Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Crisis in Egypt is a "wake-up" Call for Indonesia

Egypt is a transcontinental country, mainly located in North Africa partly in South West Asia, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Islamic world.

The country has a population of 79 million people living in a land area of 1,050,000 KM2, and is famous for its ancient civilization with famous monuments like the Pyramid complex and the Sphinx.

Egypt is not a strange country for Indonesia. Our former President Soekarno and Egyptian President Nasser together with Indian President Nehru and Yugoslavian President Tito founded the Non-Allign Movement in 1961. Many Indonesian scholars studied at the Al-Azhar Islamic University in the Egyptian capital city of Cairo.

Besides, both countries shared similar modern history i.e. they have been governed by pro-American authoritarian regimes lead by ex military men, Indonesia by former President Soeharto from 1966 until 1998, and Egypt by President Hosni Mubarak from 1981 until now.   

Further, both countries share the same problems, i.e. the majority of people living in poverty, plagued by never ending injustice, corruption and abuse of power, all of which have lead to people's demand for social, political and economical changes in Indonesia on May 1998, and in Egypt starting 25 January 2011.

Like the former Soeharto regime who made efforts to silence opposition and protests, the Mubarak regime tried to silence protests by shutting down the internet network, mobile telecommunications, impose curfew, and used force causing the death of around 100 people.

I hope that the situation in Egypt would remind every leaders in Indonesia, starting from the President down to Kampung chiefs, and members of the central and regional House of Representatives that they are holding powers because people have trusted them to hold them for a limited time. Such power will be taken away from them if people do not trust them anymore.

So if those leaders still want to hold their power, they should do their very best to eradicate Poverty, Injustice, Corruption, Abuse of Power, and develop the country  merely based on the people's interests, and not the interests of their own or their family or friends or groups or political party.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yupz, setuju Konflik di Mesir seharusnya bisa membangunkan Bangsa ini, secara khusus membangunkan Pak Beye agar bisa lebih bijak dalam menarik simpati Rakyat agar nantinya Rakyat Indonesia tidak melakukan hal yg sama.... :D

Selamat pagi dan Selamat Melanjutkan Aktivitas Sob.. :P

Ferdinand said...

Walah salah NG'klik malah jadi Anonymus haha....

Unknown said...

Hi Harry, do you think that what has happened in Tunisia and Egypt could happen here? I agree that Indonesia needs to change but it scares me to think what might happen to people here if the people decided to protest about the government.

dee said...

i think it's not gonna impact Indonesia. before we already reformation in Suharto government.

TUKANG CoLoNG said...

ayo revolusi melati! (:

Unknown said...

saya sangat sependapat dengan poin akir tentang kesadaran, bahwa semua pasti berakir.setidaknya kata itu mengajak para pemimpin untuk tidak sewenang wenang,

Unknown said...

@Anonymous,
Semoga bisa demikian agar negara kita bisa mengejar ketertingalan dari negara maju.

@Ferdinand,
Tidak apa2, terim kasih.

@Luke,
Actually nobody in their right minds would want a revolution. But, if the politicians do not change and start avoiding all the bad things I mentioned, who knows what will happen.

@Deasy,
Let us hope that our leaders would improve themeselves.

@TUKANG CoLoNG,
Mudah2an tidak perlu terjadi, karena setiap perubahan pasti
akan memakan banyak korban.

@Wisata Mura,
Smoga para pmeimpin menjadi sadar, mengingat kita juga pernah mengalami kejadian yang mirip dengan di Mesir pada tahun 1998.

attayaya_peta said...

apa ini model jaman suharto dulu ya?

colson said...

I don't believe Indonesia is living through pre-revolutionary times. Tumbling the regime is not imminent at all I guess.

But Egyptians, especially those who will be in charge during transformation, might learn some lessons by studying Indonesia's history since '97. Mubarak should step down ( or flee) immediately (which seemingly lie Mubarak) he was unwilling to do. His temporary helpers and successors should prevent bloodshed they first and foremost to keep Police and army in check and special forces in the barracks ( which Soeharto in the dying days of his regime didn't do either).

But rebuilding the new society after the exciting revolutionary days and weeks, was in many ways exemplary: in spite of a lot of ( even serious)shortcomings in present day Indonesia, Egyptians should be glad if twelve years on Egypt will have managed as much improvements as RI did in the past 13 years.

PS: Wish all the peoples of the Arab world will get rid of their authoritarian dictatorships soon and will be able to build prosperous and free societies where all individuals as well as the authorities abide by the rule of law and human rights..

Unknown said...

Hi Harry.
Interesting indeed Harry, I didn't realize we would be writing on the same topic on the same day hahaha..but I like that.The same thing on our mind ya.

I salute the Egyptian their tenacity in claiming back their honour and dignity. It's amazing how they managed to sustain the protest for over a week now with all the hardship that comes with it. They certainly are paying a heavy price in their bid for freedom and a better life. Can we do the same? Wallahuallam.You are absolutely right in saying that this is a wakeup call for the leaders not only in Indonesia however Harry..elsewhere too.
I heard the Chinese in China can't even find the word Egypt anymore when they do search in the internet..wow amazing blackout ya.

Thank you for sharing and for visiting my site Harry.

r10 said...

krisis di mesir sebenarnya berawal dari krisis pangan

nah di indonesia sudah ada tanda2 terjadi krisis pangan

BeBek said...

Semoga masalah di Mesir cepat selesai... :)

Berpikir Positif said...

kita seharusnya memang bisa memetik pelajaran dari Mesir, jangan lagi terjadi untuk ketiga kalinya rakyat marah di Negeri ini, 1965 sudah, 1998 juga yang kedua

Teras Info said...

yang pasti, semoga kerusuhan di Mesir ini dapat segera berakhir, tidak ada lagi tindakan anarkis yang merusak....

tidak ada yang bisa dibanggakan dari keanarkisan, kerusuhan...
perdamaian lebih indah..

Unknown said...

@Attayaya_peta,
Apa yang terjadi di Mesir tampaknya mirip dengan saat sebelum Suharto berhenti tahun 1998.

@Colson,
The last thing I want is illegal overthrow of government here. My point is that leaders/politicians in Indonesia must not let poverty, injustice, corruption, power abuse, go on without ending. Otherwise they must face bloody consequences like what happened in 1998 and massacre in 1965-1968.

@Umihoney,
I am also glad that we wrote the same topic.
Let us hope that there would be an immediate solution, so that the people of Egypt would not suffer much longer.

@R10,
Kesamaan gejalanya membuat kita semua khawatir.

@Bebek,
Semoga keadaan disana cepat normal kembali.

@Berpikir Positif,
Tepat sekali, kita semua : pemerintah, DPR/DPRD, rakyat harus belajar dari pengalaman dinegara sendiri maupun dari apa yang terjadi di Mesir sekarang agar bangsa dan negara kita aman dan sejahtera.

@Teras Info,
Semoga keadaannya akan membaik.

Unknown said...

I think it is a wake-up call for the entire world! There are some major changes happening that will affect everyone

Yulia Rahmawati said...

yes!
absolutely.
heloo uncle SBY, come on wake up!

Setyo-Utomo Said said...

Mas Harry, just wait and see.... I have followed your advice to updating my main blog FISH POND . Arigato !

Cheqna said...

betul tu, a reminder to those in power, be it in managing the country or any organisations..

but the basic is..jaga lah amanah yang telah diberikan...besar tanggungjawap.

Unknown said...

@Steve,
Yeah it's a wake up call for every governments that has the tendency to be authoritarian.

@Ladyulia,
Let's hope that he and his govt will "wake up" and be a lot more serious.

@Utomo,
Let's wait and see.
I'll check your blog Pak.

@Cheqna,
Yes the basic is "jagalah amanah" because power is an amanah/mandate from the people that should be treated carefully.