Skip to main content

Diversity is destiny

Competition between pair Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (known as Ahok) - Djarot Saiful Hidayat and Anis Baswedan - Sandiaga Uno in the Jakarta gubernatorial election has ended. Although the scale of this election is only for Jakarta, this political contestation has a wide influence in Indonesia and gained international attention. Because for the first time a candidate, namely Basuki Tjahaja Purnama is from "double minority" background that is ethnic Chinese and Christian

I do not want to talk at length about the first paragraph in this post because I'm sure everyone in Indonesia already knows about the political tension behind it and how its influence to the national unity. I am only interested in conveying the philosophical message to you all in relation to that matter.

Diversity is destiny. So that is destiny if Indonesia consist of multi ethnics: Chinese, Balinese, Javanese, Sundanese, Acehnese, Irian, etc. More globally there are white, yellow, black. We can not choose to be born as what tribe or nation as we want. We can not choose to be born into Muslim, Christian, or Buddhist family. We can not choose to be born into rich family. That is God's choice !!! So diversity is the grace from God. The biggest problem is not everyone realizes that it is God's choice.

Fortunately Indonesia has national four pillars to unite thousands of islands, tribes, cultures, customs, and languages in it, namely:

  1. Pancasila as the foundation of the country.
  2. Undang-Undang Dasar 1945 (in English : 1945 Constitution) as the state constitution.
  3. Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia (in English: The Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia) as the form of the country.
  4. Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (in English : Unity In Diversity) as the motto of the country.

I hope the fourth pillar, Unity In Diversity, can be adopted by the United Nations as a universal value for this world. Do you agree?

Comments

  1. The problem is that many Indonesians have forgotten about the fourth pillar. They think diversity is a problem and must be eliminated.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, just one word: "ego".
      Correct?

      Delete
    2. Many? Agree but not majority.

      Delete

Post a Comment

NOTE: Comments are moderated to block spam. Genuine comments will be published even if you are critical or disagree with me. Hate speech, personal attacks, ads, or spam will be removed.

POPULAR POSTS LAST 7 DAYS:

Christmas Contemplation When The Bell Ringing

A few days ago, I visited a mall to buy something. The atmosphere was very rousing with Christmas decorations and I believe also occurs around the world. Producers take advantage of Christmas moment to compete and increase sales with tempting offers, such as: discount 20%, 30%, 40%, buy one get one, etc. Parents are busy thinking of what gifts should be purchased, and children imagining of what the gift they will get. Many people calculate their money for the best holiday package. That's NOT wrong! But... when the bell is ringing.... Before: Christmas is the birth of Savior! Now: Santa, where is my gift? Before: That is the beginning of the redemption of our sin. Now: Let's be happy for welcoming Christmas and new year. Before: Jesus has come in simplicity. Now: Let's go holiday ! I'm just imagining the genuine spirit of why we celebrate Christmas has gone. And... in this opportunity, I want to tell you that the Christmas bell resounding the call to the soul to follow t...

VETO VS DEMOCRACY

In this post I only quotes the things associated with the two words above. Please use your sense and read carefully to find and feel the fundamental differences from it. VETO According to Wikipedia : A veto, Latin for I FORBID , is used to denote that a certain party has the right to stop unilaterally a certain piece of legislation. In practice, the veto can be ABSOLUTE (as in the U.N. Security Council, whose permanent members can block any resolution). In the United Nations Security Council, the five permanent members (the United States, Russia, the People's Republic of China, France and the United Kingdom) have veto power in substantive matters, though NOT in procedural ones. If any of these countries votes against a proposal, it is REJECTED , even if all of the other member countries vote in favor. According to Global Policy Forum : "The five permanent members of the Security Council (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, and United States) ENJOY the privilege of veto po...

Condemns the Koran burning plan

Terry Jones, a pastor who leads a tiny church called "The Dove World Outreach Center" in Gainesville, Florida, U.S. plans to burn copies of Koran on September 11, 2010, as reported on New York Times with the title: A Bonfire in Danger of Spreading . The reason of this action is to commemorate the event of terrorist attacks on 9/11. Gosh, for me it's really a crazy plan. I warn you that your plan, if it really happened, will spreading the new tensions around the world and very possibly this event (burns the Quran) could be used by extremists as a justification to act further. I also condemn the creator of a Facebook page titled " International Burn A Koran Day " and urge the owner of Facebook to aware and immediately remove such page because the contents of this page just showing emotional debate, hatred and also stupid. Any negative actions will produce another negative reactions as opposed to you . If we really want to give a small contribution for peace and ha...