"Why We Are Different from Malaysia" adalah sebuah tulisan dalam rubrik Opini Majalah Tempo English Edition yang terbit 14 Januari 2008.
Tulisan ini menunjukkan pembelaan yang sangat kuat terhadap harga diri dan integritas Bangsa Indonesia yang tengah dijadikan bulan-bulanan oleh Malaysia. Opini ini berakar dari pernyataan seorang pejabat Malaysia yang menyinggung teman-teman pekerja media di Indonesia. Saya pribadi merasa bahwa membaca tulisan (yang cukup tajam) ini seolah membakar semangat patriotisme yang semakin timbul tenggelam terbawa arus modernitas yang merujuk makin ke Barat.
Dengan tidak mengurangi rasa hormat Saya terhadap teman-teman berkebangsaan Malaysia serta dengan segenap penghargaan kepada Majalah Tempo sebagai sumber tulisan ini, berikut Saya sadur kembali opini tersebut untuk di-hikmati lebih banyak manusia Indonesia di manapun berada:
Why We are Different from Malaysia
Tempo English Edition, January 14, 2008, Opinion, page 10.
There is difference in the historical experience between this republic [Indonesia] and our neighboring kingdom [Malaysia] in the way independence was achieved.
Relations between Indonesia and Malaysia have not been at such low ebb since the establishment of ASEAN. And this unhappy state of affairs has not been helped by senior officials and politicians in Kuala Lumpur.
Last week in Bali, Datuk Seri Zainuddin, Malaysia’s Information Minister said that the media in Indonesia had been “overzealous” with the freedom it was “granted” since the fall of the New Order. He condemned the Indonesian media because it had expressed opinions about the Malaysian opposition party leader Anwar Ibrahim.
Datuk Seri Zainuddin’s criticism will have no serious impact on the life of the Indonesian media; journalists here have already dismissed his opinion, mainly because it is laughable. After all, the Datuk has no authority at all in this republic. But we, the people of Indonesia, can use it to examine some fundamental differences between the two nations.
Malaysia’s economy is more developed than that of Indonesia, and there is little corruption there. There is no terrorism, -although two terrorists in Indonesia came from Malaysia, which allowed an organization like Jamaah Islamiyah to thrive until its leaders returned to Indonesia. Meanwhile, Malaysia is safe, prosperous, and orderly.
But there is history behind these differences. Malaysia never experienced an independence revolution like Indonesia, with arms and violence. This revolution was like a massive earthquake: it shocks have lasted a long time.
Because of these Indonesian revolutionary shocks, for example, the government once applied a system of “guided economy” which was “anti-West”, and which eventually placed bureaucrats and generals in control of the production and distribution of goods and services. The result was the economic chaos of 1958-1966 and a huge lost of opportunity.
Not only that, from the “guided economy” grew the arbitrary system of permits in the business world which continues to this day, and which gave corruption the chance to flourish.
But these revolutionary shocks were not permanently bad. They taught the people that there is a high price for freedom: we made sacrifices to achieve it. And it was these revolutionary shocks that in 1998 motivated young Indonesians to be prepared to die for the aim of the reform movement, -one of which was to have an unshackled press in Indonesia.
By regarding Indonesian press freedom as something that was “granted”. Datuk Seri Zainuddin showed how distant he is from Indonesian experience. Fundamental rights are not gift. Fundamental rights in this republic were attained with blood, tears, and lives, -including that of Munir.
Included among these rights is the right to opposing political opinions, and to voice them on the streets.
To this day, Malaysia has not guaranteed these rights. We should not become angry with them. That nation has never known the effort to win rights by radical self-sacrifice, by being jailed, exiled, or killed. This is why it is so easy for the Kingdom of Malaysia to gag the press by requiring permits to be renewed every year; by detaining political opponents for unlimited periods of time without trial; and even banning non-Muslims from using the word “Allah” for God, as if the Kingdom of Malaysia can appoint someone as the holder of a monopoly on words.
But, while understanding this, there is nothing wrong with our being proud of the gaps in our poverty: The Republic of Indonesia is a living democracy with grassroots support, not a beautiful aquarium inhabited by mute fish.#
Semoga bermanfaat!
Salam.
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