Illusion of Independence

by Eko Prasetyo @ 6:06 AM No one knows why Indonesia's fate seems to be engulfed in misery since its conception. When our founding fathers proclaimed our Independence 60 years ago, we are hoping for freedom from oppresions, freedom from fears, and mostly: freedom from occupations. Yes, when we declared that we are a nation of our own, we stated that we shall stand on our own two feet, free from any external intervention, free to do as we wish to our lands, free to enjoy its riches, free to pile our own wealth. Under the leadership of our founding fathers, we survived through two Dutch's Military Agressions. We also survived various attempts conducted by people who wished to dissect our then young republic. We survived when Republic of Indonesia were just a tiny piece of the fragile and conflicts brewing Federation of Indonesian States. We overturned the Federation and embraces the pathetic states into one strong United State of Republic of Indonesia. We survived through our first years because we were one in spirit, one in mind, and one in action. We act as one giant force that was succesful in pushing away any oppresors that stepped their boots on our lands. We were ONE ! But what happened later? What happened when the oppresors acknowledged us, left our lands, and let us build our nation by ourselves? What happened later was an irony. Irony because we were strong enough to push aside our differences in the face of the oppresors but we were not strong enough to do the same when facing ourselves. We began dissecting ourselves by the time the oppresors left our land. First by some of us who declared that they were unsatisfied and separating themselves from us. Although the smells of foreign interventions were strong, the one who performed it were nonetheless parts of us. These rebellions were then crushed by our government with help from us. We stopped the dissection because we still believed in our unity. Then we began dissecting ourselves when it's time for us to do democracy. I mean, there were 50+ political parties to show how fragile our unity was. It felt like it was time for some local barons to finally display their desires to take control of the riches of the lands who had been controlled by foreigners. I guess 350+ years of oppresion had made those local barons more than eager to snatch a share of the wealths for themselves whereas they had never been able to do so when the foreigners were still here. And thus, those political parties began long history of dissections made by our own leaders. And we followed them blindly, unaware that by doing so, we were weakening our long fought freedom. By the time our unity waned and our freedom weakened, oppresors came back not in boots but in whispers and promises. And although we are still what we are, Republic of Indonesia, we no longer have our freedom. Those whispers and promises have been taking control of our lives since the rise of Communism, and the rise of Capitalism that took over later. Since capitalism, we have lost our independence completely and still we have taken it for granted. We have been robbed ever since and we know it but have been doing little mostly because the robbers have given us a small share of the wealths they robbed. There seems to be egoistic self-survival sub-conscious in us that make us bow to the might of the capital owners and do whatever necessary to keep ourselves alive. We have been occupied again, not by weapons, but by capitals. We are being occupied from top to bottom . Our governments have strings attached to them. Our businessmen have strings attached to them. And we let ourselves being attached to them. From the day we declared our Independence, it seems our leaders have been capitalizing on one thing: our slave mindset. The majority of us, who has been kept from getting proper education, will bow to their leaders unconditionally. This has been creating an atmosphere of dissections cause there are so many leaders that have this kind of blind followers here in Indonesia. Those leaders are ready to put their followers into fights for powers, and the followers are ready to put their lives into fights for powers for their leaders. This condition is just right for the whispers and promises. It will be easier for them to take control of us. And they have done so effectively. That's how our independence changed from a hard earned trophy into an illusion of freedom. Now, how shall we changed it back to reality? tags: Indonesians Illusion of Independence | My Alter Ego | Blogroll Me! | |