Events we celebrate next year

100th and 10th anniversary

The year 2008 is only several days away. And we can expect the new year to be very colorful. After all, we are going the celebrate the 100th year of our national awakening and the 10th anniversary of the start of what has always been referred to as the reform era.

Both obviously are very important events. So much so that for the first, the logo of the 2008 Visit Indonesia Year is also highlighted by a phrase that says “celebrating 100 years of national awakening.”

The second, probably does not need any catch-phrase because it is still relatively fresh in our mind. But some also say that ten years—a decade—probably has erased a lot of things associated with reform because even today we can see that many same, old practices are still looming.

A clear example is our inability to produce new leaders, something that has resulted in the fact that most—if not all—of our public offices are still held by old-timers, those who were “already there” during the Soeharto regime.

Even worse is the fact that practically none of the current leaders are “men of vision” as they, intentionally or not, let themselves be trapped in short-term objectives under the pretext of democracy.

Of course, it is not fair to say that reform has brought nothing to the country and its people. We, for example, have enjoyed bigger press freedom and better law enforcement.

But probably what we need is not only something bigger, but something more meaningful and this can only be fulfilled with the emergence of young, new and aspiring, leaders.

Back in 1908 our leaders were all young but already thought about something visionary: national independence. Almost 10 years after we toppled Soeharto from his 32 years of authoritarian rule, we still haven’t clearly formulated, let alone commonly agree on, our next vision as a nation-state.

Therefore, as we are about to enter the year 2008, probably it is high time as well that we are not only planning the celebrations and ceremonies of the 100th National Awakening Day and the 10th Reform Anniversary, but also the best ways to groom leaders for the republic.

It is not important whether the leaders are born or made because it is for sure that if we continue to pin our hopes on the same, old, and tired faces, all the historic—even heroic—events of 100 and 10 years ago, will be just one of those moments to remember, but not to live by.