Where do we stand?

Tomorrow, Aug. 17, Indonesians will commemorate their country's 56th anniversary of independence. As has become the tradition, the crisis-strapped nation will be celebrating that grand occasion with thanksgiving gatherings and festivities as well as conditions allow.

As the nation erupts in merriment -- forgetting for a moment the setbacks and hardships the economic crisis has brought for countless millions of Indonesians -- it is relevant to ask how far the past 56 years have gone toward bringing the country closer to achieving the goals its founding fathers established when proclaiming independence on that historic morning of August 17, 1945 -- a mere two days after the Japanese surrendered at the close of World War II.

Those goals, as enshrined in Indonesia's 1945 Constitution, may sound utopian against the realities of life in a world torn apart by warfare and conflict, but are possibly quite valid as nationalist aspirations go.

In essence, what Indonesia's founding fathers envisaged was the creation of a just and prosperous Indonesian state in which wealth and opportunities would be distributed fairly among its citizens, who would all stand equal before the law. In short, the 1945 Constitution proclaims a community in which not only human rights, but economic democracy is respected.

How far has Indonesia come toward achieving that goal? It must be said that, although some progress has been made, the egalitarian society that this country's founding fathers imagined would emerge by declaring the nation independent from colonial rule is still far from a reality.

In the course of the past 56 years, the nation has experimented with diverse systems of government, from Western- style liberalism to authoritarianism, both leftist and rightist, with the result that each time a change of government occurs, a new beginning has had to be made.

In the meantime, the world continues to move forward. Indonesia's next-door neighbor Singapore, one of the world's smallest states which became self-governing in only 1956 and independent in only 1965, has grown into one of the most prosperous and most orderly nations in Asia and the world. Good progress has also been made in Malaysia, as well as in other countries in this region and the world. Time is obviously beginning to run out for Indonesia. In the new global constellation that is emerging, Indonesia must either catch up or be condemned to play second fiddle.

In such a situation, the emergence -- just yesterday, as it were -- of what is promising to be a stable, strong and competent government, inspires hope among Indonesians that it is not too late. There is still time for the nation to make up for all the time and opportunities that have been lost. However, no more time can be squandered. At this stage it is high time that Indonesians look to the future with clear heads and clear eyes, and stop bickering over issues that are irrelevant in the context of the nation's progress toward modernity.