Okay, I don't know why or how, but they totally butchered my article into a pile of nonsense. You can compare the differences between the original version and the published version here.
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Original version:
Let Us Embrace and Celebrate Our Diversity
Yohanes Sulaiman | August 16, 2012
When Indonesian founding fathers proclaimed the independence
of Indonesia on August 17, 1945, they envisioned a strong united state, where
the diversity of the populations, the various ethnicity, religions, races, and
social classes became the pillars of the new young nation.
This idea is further crystallized by Mohammad Hatta, who
recalled a particular episode that happened in the late afternoon of the
Proclamation Day. He was visited by an officer of the Japanese Navy and Mr.
Nishijima, an assistant to Rear Admiral Tadashi Maeda. The two Japanese
gentlemen brought up the concerns from the population of the Eastern Indonesia,
the majority of who were Christians and Catholics.
The main concern of the Eastern Indonesians was that the new
country might start from the wrong foot, by putting in the idea of Islamic law
(Shariah) in the preamble of the Indonesian Constitution. While technically the
Shariah wouldn’t apply to them, the presence of the Shariah in the preamble
signaled that the new Indonesian nation was going to favor one religion only.
Hatta, realizing the danger of creeping sectarian problem
that in the end would undermine the unity of the young nation, decided to have
a meeting with Ki Bagus Hadikusumo, Wahid Hasjim, Mr. kasman Singodimedjo and
Mr. Teuku Hasan, all of them were influential representatives of the Moslem
community. In the end, they were agreed to replace the problematic part of the
Preamble with simply “Unity in One God.”
The event surrounding the change of the wording is still
under debate to the present day, and was seen as controversial especially for
those advocating the implementation of Islamic law in Indonesia. Yet, it is
clear that for the Indonesian founding fathers, the interest of the nation as a
whole was far more important than their own narrow interests, and they could
not simply sacrifice idea of a united independent Indonesia nation on the altar
of their egoism.
President Sukarno also approved this idea of a united
nation, where the diversity of the nation is seen as something to be
celebrated, rather than something used to break the nation apart. As he argued
powerfully in his speech in front of the Eight Conference of the Baperki (back
then, a Chinese Indonesian association, seen as close to the Indonesian
Communist Party) that:
“Why should I demand an Indonesian of Chinese descent who
wants to become an Indonesian citizen to change his name? …No! That’s a private
affair. Religion is also a private affair, and I don’t interfere in that. What
I want is for us to be truly Indonesians. We become true citizens of Republic
of Indonesia.”
Therefore, it is saddening to see that sixty seven years
after the proclamation of Indonesian independence, the issue of sectarianism
has not diminished. Instead, irresponsible politicians and their supporters
seem to enjoy stoking the issue of race and religion as a way to advocate their
narrow political interests at the expense of the interests of the nation as a
whole.
The irresponsible use of the issues of ethnicity, religions,
races, and social classes would undermine the integrity and stability of
Indonesia’s democracy. Rather than seeing elections as a referendum to judge
whether an incumbent was a competent guardian of public trust or as an arena to
test and promote idea and programs, elections are now being turned into
“scaremongering events,” that electing a certain candidate would bring down the
wrath of God or the opposite candidate would turn into a “Manchurian
Candidate,” doing the bidding of a certain narrow interest group to destroy the
nation.
Our founding fathers would shed tears, seeing decades of
their works to create a united nation enriched by the diversity of its
population are wasted by people with narrow interests, people who prefer to
sacrifice and destroy the unity of the nation for their own selfish short term
political goals and narrow interests.
It will be useful to use the celebration of the
sixty-seventh anniversary of the Indonesian Independence as a time of
reflection to see how far astray this nation has gone from the ideals of our
founding fathers and try to go back to the path of putting national interests
above selfish narrow interests of our own.
------------Butchered version:
When Indonesia’s founding fathers proclaimed independence from the Netherlands on Aug. 17, 1945, they envisioned a strong, united state, where the diverse population would be the pillar of the new nation.
This idea was crystallized by Mohammad Hatta, who recalled being visited on Proclamation Day by two men, an officer from the Japanese Navy and the assistant to Rear Adm. Tadashi Maeda. They raised concerns about the people of eastern Indonesia, many of whom were Protestants and Catholics.
The main concern was that the new country might start on the wrong foot by putting in the idea of Islamic law in the preamble to the Constitution. Realizing the danger of creeping sectarianism, Hatta met with Ki Bagus Hadikusumo, Wahid Hasjim, Kasman Singodimedjo and Teuku Hasan, all influential representatives of the Muslim community. All agreed to simply use the phrase “Unity in One God” in the preamble.
It is clear that for Indonesia’s founding fathers, the interests of the nation as a whole were far more important than their personal interests, and they did not sacrifice the idea of a united, independent Indonesian nation on the altar of their egoism.
President Sukarno embraced a diverse nation as something to be celebrated, rather than something to be used to break the nation apart.
As he argued in his speech at the Eighth Conference of the Consultative Body for Indonesian Citizenship (Baperki), a Chinese-Indonesian association: “Why should I demand an Indonesian of Chinese descent who wants to become an Indonesian citizen to change his name? … No! That’s a private affair. Religion is also a private affair, and I don’t interfere in that. What I want is for us to be truly Indonesians.”
It is saddening today to see that the issue of sectarianism has not diminished. Our founding fathers would shed tears, seeing decades of their work wasted.
The 67th anniversary of Indonesian independence should be a time of reflection. In the spirit of our founders, let’s try to get back to putting national interests above narrow self-interest.
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masmon2
3:35pm Aug 16, 2012
Good article Yohanes - the country seems to take more steps backwards than forwards in the areas that you discuss.
This is all the result of weak government and greed having gone unchecked for so long.
The country desperately needs leaders that will work to educate, inspire and motivate people towards excellence. The starting point should be the education system, but when education funds are plundered by the authorities or the very schools they are intended for one has to ask when will change ever occur.
Yohanes-Sulaiman
4:04pm Aug 16, 2012
@masmon2: thanks for your kind comment. I am afraid the changes won't come until people got fed up and throw out the bums. Though, I see the Jokiwi's victory is a much needed jolt to the status quo, that people who believe that they could simply rely on "nasi bungkus" and big parties' support got their comeuppance in the last round. Still don't think he will be the silver bullet who can solve everything.
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