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Indonesians
will celebrate their 68th Independence Day on Aug. 17. This year’s Independence
Day commemoration is occurring close to the spirit of Idul Fitri festivities,
which took place a week before.
We ought to be thankful for a mixture of two noteworthy matters: celebrating the gratitude of Idul Fitri and expressing a mature commemoration of the country’s freedom.
One of the chief stumbling blocks Indonesians are dealing with now is the discrepancy between political advancement and economic development. An Indonesian citizen knows that the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia is politically acknowledged across the archipelago from Sabang to Merauke. This is a principal declaration that Indonesia’s political unity is uncompromised in people’s minds.
Yet the political accord becomes susceptible while the lion’s share of economic growth and prosperity is unequally distributed throughout the nation. Imbalances in infrastructure development, limited access to education and small- and medium-sized enterprises’ weak market penetration strategies across different regions in the country, to mention just a few, increasingly substantiate Indonesia’s obvious economic incongruity.
This challenging economic approach will slowly but surely put political stability at stake due to regional dissatisfaction.
In an attempt to contextualize the very essence of liberty, political and economic unity is then essential for subsequent rationales. First, it is the key to impartial development leading to central government legitimacy and widespread prosperity. It is public knowledge that national development has been and is still concentrating on Java. This island is densely populated on the strength of economic attraction, as the saying goes: “Where there is sugar, there are ants.”
While political integration is imposed nationwide by the government, economic development remains focused on certain areas. Prosperity is out of the reach by reason of economic injustice.
Additionally, such economic inequality is detrimental to demographic effects prompting constant rural to urban migration, movement of people from other parts of the country to Java, and a periphery to center exodus. Indonesia needs affirmative action on economic engineering that shifts economic improvement to peripheral areas and outside Java. Endeavors to empower regions for economic interest must crack down on comparative advantages engaging in financial and managerial initiatives. Otherwise, they are nothing more than politicians’ rhetoric.
Agriculture and creative industries could be remedies for regionally economic intensification. They might grow to the full providing local leadership is entrusted to entrepreneurs rather than to career bureaucrats and political appointees. The Success stories of Joko Widodo (former mayor of Surakarta in Central Java) and Amran Nur (former mayor of Sawahlunto in West Sumatra) are clear evidence of entrepreneurship-based local governance. They fathom that independence is not simply a matter of political freedom but is also inseparably associated with the public well-being.
Second, political and economic unity is considerably significant in terms of setting off a wave of nationalistic spirit. A massive crisis of confidence in the ruling authority is due to a strong emphasis on political slants when it comes to addressing public issues. This is definitely in contradiction to an economic approach. While the former defines people as being friend and foe, the latter creates multiple friends and less rivals.
Elites’ political acts have failed to awaken public patriotism on account of their interest in power sharing and political ceremonies, such as solemn official speeches and flag ceremonies. It does not mean, for example, that Indonesian citizens should no longer participate in flag ceremonies. People should not be judged as unpatriotic simply because they decide to enjoy the day doing other things. Each has his or her own ways of honoring Indonesia.
It is through the economic language of prosperity that a sense of patriotism turns into populism. Separatist movements in some areas — Maluku and Papua — are attributable to the government’s political suppression and economic exploitation, not just with the separatists’ being less knowledgeable about Indonesia’s historical unity. Populist nationalism, which is cushioned by economic prosperity, cannot fully count on political procedures owing to its narrow-mindedness and fragmented nature.
Third, political and economic integration conforms to Indonesia’s competitiveness. Based on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2012-2013 report, Indonesia’s competitiveness ranking fell to 50 out of 144 countries. Bribery and red tape, which have been contributing factors to the decline, cannot be separated from the soaring trend of politicized government offices and service delivery. On the one side, politicization takes good-governance out of the country’s bureaucracy. On the other, it sees corporate culture exerting stress on economic yardsticks such as efficiency and effectiveness, which are central to enhancing productivity and igniting creativity.
One effort to increase the country’s competitiveness rests on the authority’s political will to apply good governance principles in the public sector. It is influential in paving the way for burgeoning competitiveness in social relations. The desire for competition should derive from a bottom-up approach so that productivity and creativity morph into the populist domain.
This is particularly true as future networking is largely swayed by people to people roles as opposed to government to government relations at the international level.
This is the core essence of liberty that Indonesian people aspire for. Long live the great Indonesia! ●
We ought to be thankful for a mixture of two noteworthy matters: celebrating the gratitude of Idul Fitri and expressing a mature commemoration of the country’s freedom.
One of the chief stumbling blocks Indonesians are dealing with now is the discrepancy between political advancement and economic development. An Indonesian citizen knows that the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia is politically acknowledged across the archipelago from Sabang to Merauke. This is a principal declaration that Indonesia’s political unity is uncompromised in people’s minds.
Yet the political accord becomes susceptible while the lion’s share of economic growth and prosperity is unequally distributed throughout the nation. Imbalances in infrastructure development, limited access to education and small- and medium-sized enterprises’ weak market penetration strategies across different regions in the country, to mention just a few, increasingly substantiate Indonesia’s obvious economic incongruity.
This challenging economic approach will slowly but surely put political stability at stake due to regional dissatisfaction.
In an attempt to contextualize the very essence of liberty, political and economic unity is then essential for subsequent rationales. First, it is the key to impartial development leading to central government legitimacy and widespread prosperity. It is public knowledge that national development has been and is still concentrating on Java. This island is densely populated on the strength of economic attraction, as the saying goes: “Where there is sugar, there are ants.”
While political integration is imposed nationwide by the government, economic development remains focused on certain areas. Prosperity is out of the reach by reason of economic injustice.
Additionally, such economic inequality is detrimental to demographic effects prompting constant rural to urban migration, movement of people from other parts of the country to Java, and a periphery to center exodus. Indonesia needs affirmative action on economic engineering that shifts economic improvement to peripheral areas and outside Java. Endeavors to empower regions for economic interest must crack down on comparative advantages engaging in financial and managerial initiatives. Otherwise, they are nothing more than politicians’ rhetoric.
Agriculture and creative industries could be remedies for regionally economic intensification. They might grow to the full providing local leadership is entrusted to entrepreneurs rather than to career bureaucrats and political appointees. The Success stories of Joko Widodo (former mayor of Surakarta in Central Java) and Amran Nur (former mayor of Sawahlunto in West Sumatra) are clear evidence of entrepreneurship-based local governance. They fathom that independence is not simply a matter of political freedom but is also inseparably associated with the public well-being.
Second, political and economic unity is considerably significant in terms of setting off a wave of nationalistic spirit. A massive crisis of confidence in the ruling authority is due to a strong emphasis on political slants when it comes to addressing public issues. This is definitely in contradiction to an economic approach. While the former defines people as being friend and foe, the latter creates multiple friends and less rivals.
Elites’ political acts have failed to awaken public patriotism on account of their interest in power sharing and political ceremonies, such as solemn official speeches and flag ceremonies. It does not mean, for example, that Indonesian citizens should no longer participate in flag ceremonies. People should not be judged as unpatriotic simply because they decide to enjoy the day doing other things. Each has his or her own ways of honoring Indonesia.
It is through the economic language of prosperity that a sense of patriotism turns into populism. Separatist movements in some areas — Maluku and Papua — are attributable to the government’s political suppression and economic exploitation, not just with the separatists’ being less knowledgeable about Indonesia’s historical unity. Populist nationalism, which is cushioned by economic prosperity, cannot fully count on political procedures owing to its narrow-mindedness and fragmented nature.
Third, political and economic integration conforms to Indonesia’s competitiveness. Based on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2012-2013 report, Indonesia’s competitiveness ranking fell to 50 out of 144 countries. Bribery and red tape, which have been contributing factors to the decline, cannot be separated from the soaring trend of politicized government offices and service delivery. On the one side, politicization takes good-governance out of the country’s bureaucracy. On the other, it sees corporate culture exerting stress on economic yardsticks such as efficiency and effectiveness, which are central to enhancing productivity and igniting creativity.
One effort to increase the country’s competitiveness rests on the authority’s political will to apply good governance principles in the public sector. It is influential in paving the way for burgeoning competitiveness in social relations. The desire for competition should derive from a bottom-up approach so that productivity and creativity morph into the populist domain.
This is particularly true as future networking is largely swayed by people to people roles as opposed to government to government relations at the international level.
This is the core essence of liberty that Indonesian people aspire for. Long live the great Indonesia! ●
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