I am not Proud to be an Indonesian....

Funny pic of the day:
Taken from Fry's Woodland Hills

I think Fry's electronics should consider raising their "employment" standards, it would be embarrassing if one of the biggest electronic chain-store in California doesn't even know that their employee(s) cannot spell "compatible"

My friend told me, as from the perspective of a pure Indonesian descent, "Are you proud being an Indonesian? "

And then I replied, "Whoa... wait, proud as in negative way, like we do so much "tawuran" when we're kids we practically graduated with "preman" degree; or proud as in positive way, like we've got nothing to be proud of kind of proud?"

Yes indeed, I can't even say that I am proud being an Indonesian...
And I am a nationalist bastard by the way (in somewhat retarded way.)

• Our house was displaying the flag during 17 Agustusan--maybe a week or so before we put it back in the storage for the next year's celebration.
  
  
• I remember all my civics basic including Pancasila, and at least a few things from the UUD '45, Cuz if we don't we would get bad grades for our PMP lesson (At that time it was called Pendidikan Moral Pancasila) instead of PPKN (Pendidikan Pancasila dan Kewarganegaraan)
  
  
• I never burn any form of Indonesian Flag, or any flag from any country in that matter, although I did wipe my runny nose once with the flag, and the whole class picket team was pissed at me for a week after that.
  
  
• As much as I remembered, I have taken only a few "bolos" activity from Monday "Wajib Upacara" even if that means headaches caused by the mix of fragrance related odor from some boys that are not wearing deodorant whilst having their puberty (and some girls who has special bau ketiak also). Mix with the heat of the tropical sun, just great!
  
  
• I pay taxes, above the PPN (Pajak Pendapatan Negara) I also paid the preman taxes, pengamen taxes, amal jari'yah taxes, amal mesjid taxes, amal pengemis taxes, and numerous other taxes imposed on me for no reason .
  
  
• I've been to mesjid, I was acting like an idiot trying to convince the Protestan people that I understand the "Tongue Language," I've been donating to Catholic church ever since I was in kindergarten, and I followed my grandpa when he was praying in the Buddhist temple (even though I don't what the heck he's doing).
  
  
• I support KB (Keluarga Berencana) although as it seems that my neighbors, keep having baby every year like rabbits. (They said "banyak anak banyak rejeki")
  

Nope, can't still think of any positive way of proud being an Indonesian. If you've read the news lately you will find that Taufik Ismail wrote a book about being an Indonesian.

Kamis 1 Maret 2007,

Dalam banyak hal, negeri kita adalah negeri yang terpuruk. Bukan cuma hari ini, tetapi boleh dibilang sejak satu dekade terakhir. Sampai-sampai sastrawan Taufik Ismail menulis sebuah buku renungan berjudul ‘Malu Aku Jadi Orang Indonesia.

In his book, Ismail highlights some of the most problematic dilemma within Indonesians.

• We never stop fighting, between religions, between race, between students, between everything. Every time you open the news, everything starts with the word dibacok, dirampok or dianiaya.
  
  
• Our corruption index is amongst the worst one in the world. For cryin' out loud, it is as if corruption is our nation's largest heritage.
  
  
• We used to be very good at bulutangkis, but heck we are only good in two things anyway, mass fighting (tawuran) and bulutangkis, but now we find out that we are defeated in bulutangkis by our neighboring nations. In soccer, we are so busy fighting after every match, the main highlights is the fight, instead of the match.
  
  
• Mati listrik (emergency outage) and banjir are still considered as natural disaster (bencana alam) by most Indonesians, especially in metropolitan areas.
  
  
• Our public healthcare system is so bad, we practically have to to traditional shaman (dukun) for everything we have, starting from rheumatic, encok, even patah kaki, patah hati and sakit gigi even patah kepala. (The fact is, most Indonesians can't afford healthcare).
  
  
• We were one of the few nations who owns our own satellite in the 60's, now we have sell ours and rent one from Singapura.
  
  
• Kemacetan is so bad, you practically wish you have a winged bajaj, and turbo-prop VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) equipped becak.
  

Is there anything left to be proud of, what about persatuan and kesatuan? What about our unity as once a very strong and powerful nation?

For me, I'm felt sad being an Indonesian, I do not acknowledge the word proud. Hopefully in a few decades, my kids can be proud of their heritage.

If Ismail is embarrased, there is definitely something wrong with our nation.