The current state of my beautiful Indonesia

Hey!

So I was hanging out in Pondok Indah Mall today with my high school best friends. It was just the usual: dinner, gossips, and stupid jokes.

Anyhoo, as we were talking, I started this conversation with Krisgatha, who is this guy my friend Keshia is seeing. At first, he was telling me about his experience in India. And then the conversation went elsewhere as he talked about China too. Because China and India are mainly the countries I talked about in almost all my classes in Monash University, so we talked about current matters (how China and India are threatening US; how the Western media picture Indonesia as a pathetic country; how when people abroad saw what really is happening in Indonesia, they're actually quite pleasantly surprised). And... it just got me thinking.

The current state of Indonesia economically is shitty. I mean, just look at all the corruption. A lot of people want to help the poor, but somehow the money just got to the pockets of the medium. They took just a tenth, or half, or even more than half of it for themselves while the poor lay there on the streets, slowly going crazy. Corruption is everywhere in this country. And, yet, the people of Indonesia still walk with their chin high in the air.

You know what the cliches of judging an Indonesian is?
They're poor, arrogant with high self-esteem. They don't safe-keep what they got, but got angry when it's taken by anyone else. and they always feel like the grass on the other side is way greener, so why bother living in here? why not just move to the neighbor's house?

It's just a stereotyping thing. Not all Indonesians are like that. Just like not all Japanese are that diligent, and not all Chinese are good at business. And not all Arabs are religious.

This got me thinking. What is wrong with the current state of my beautiful country? A while ago, I saw this ad of 'Visit Malaysia'. In there, they put the picture of Raffles flower (which is the signature flower of Indonesia) and Cendrawasih bird (which is teh signature bird from Irian Jaya). One can say that you can't really put a line of difference between Malaysia and Indonesia culturally, because we are so close geographically and the people comes from the same ancestor. But come on! The gigantic flower is very Indonesian!! So is that colorful bird!
However, even as I'm writing this, I'm not that mad. Should we really get mad over something like this? Do you call it stealing when you put your signature object without any significant guarding on your behalf?
No. You can only blame yourself for that. The Malaysian might steal it from us, but we don't really put our culture for our own benefit either!

And don't let me start on democracy. BAH! democracy is the key for why we are falling so deep into the hole now. How can democracy work when capitalism is solely in place, and the rich getting richer while the poor getting poorer? And how can democracy really work when corruption is at the heart of the government?
So all talks about democracy is bull shit. It's not even a false hope. Rather an instrument the government use to deceive our eyes of what's really happening.
It got me really thinking that maybe... just maybe... if Indonesia really wants to go up on the 'developing' countries ladder, one government that is more like authoritarian-on-act might be needed. Just look at how we're counted on world matters in the era of Soeharto, even though corruption at that time is worst. Just look at Malaysia's development, even though their government is taking full control of the media and any ethnicity that is not Malays is considered as second-class, as an alien. Just look at China, the incredible economy that is high on its own authoritative leader.

Although, when you look at it on the other side, if that really happened, lives would not be as good as it is now. Because the Soeharto regime was frightening.

So the rich will have the formula:
Country's economic soar up, the rich would not have the same good life.
Country's economic stays pathetic, the rich can still go glamourous like those in Hollywood.

Indonesia is fucked up.

And it is very sad when you have the opportunity to see it closer, and see how beautiful it is.
How beautiful Bali is, and Lombok is, and our many beaches around the islands that can wave goodbye to the beaches in Maldives.
How beautiful the culture is, with the dances, the songs and the Orang Asli that can blow your mind because we just have so many!
And how actually cool the country is if you see the art scenes: If you see how the fashion can mix traditional dress to be couture ones; if you see the indie music scenes that can accomplish and create music that can compete with the skills of Coldplay and the others; if you see the qualified Indonesian-made movie that can picture the beautiful life of the poors; and, when I hear my friend Krisgatha's experience in India.

Krisgatha's experience: he was invited to play as a DJ in India, and over there, he was made to play an encore (while the Australian DJ gave him the stage), and he was filmed in 7 interviews and the crowd was packed to see a DJ from Indonesia. And the people in India asked him about Indonesia, and when they see the art scene, they even felt like their country hasn't accomplished what we Indonesian has, and they were mesmerized with the real picture of Indonesia.

You might feel proud, and everything. But get this one fact:
The one who sponsored Krisgatha to play in India is a Singaporean foundation, and not an Indonesian owned.

Fucked up.