the climax of the week-
long golden anniversary celebration.

At that time, the country's economic growth was at its peak,
and the international community was deeply impressed with the
development achievements under Soeharto. Many multinational
companies regarded Indonesia as a model investment destination.
The government had a lot of things to show off. (Two years later
the nation went bankrupt when the economic crisis hit Asia).

Now what we can exhibit? (Indonesians are rather like
'exhibitionists'!). For sure we are proud of our achievements in
democracy. Now Indonesians directly elect, not just their
president, but also governors, regents and mayors. Are those not
far-reaching accomplishments? What else? Our economy is still
weak, our exports continue to decline. Only our "export" of
forest fire smoke to Malaysia is constant.

Let us get back to the Declaration of Human Rights, which was
issued by the United Nations in 1948 and consists of 30 articles.
Among other crucial points, it mentions "the right to recognition
as a person before the law, equal legal protection, the right to
work, the right to education, the right to a standard of living
adequate for health and well-being, freedom of thought,
conscience and religion."

For Indonesians who have been suffering since the 1997
economic crisis, the UN Assembly's statement that the Declaration
is "a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all
nations", seems unimaginable. If the question were posed, it
would be difficult for an Indonesian to answer this: "Mention
some of the rights you now benefit from as mandated by the UN."

From all the rights and freedoms guaranteed in the
Declaration, only "the right to marry" is apparently the easiest
right to be exercised. And because the other rights are much more
difficult to gain, perhaps that is the reason why more
Indonesians are now enthusiastic to marry more wives. Fortunately
or unfortunately, women do not have such equal opportunity to
marry again.

Am I proud to be an Indonesian? Of course yes.

Why are you proud? We are often proud of something without a
special reason!

If you could be reborn, what nationality would you choose? Of
course to be an Indonesian again.

Why? You know what is hidden deep in my heart!

The nation commemorated its independence from colonialism on
Wednesday. It is an annual routine. School children sang our
national anthem Indonesia Raya in their schools across the
country on that day, because their teachers required them to,
while they attended a flag-raising ceremony.

How should we commemorate it? At least liberate yourself from
all the hardship on the Independence Day.

The writer can be reached at purba@thejakartapost.com