Sunday, the 20th of May, 1908:
A handful of our youth, led by Dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo, and supported by Dr. Soetomo, Gunawan and Suradji – declared the formation of “Boedi Oetomo”. They laid the foundation for our Independence. The movement would awake the Indonesians to Indonesia – to its rich cultural heritage, and age old values.
I must make it clear right from the beginning, that I am against the Israeli aggression towards what the media rightly or wrongly quote as Lebanese State.
“When bad times come,” they say, “the clarity of thought is gone.”
I am afraid this is happening to us. Our minds are clouded, our vision is distorted – we are suffering from total disorientation.
“Bali is Beautiful,” Beautiful with big “B”, capital “B”….. Yes, Bali is indeed Beautiful. I believe in it not because people say so, but because I have always felt the beauty. I love Bali. And, I can never differentiate between love and beauty. They are synonym.
Enough of suffering, we have suffered much…..
The question is: How to end suffering? Can it be ended? And if it can be ended, then how do we end it?
Year after year we celebrate our Independence Day. Many of us, though, celebrate it only formally. Just a handful of us are really enthusiastic about the celebration. Out of this handful too, perhaps very few really contemplate on the meaning of Independence. What does it mean to us today, some sixty odd years after we proclaimed it?