A great nation is a nation that values the merits of nation’s heroes as well as culture. However, as time goes by, a sense of love toward nation will fade, whereas by loving the nation’s culture and history, we will also learn how great and powerful a nation is.
Given the importance of loving a nation, a public lecture was held between students of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and students of Yogyakarta State University (YSU) in Classroom A, the Office of International Affairs and Partnerships (OIAP) YSU (18/01/16) by inviting Rony K Pratama, a student of Languages and Arts faculty. The first session was opened with discussion on Indonesia as a nation, viewed from the perspective of youth. The discussion is entitled " Future of Indonesian nation in the Hand of Young Intellectuals: Culture Dynamics and the Inevitability of Identity and Literacy".
Young intellectuals in Indonesia can be categorized into two: first, those who have a progressive view towards Western idealism and second, those who estabish their progresif views and attitudes based on traditional values. Both characteristics are inseparable of patriotic attitudes. On the first characteristics, although youth have progressive views toward Western ideals, they still consider the positive things and try to apply them in the hopes of advancing their nation regardless the influence of Eastern culture. In the second characteristics, based on traditional values, youth try to develop and advance a nation's identity with more primodial ethnicity.
In accordance with the topic on the first discussion, the future of Indonesia is built based on the literacy intelligence. Unfortunately, almost all of Indonesian literature are written by foreigners. If traced historically, Indonesian ancestors in the past used to teach and tell a story to their children orally. It increasingly became rooted, making them prefer to deliver ideas orally. This eventually causes lack of literature produced by Indonesian ancestors.
The second session of the discussions brought the theme of " Culture Reconciliation of Indonesia-Malaysia: Bilateral Collaboration in AEC", and was opened with a brief explanation regarding AEC (ASEAN Economic Community). Not only Indonesian younger generation, Malaysian younger generation also feels the apprehension of the birth of AEC. The increasing level of competition in the workforce as well as the fear of the coming of foreigners who later occupy various working sectors become a scourge to themselves.
Despite all the possible threats, AEC is also seen as giving the positive side in advancing and improving the livelihood of people in the nation. The key is giving much effort and hard work, in addition to maintaining and loving the culture and local wisdom. At the end of the agenda, Rony stated "We must think globaly while act localy". (Anggraeni Kumala Dewi)
