UNAIR NEWS – There was a lively discussion on nation and diversity between lecturers, students, and high schoolers in Warung Mbah Cokro on Wednesday, June 6. The discussion moderated by Drs. Suko Widodo, M.Si., invited various speakers to talk about the problem in the nation.
Indonesian diversity existed since Indonesia has not achieved its liberty. Since historical event of Youth Pledge on October 28, 1928, the nation has experienced diversity and it was not a problem to be united. It was stated by Nuri Hermawan from Universitas Airlangga in the discussion.
“Indonesian optimism has been achieved through the language. All tribes have chosen Indonesian as the uniting language of the nation. It was a proof that the multicultural community has set aside their egos and united through a language,” said the student of Faculty of Humanities.
Regarding how the public reacted to this diversity, Fadli, a lecturer of Universitas Bhayangkara Surabaya made an analogy Indonesian people as a cup of coffee.
“Coffee, wherever they are, is still coffee. Indonesia is the same. It is just a problem of the container. The public hasn’t tasted the coffee. The problem is in their egos and prejudice,” said Fadli.
The senior high schoolers also expressed their hope for Indonesia. Seno, a student of SMAN 5 Surabaya, said that lots of youngsters nowadays often act cool as if they are nationalists through slogan or status on social media. However, when they are on the field, they cannot implement their slogan.
“Youngsters nowadays act cool through their slogan and status. But they cannot act as what they said they were on the field,” said Seno.
Santi Isnaini, the Head of Media and Communications Master program UNAIR said that, special and systematic education is needed for the children to get insight on their nation. The education should be relevant to the reality of the society. So, when they are faced to the reality, they will understand how to respond to the diversity problem.
Agreed with Santi, Mochtar from Universitas Trunojoyo said that character revitalization should be instilled in the youth. It can be done through the education in the family until the formal education.
“If we had to be frank, our culture has been mixed with the western, middle east, and Arabic culture. We lost our own character. We need revitalization. First education is from the family, until the formal education. We have a lot to do to deal with this nation and diversity problems,” he stated.
Suko ended the discussion with some statements. “Expressing our love to the nation is not always through words but also through the action. Being a nation should avoid selfishness, not to force your opinion over others’ opinion,” Suko stated. (*)
Author : Binti Q. Masruroh
Editor : Nuri Hermawan
