Independence Day
Yesterday marks our 70th year as an independent nation. What confuses me is that we as a people keep on yelling “Merdeka!”, every year on Independence Day. This made me wonder if it is really necessary for us to keep yelling it out.
Let’s go back in time to history. We have been colonized by four different empires; first the Portuguese, then the Dutch with a British interlude in between, and finally the Japanese. The longest of them all is the Dutch Empire.
The Dutch first came to the archipelago in the form of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). The main purpose of the VOC was commerce. They exploited the local resource and its people in order to make profit. Locals faced the full power of colonialism. Farmers were forced to produce tradable crops like sugar and coffee, instead of staple foods. As a result there were widespread hunger and poverty. When the VOC went bankrupt in 1800, its possessions were nationalized as the Dutch East Indies. Here the Dutch have full administrative control over the region. Despite this, some regions still remain independent, such as: Bali and Borneo. During this time there were numerous resistance and wars made by locals to ward off colonial presence. One by one the regions fell, and the Dutch Empire fully controlled the archipelago. In total, the Dutch stayed for about 300 years.
Life is never easy for us Indonesians. Our forefathers suffered many different wars and battles. They have faced colonizers that were more advanced. They gave them a hard time. Blood was spilled. It is not only the men, but the women and children too. They took part in the resistance. Just look at the Dutch Intervention of Bali in 1906, people in the thousands were gunned down by the invaders. As well as the Rawagede Massacre during the War for Independence, where hundreds were also gunned down.
Even after our independence, we still face problems. We have gone through two dictatorships, another massacre, a couple of economic crises, corruption, and economic inequality.
The facts show that we are now currently colonized by ourselves. We ourselves are what is hindering us from actually progressing. We should not compare ourselves to others. They have their problems as much as we have ours. But we need to fix ours first. The culture of corruption, inequality, inferiority, close-mindedness, etc is what is wrong with Indonesia right now. Those are our current masters.
History though have shown that we as a people will always pull through. If this will go on for another 100 years, then so be it. We will always fight against it, regardless of the losses.
So whenever we are yelling “Merdeka!”, it is only a reminder of what we went through prior to independence. The fact is however, we are not free yet.
