The first thoughts that appear to mind when talking about this exotic country located on the eastern equinoctial line of the map are, according to most people I ask, very negative. Corruption, poverty, pollution, over population, lack of human resources, poor infrastructure, natural disasters, crooked politics, and the list goes on and on. Very few positive attributes are initially mentioned. Yes, it comes to no surprise that this nation is far from perfect, but for us Indonesians, this land is still where our roots and heritage lay and no matter what the circumstance or how we try to distort our mind, it is still our motherland.

I find it quite concerning how some people, and im not talking about everybody, constantly complain and take little or no pride being Indonesian. Instead of pointing towards the direction where perhaps we can find solutions to problems we face, they take no responsibility and disregard their own culture. They point the finger and blame others. To me, this sort of behavior is counter productive and wont result in any change. In fact, sadly enough most citizens have this “accepting” mentality about the vast problems this country has, and issues we face are considered normal.

About 3 years ago I was sitting in a train on my way to the Indonesian embassy in the Netherlands with a group of friends to celebrate the Eid holiday. A woman which seemed to look melayu was sitting across from me on the other row, suddenly asked in Indonesian, “Orang Indonesia ya?” I happily and politely replied, “iya betul, kita lagi mau ke KBRI untuk ngerayain Idul Fitri, mbak juga orang Indonesia kan? Mau kesana juga?” And to my surprise, her reply gave me a speechless reaction, “Saya bukan orang Indonesia mas, saya Indo”, with an arrogant tone.

I paused to think what she meant by this statement.  This woman was obviously Indonesian, she spoke the language, and she had all the traits of an Indonesian, but wont admit to being one. I then proceeded to speak to her in Dutch, thinking that perhaps she was born and raised here and had no reference to the motherland. But surprisingly, her Dutch was at a basic level as well. Her English was even worse. I couldn’t point my finger at it, she didn’t want to be considered Indonesian, despite all the attributes she had. I was genuinely intrigued; I wanted to ask what made her feel this way but unfortunately, my train ride came to an end.

I have no problem with having the “citizen of the world” mentality; in fact I condone this behavior, I think we should all become more global and open-minded. But denying your own culture, heritage, and identity is just simply dishonorable and unfathomable. This goes for any culture, race, or ethnicity. Take pride of who you are, you’ll be surprised at how far you’ll go in society when you do.

I’m just saying!