Indonesia Independence Day
Today is Indonesia independence day. Google put up a picture of a game we normally play at Independence day called 'Panjat pinang', climbing a Pinang tree trunk to get presents. Sounds easy right? The trunk is covered with grease, and while you are climbing it, sometime people throw water at you to make it even slippery. Therefore, to win it, you work in a group and take turn with other group trying to reach the top at a given time.
Back in 2008 we had both men and women groups competing at Panjat pinang game in my area. It was fun to see. However, since it's Ramadan, there were no games to celebrate the independence day in my area. It's a pity, especially for kids, who normally compete in a lot of games.
Last night there were documentaries on Soekarno and Hatta. This afternoon, on our way to one of my cousins' place, my aunties who knew both men personally reminiscing about Soekarno. The guy was famous of being a womanizer. That being said, he could accept a rejection, unlike some of the present day so-called-leaders. Compared to his present day counterparts, Soekarno had more guts when it comes to dealing with foreigners. He had more charisma than any other Indonesian presidents after him. Despite his faults, there were things that we still need to learn from him.
Too bad, these days most people choose to forget/ignore about Indonesian history. Kids know more about celebrities from abroad and not about our own heroes and founding fathers. We could learn a lot from history so that we dont have to make the same mistake twice.
What is our weakness: our weakness is we do not believe in ourselves as a nation, therefore we become a nation of copying from abroad, distrust each other, when we originally were the people of gotong royong (joint bearing of burdens)
Soekarno's speech on Indonesia independence day 1966
3 comments:
I missed the days when celebration was so enjoyable.
Compared to his successors, Sukarno has more guts in dealing with foreign countries.
To bad he did not focus on economic development.
Climbing a tall greasy pole is something I remember from Queen's Days in my ( very) young years :).
As for Soekarno, especially for the politician and statesman Soekarno, ( and to lesser degree also for his generation of Hatta, general Nasution, Sjahrir, you name them) I think they fully deserve what you wrote:
"He had more charisma than any other Indonesian presidents after him. Despite his faults, there were things that we still need to learn from him."
@harry too much gals will kill you(r presidency)... ;)
@colson I think the difference is due to the fact they studied along side their colonist and could prove that they are equally as intelligent if not more while nowadays a lot of Indonesians still have minderwaardigheidscomplex when they are dealing with foreigners.
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