Looking at news these past days, one could realize that 2nd law of thermodynamics is in play: "The entropy of an isolated system not in equilibrium will tend to increase over time, approaching a maximum value at equilibrium."
From 9/11, legalized terrorism on Afghanistan and Iraq, Iranian nuclear issue, North Korea crisis, Sawat Valley issue in Pakistan, Mumbai terrorism, Bali bombing, and all others numerous issues. We're plunging deeper into chaotic system right now.
Our suppose to be ally
And the latest news came from the very backyard of Indonesia, the border between Malaysia and Indonesia. Yet once again Malaysian army intruded into Indonesia's territory. On purpose? I believe so (since this "accident" happened numerous times before).
A lot of Indonesian, triggered by this issue, would yell "Ganyang Malaysia!" as once had yelled by Soekarno, the founding father of Indonesia, a long time ago.
The question is: why Malaysia? Is it true that both Malaysia and Indonesia share the very common root on language and culture: Malayan? Is it true that both countries are Islamic countries?
Malaysia suppose to be our closest ally if we want to consider the cultural and religious similarity. Why this fact falters? Then who suppose to be our ally?
World's power
To see the polarization of world's power now, we can recognize two giant powers: America and China. And yet Indonesia is so distant from both of them. We can't get too close to America because of Palestinian issue, and we always keep our distance from China.
And to expect alliance from Islamic countries is like expecting snow to fall in summer (not to mention that our closest muslim country keeps backstabbing us) .
How about our other closest tiny country: Singapore? I have to admit this country plays itself really well. As the slogan says: Singapore is where east truly meets the west. Due to its cultural background of Chinese people and heavy investment on China, the relationship with the mainland China is unquestionable (Chinese is arguably the second most spoken language in Singapore). And also the relationship with USA is well since they have no problem with Palestinian issue (they even have diplomatic channel with Israel). And to attack this country means to deal with the most advanced military technology in ASEAN not to mention the backup from 7th fleet of US Navy (Singapore is building a new pier at Changi Naval Base to provide support for this fleet). Very different from Soekarno's time uh?
The nationalism revisited
Suppose if our army attacked Malaysia right now. What would the reaction of the whole country be? Why I suspect the reaction would not differ greatly from when we heard about the accident of army's plane crash a few weeks ago? Even some of us would still visit Great Singapore Sales!
The exclusivity of our army hinders the access for some of its people, thus make the people feel less responsible for them. Have you seen Chinese and Indian people in the national army? Though they have been around in Indonesia since.. well you can say... before Islam arrived in this country?
There is some barrier in Indonesia's system, even though it can't be understood. Javanese vs non-Javanese, westerners vs easterners, muslim vs non-muslim, natives vs non-natives. When I was in third grade in primary school, I got punched in the face for the first time (and more for the years to come). Puzzled at that time, I just couldn't accept the explanation from my parents: that somehow we're different from when we're born. For some times I even asked why I was born different from the local.
Rarely we see Indonesia as Indonesia (or never at all). We often see it as parts of it. When Ambon's conflict was at the peak, for whatever is the reason, the banner of the forces is Islam and Christian. Each party launched its own backup forces (sometimes armed) without any respect to local authority and national army. Why it was so difficult to launch any backup under the name of INDONESIA? The answer is because we only care for parts of it. Parts that similar to us, parts that concern us. The rest of it, even though we share the common land, is trash.
So why should people in Jakarta care about tiny islands, barren and ugly, so far that they can only see it on map? To remember nationalism lecture on my undergrad years... it is so laughable now.
Should the conflict arise, who will help us? Will we be able to help our self, or to be crushed by our differences? Play the chess next leader!
