“Indonesia is us. If something happens to this nation, we should be the one who fix it, rather than just wait in idle,” said Dr. Umar.
Dr. Umar also said that we need to be aware and sympathize if misfortune or a catastrophe happened in Indonesia. A recent example for this is the sinking of KRI Nanggala 402 and Cyclone Seroja.

How to Love Indonesia?

If we are talking about love, there is no doubt that everyone must have experienced it. Love makes us care for something we love; this feeling can also manifest in our willingness to make sacrifices. Our willingness to sacrifice and to contribute to Indonesia’s development shall be the proof of our love for the nation. “It is one of the manifestations of Pancasila’s third principle, The Unity of Indonesia,” said Umar.

Love is a gift, it can come by itself or through our will, effort, and patience. To love is a verb, we need to work on our love and to protect our loved ones so that this feeling can bloom eternally. Often, we tend to forget these kinds of abstract things and wonder why our love started to fade away.

Indonesia is a great nation with a large territory, large population, diverse language, rich natural resources, and its citizens are considered to be religious. However, Indonesia’s performance is lagged compared to developed nations.

“First, we need to acknowledge both Indonesia’s advantages and disadvantages. If we could do that, the next step is to accept Indonesia as a whole and as it is,” he said.

Dr. Umar said that Indonesia’s Human Development Index (HDI) continues to decline each year. Furthermore, Indonesia’s rough participation index on higher education is still below 30%. Most of our natural resources are being managed by foreign companies because of our inability and lack of technology. However, Indonesia has the potential to become the world’s seventh largest economy in 2030. Indonesia’s bonus demography will give the nation huge advantages for the next 40 years.

Indonesia’s current generation is very crucial to the development of the nation and its future. They should have the necessary capability to lead themselves, other people, and change. They need to be an effective person and capable to act like a civilized person.

“The requirement to be a civilized and excellent nation is to prioritize public needs over personal needs, and to prioritize and implement education, development, and acceptance of science and technology. It also needs to inherit the former generation values and to maintain its continuity,” Dr. Umar explained as a closing remark.

Reporter: Maharani Rachmawati Purnomo (TPB FITB, 2020)
Translator: Favian Aldilla (Civil Engineering, 2019)