17 Agst Reflection

It is not Indonesia National Day, you know... It's the INDEPENDENCE DAY. Some people claim that there is no difference in both terms. But oh well, personally for me, there is a HUGE difference in that. You see, the terms independence denotes the existence of the struggle to erect the nation. How can one be not proud over this? Try to tell other true blue Indonesians that today is merely their national day (aka a day where it is being celebrated by the nation) instead of independence day (aka a day whereby the nation is being created after long long long long struggle against few other colonial forces) and I think they will respect you a little lower than usual.

While this notion of nationalism has degraded in some Indonesians, I do not believe that I am extremist. While I consider myself patriotic, up to a point that I could almost cry upon hearing Indonesia Raya and salute the Sang Saka Merah Putih, I think it is perfectly alright for Singaporeans (etc) to call us Indons rather than the proper Indonesians or Indos. Oh well, I dont hate Dutch, Japs, Brits as well... In fact I love their girls.... (errr....)

I have touched on this nationalism yesterday using Mbah Dukun's mouth. I greeted the crows using Javanese (the super polite one, that is) before proceed to apologize that I forgot that I have left Java and thus should not speak Javanese anymore as some might not understand. Well, I hope this message has managed to enter targeted groups' mind, that even if a person out of 10 in your group does not understand a language, DONT speak it. This comes from my experience at Engin O Week 2007 Committee. The meeting sometimes broke into Chinese! Of course I am not happy and purposely causing trouble in the end to show my dissatisfaction. Oh, just some clarification, I told them nicely to speak English a few times before I proceeded to the not-so-nice way. Similar to that, I actually want to start this habit in PINUS whereby everyone speak Indo in meetings, events or even in normal daily life. Not necessary the formal language. Heavily accentuated one will do as long as it is Indonesian. I could understand 'gua mau makan', 'wa mau makan', 'aku tak makan' all perfectly well as 'I want to eat' though all sounds a little difference. But hey, it may take a while huh?

PS: Oh, and HAAAAPPYYY BIRTHDAYYYY TOOOOO YOUUUUU....
PS2: By the way... Do you know 'dirgahayu' means 'long live' and not 'happy birthday'?