With the current situation happening in Indonesia now, we aim to shed light on the complexity of the issues. As students who are pursuing our studies overseas, it’s easy to lose touch on the current social, political, and environmental climate
at home.
We ask Margianta, ambassador of One Young World and founder of Emancipate Indonesia, three questions. We hope that this conversations will ignite awareness and sustain discussion among youths — both at home and overseas.
Margianta S. J. D.
Youth Activist, Ambassador of One Young World, and Founder of
Emancipate Indonesia
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1) How should we, as youths, express our political opinion online?
As youths, we have to understand first that politics is something that’s ingrained within our daily lives. Everything we eat, touch, and see, it’s all the result of politics. Once we have that level of sensitivity, then we can sharpen our awareness by reading news & analytics. Only then can we express our political stance.
In short, there are three steps of political expression:
– sensitivity
– awareness
– expression
Never skip any of them.
1) Bagaimana kita, sebagai anak muda Indonesia, sebaiknya mengutarakan pendapat politik kita online?
Pertama, kita harus paham bahwa politik itu merupakan sesuatu yang sudah tertanam di kehidupan kita sehari-hari. Saat kita menyahadari hal ini, baru kita dapat meningkatkan kesadaran terhadap kondisi di Indonesia melalui membaca dan menganalisa berita.
Secara singkat dapat dibagi menjadi 3 tahap:
– kepekaan
– kesadaran
– mengungkapkan
2) Why should Indonesian students, who are studying abroad, care about what’s happening back home?
Indonesian students abroad have a long history of playing a big part in our nation. During the colonial era, Indonesian students gathered knowledge, networks, and support that are essential to our independence.
Sadly, the tradition was skipped in 1965 when many students weren’t allowed to come home for being alleged ‘communists’ by the authoritative New Order regime. An entire generation of critical students were trapped abroad, never to return.
Imagine if things have gone differently. How far would our nation have been developed by countless students, striving and spreading our struggles abroad. Now, our students have that luxury again of doing the best they could for the sake of our nation.
Representation is power, and representation comes from anywhere it could, including our students abroad.
2) Kenapa pelajar Indonesia yang bersekolah di luar negeri harus peka terhadap kejadian yang sedang berlangsung di tanah air kita?
Pelajar Indonesia yang berada di luar negeri berperan besar dalam kemerdekaan negara kita. Pada tahun 1965, Orde Baru menuduh pelajar di luar negeri sebagai ‘komunis’ dan menghalangi mereka untuk kembali ke tanah air. Sekarang, para pelajar sudah kembali memegang hak untuk berjuang lagi demi masa depan negara kita.
Kita, sebagai orang Indonesia, memiliki hak, dan hak ini bisa datang dari mana saja, bahkan yang jauh dari Indonesia sekalipun.
3) How can we participate in the discussion when we’re so far away from home?
Now, we live in an era when there are less excuses for us not to express ourselves. Students abroad can keep themselves updated to Indonesia’s status quo by reading the news and talking to t heir relatives back home. But the question that remains is: How can we make our participation meaningful and impactful?
The answer is: organize. Step out of your screens and comfort zones. Gather more people to join the conversations you care about. Spare some time to make events or produce contents that represent your perspective about our country’s situation.
And the most important thing: make sure you really understand the issues, not “the idea of the issues.” Be grounded. Acknowledge complexities. Check your privilege. Realize that there is no one size fits all, and realize that our country does indeed still have a lot of work to be done.
3) Bagaimana caranya kita berpartisipasi dalam sebuah diskusi saat kita sangat jauh dari Indonesia?
Pelajar yang sedang berada di luar negeri bisa mengikuti perkembangan di Indonesia dengan membaca berita dan berbicara dengan keluarga yang berada di rumah. Mereka juga bisa mengumpulkan teman-teman untuk memulai pembahasaan berbobot tentang kondisi negara kita. Kita harus tetap bijaksana dalam kerumitan masalah ini dan tetap sadar bahwa masih banyak pekerjaan yang harus dilakukan di tanah air kita.
The Paradigma 