Many academicians are looking forward to the realization of a fledgling institution to become a world class one. It was oddly enough when a national newspaper showed a picture of a new school building with a pompous banner. The ad said, "We are proudly to bring an International standard school to you. With British curricula and expatriate teachers, we will bring you children to gain a great achievement" I was not interested by such a bombastic ad. I was wondering about how a newly established school has already claimed to be an international standard school? Unashamedly, it also stated that the school hires expatriates as teachers. Does it mean that the school does not have self-confidence for and reliance on the local teachers? It seems that the manager of the school needs to ensure people that a school with expatriate teachers is a great school and a truly global school: the main gate of the future. As a matter of fact, this phenomenon reflects the basic layer of our social desease that is the loss of national self-confidence.
It is more likely that this nation does not remember about how our founding fathers having shown great self-confidence when they declared the birth of this country. Soekarno, the first Indonesian president, called on the people to "berdikari". Berdikari, an acronym stands for "berdiri di atas kaki sendiri" (standing on our own feet). Unfortunately, this slogan has dissapeared and been burried somewhere since the demise of Soekarno. Soeharto, the second president of Indonesia, always gave an example of being nationalist. He always wore black cap and batik when he happened to meet his guests. He also spoke Indonesian language in every occassion. In addition to that, Soeharto proudly presented Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (Beautiful Indonesian Miniature Park) to show the world that Indonesia is the Archipelagic country with thousands of islands and diverse traditions. But, this did not last longer, since the country was developed on the ground of foreign debt.
The behavior of this nation is appalling. Many people seem to be too proud of being vacationers who are strolling around foreign lands. They are in a great joy when they are praising the world spots they have visited. Pathetically, they do not know that there are many beautiful places in their own backyards. Realizing this fact, the government of Indonesia, through the Ministry of Cultural and Tourism Affairs, has launched a Visit Indonesia Year 2008. Some mass-media and local travel agents try to attract tourits to visit some hidden beauty of Indonesia. Clips on Indonesian tourism are also available in Youtube.com.
The endeavor above is to boost the visit of international tourists to Indonesia. I don’t know if many travel agents around the world display leaflets of Indonesia as a whole, or just of Bali? I also do not find the biggest national flight company, Garuda showing a film about Indonesian tourism during Garuda’s flight or at least screening a ten minute film prior to the taking off time. Sometimes ago, if flied with Garuda, I always heard an Indonesian traditional music was played. However, this music has been changed to something that I am not familiar with. The government has to realize that people come to Indonesia because they want to see the uniqueness of Indonesia, to enjoy an Indonesian save haven, and to breathe in a fresh air of friendship shown by the people of Indonesia. In contrast, many tourism objects are modified on the basis of foreign templates. As a result, they lost their uniqueness and their own characteristics.
We are seemingly still engaged in the battle of words. We are too prolific to produce friendly statements while we ignore their prerequisite. We have to educate our people about the importance of keeping clean and beauty. We have to reinforce the security law to ensure tourists’ comfortablity when they need to stroll around the chain of emeralds, the Indonesian archipelago. Look at our neighboring countries that have been able to assure their welcoming atmosphere. They are able to build supporting infrastructures and spread the echo of their countries through their representatives abroad. The elites must show their sincere love to Indonesia first should they want tourists to visit Indonesia. Otherwise, Indonesia will be vanished from the world map if there is no serious attempt to escalate sense of nationalism.
Ciputat, 17/04/2008
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