The country I used to love

21 years ago, I was born in Surabaya, Indonesia. My dad never liked travelling, so I spent the first 17 years of my life in Indonesia. It was kind of sad and embarrassing, really. Back when I was in grade school, everyone in my class would brag about where they went during the vacation. Singapore, Malaysia, Europe, some of them even went to USA and bragged about it. And where did I go? Yep. Nowhere.

For those of you who have never spent 17 years of your life staying in one place, -- trust me -- you are bound to have an emotional attachment to the place, whether you like it or not. So when I had to leave Indonesia right after graduating from high school, I was scared. People said that you didn't know what you had until it was gone. They were right. It took me 17 years to actually realize that I was in love with it. I was in love with Indonesia. And the thought of leaving a country that I had come to love THIS much scared me.

So let's fast forward a little bit. I left Indonesia with tearful eyes, and it was three and a half years later when I graduated and earned my bachelor degree. After spending my last three and a half years in America, I flew back to Indonesia and my impression of Indonesia changed completely.

Ever had an ex who makes you think 'what the hell was I thinking when I dated him/her?' when you run into them after a few years of not seeing each other? That's how I felt about Indonesia when I flew back home. In the first 17 years of my life I spent in Indonesia, I thought everything was okay in Indonesia. The last three and a half years of my life I spent in America opened my eyes and I realized that NOTHING is.

Okay, that was too harsh. Some things are actually okay in Indonesia. Like the food is nice. Or we don't have to pay like 20 bucks (around IDR 190,000) to park our car in a mall for two freaking hours. Or, or that we only need to pay IDR 50,000 to watch movies, as opposed to 12 bucks in America (around IDR 115,000).

See? Some things are actually okay in Indonesia. Some things aren't, of course. And you're right if you're thinking we need to change them. You're right if you're thinking we need to transform Indonesia.

This might sound a bit arrogant coming from me, but PLEASE STOP BEING ARROGANT. Indonesia has been here for what? 67 years? And us? 20 years? 30 years? Indonesia has been here WAY longer than we have. We can't even get our parents to get into Twitter, why do we even bother trying to change Indonesia?

This might be a bit sudden, but let me bring our attention to the foundation of our country, Pancasila. I'm sure that we all could recite by heart each principle of Pancasila (except the very long fourth principle, I don't even remember that one either) so I won't even bother writing it here. The fifth principle of Pancasila actually implies that "all of the country’s natural resources and the national potentials should be utilized for the greatest possible good and happiness of the people". Each and every Pancasila's principle was written with us in mind (I can go step by step and talk about how each principle actually is beneficial for us, but I'm sure you guys would rather go to Youtube and stare at buffering videos since it's less boring). We should be proud of it. We should be proud of Pancasila as our country's amazing foundation.

You guys see? Indonesia is just fine. It's not Indonesia that needs to change, it's the Indonesians.

While Pancasila was based on western cultures when Sukarno first wrote it in 1945, Suharto later stripped all western elements from Pancasila. The five principles in Pancasila (Ketuhanan, Kemanusiaan, Persatuan, Kerakyatan, and Keadilan Sosial) were claimed by Suharto as purely Indonesian notions. This means that Pancasila is ours and ours only. And if we can embrace our Blackberry/iPhone, why can't we do the same with Pancasila? Pancasila is yours, just like your phones. Do you guys see those corruptors? Do you guys see those queue-jumpers? Do you guys see those exam cheaters? Those are the very people who are breaking our Pancasila. We get REAL mad at somebody when they break our phones, why aren't we getting mad when they break our Pancasila? Why?

Sure, there is nothing we can do about those corruptors (unless your dad is a corruptor, in which case you can totally do something about it). While we theoretically can actually scold those queue-jumpers, I wouldn't do it if I were you since it might provoke a fight (if your body is well-built and you're looking for a fight, feel free to scold them). The same thing with exam cheaters, while we can call our friends out when they cheat during exams, our friendship with them might be at stakes, so I wouldn't do it if I were you either.

Changing people is hard. You don't change people. People change themselves. You can only do so much as to inspire them. So let's start changing people by changing what we can: ourselves. Stop corrupting people's money (if you're a corruptor), stop queue-jumping, stop cheating during exams, stop littering, stop bribing, ... (I can do this all night long, but I'll stop here)

If I have to write down a list of things in my life that are worth fighting for, it would look something like: 1) internet, 2) coffee, 3) Indonesia, and 4) nap time. How does your list look like? Does it have Indonesia in it? Few things in life are worth fighting for, but the country that we were born in definitely is one of them. Let's make Indonesia better by changing the Indonesians, and start changing Indonesians by first changing ourselves. Start changing ourselves by treating Pancasila like our own phone. Just like we don't break our own phone, stop breaking Pancasila.

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