PROUD TO BE INDONESIAN

I’m Indonesian and I love my country whether it is good or not, for me, Indonesia is the best one. I’ll try to ignore if someone said that my country is not good. I’ve heard a lot of bad stereotypes about my country. Some said that Indonesia is a poor country, Indonesians are Muslim, Indonesians are Javanese and Balinese, Indonesians are short and Indonesia is corruption country. For sure, mainly all of these stereotypes are wrong and that’s why I sometimes just ignore it. I’ve known my country since I was a child more than them.

These stereotypes are harmful or not, that’s depend on whose the subject or whose the speaker. If the speaker is someone who has a bad experience with Indonesia, they’ll think and presume that Indonesia and its people are bad and the country is the worst country in the world, it’s people have a bad attitude and they’re not friendly at all. I’ve met some people who said that Indonesian people were annoying and very slow because they’ve a slow friend. 

But, if the subjects or the speakers are those who have a wonderful experience about Indonesia and with its people, they’ll say that Indonesia is a beautiful, wonderful and nice country. I’ve met a lot of friends from abroad who’ve visited Indonesia several times, most of them said that Indonesia is so beautiful and friendly and the people are always nice and polite. Despite the fact that most of them just knew Bali, but at least the can represent Indonesia. This case teaches me that whenever I travel overseas I'll represent my country. When I meet foreigners, for instance, they will treat me as an Indonesian, only few who see me as a Sumbanese. 

My experience teaches me to be slow to judge one's culture. In my opinion, before we judge someone’s else country we have to learn first about the culture of that’s country so we can understand very well about its culture and its custom, or we’ll give a wrong judgment about it. And the second one, every people and society has a big responsibility to introduce their  own country proudly to the other people as a great country. By the way of thinking, speaking and the way of acting we can show that our country is not as bad as they the think. Each country is known by its people. If we behave badly then do not be ashamed if someone judges badly the country where we come from.

So, that’s my job and my assignment as an Indonesian to make my country is known very well as the best country. I do realise that my country is a wonderful country with a lot of culture and that its people are friendly and polite, therefore I always say that Indonesia is the best country in the world, not only for me but also for the visitors as well.