what does it means to be Indonesian

 I thank God a lot for the blessing that I was born in Indonesia and have been growing up as an Indonesian. As expression of gratitude, we as Indonesian people should feel proud of being Indonesian because the country is wonderfully blessed with millions of splendors and it is fully independent. Consequently, we should feel obliged to be grateful to our pioneering predecessors for their great struggle by devoting all our spirits to give full care about the running process of the nation building and to raise the nation’s values.

Being proud as an Indonesian should naturally come out owing to the fact that Indonesia is a picturesque country with its thousands of scenic Islands and a great variety of uniquely amazing arts and cultures-the blessings that are quite rare to be found in other countries; moreover, the country is bestowed with abundant richness in its natural resources such as crude oil, gases, gold, silver, and a lot of other mines, forests, agricultural produce, sea wealth, and other uncountable and possibly hidden affluence. Not yet counted its warm and friendly social life and certainly its huge stretch of land and seas.

The pride of being Indonesian should be the form of sense of gratitude to the Indonesian heroes for their fighting for the independence of Indonesia. This sense should positively be brought into concrete actions by not being self-centered, not entirely burdening the government with all matters, not continually blaming the government for all dissatisfaction, but by being inventive as well as taking initiatives and giving support for the national advancement and showing great care over environmental conservation. The   pride can then highly motivate us to incessantly learn to be industrious. No matter how small our work is, the utmost importance is the growing existence of our sprits and roles in the participation in accelerating the national development and in leading Indonesia to be well respected in the world socialization.

Indonesian people should always be open-minded towards International development and globalization and keep up with new technology; however, in order to maintain Indonesia’s core character, they ought to be wise and smart in doing some filtering. They should not be easily influenced by parts of foreign cultures that do not fit in with Indonesia’s main principles; otherwise, the typical culture of Indonesia will fade away.

It is not something useless if we take a look at the contributions gratified by the other people to their own countries as senses of love, trust, loyalty, cooperation, responsibility, and unity. They will never feel weary to keep on struggling for the peace and prosperity of their countries. We as Indonesian people, therefore, must not ever get inattentive or just be idle. We have to realize that the future of Indonesia is in our own hands. Who else must then take the obligation to protect our own environment and to prepare for the Indonesian future generations?

On condition that all Indonesian people have come to their profound awareness of being proud to be Indonesian and thus work hard for the sake of the nation building, it is not out of the question that Indonesia can achieve its highest goal. We have to be meaningful to our beloved country and are by all means more and more proud to be Indonesian!