Indonesia s Nation Building: From Diversity to Unity and from Revolution to Reformation (In Seeking Understanding with the

Korea s Nation Building)

DJOKO SURYO (Professor, Dept. of History, Gadjah Mada University, Yogjakarta, Indonesia)

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The advancement of the Korea-Indonesia relationship can be developed through mutual educational cooperation and understanding, which it able to strengthen and broaden to the previous political, economic, social and cultural cooperation in the present and the future. One of the strategic mutual educational cooperation and understanding is the aspect of the mutual historical teaching and writing on the both national history within the both countries. Through this cooperation it is expected that Indonesia and Korea will able to develop their mutual understanding and awareness in possessing of their similar past historical experiences and of the objective of their nation buildings as well as the future life of their nation. In this paper, I would like to present some aspects of the historical perspective on the Indonesias nation-building in possibility to seek a comparative historical experiences between Korea and Indonesia. It seemed that there was a similarity and dissimilarity in the modern historical experiences between Indonesia and Korea, especially during the period 19001945. The first similarity between the both can be referred to that in fact during the period the both had been under the foreign colonial domination and at the same time they had struggled against their foreign rules for achieving their independence. Indonesia had been under control of the Dutch colonial
Paper presented at the 2003 Korea-Indonesia International Symposium on the Promotion of Education for Global Understanding: Searching for a Cross-cultural understanding , Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia February 19, 2003.

rule (1800 1942) and the Japanese Military Occupation government (19421945), while Korea had been under control of the Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945). The second similarity was that the both had ever been under the Japanese colonial regime, although in a different length of rule. Surprisingly, Indonesia and Korea finally achieved their independence almost at the same time, that was Indonesia in 17th August 1945 and Korea in 15th August 1945, after the Japanese was defeated in the Second World War. The closeness in having the Independence Day and its causality made the both have the third close similarities. On the contrary, Korea had never been under Western colonialism, therefore, to some extent it make there is a certain different historical experiences with Indonesia, especially in facing the impact of the Western domination during a long period. In addition, the differences in sociocultural and geo-ecotypical background among the both certainly made another differences in the dynamic of the historical process. In fact, the multiethnic cultural society background and geo-ecological setting of the Indonesian archipelago make Indonesia difference with the Koreas singleethnic cultural society and peninsula state.

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From the historical perspective, the Indonesian nation-building can be divided into three phases, the origin, the growth, and the development. The first phase covers the process of the formation of the nation and the nation state, which took place around 1900 1945, that was the phase of the awakening of the Indonesian nationalism which brought about the rise of the Indonesian national consciousness and the birth of the nation. This period was characterized by the growth of the nationalist movement, the Indonesianmanifesto (1924), the concept of Indonesia, and the birth of the recognition of the Indonesian nation as declared in the Youth-Oath in October 28, 1928. This Youth-Oath was delivered in the Congress of the Indonesian Youth at Jakarta which were attended by all the representative of the Indonesian Youths coming from several parts of Indonesia, where they proclaimed their recognition of the one nation of Indonesia, the one fatherland of Indonesia,

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and the one national language of Indonesia. This phase can be seen as the developing process of the integration of the Indonesia people from the diversity to the unity, which its elements certainly had rooted in the long ancient period, such as in the Srivijaya Age (7th 11th centuries) and the Majapahit Age (14th -15th centuries). In the Modern Indonesian historiography it often be called as the period of the struggle against the colonialism for achieving independence and the formation of the nation-state which culminated in the declaration of the Indonesian independence declared by Soekarno and Hatta, in August 17, 1945. It is interesting that in the same period Korea had also a similar historical experiences with Indonesia, Korea had also similar historical period of 1900-1945 had a seminar historical period can be seen as the similar period of the process of the awakening of the Korean nationalism and the struggle against the colonialism (the Japanese colonialism) for the achievement of their independence and the formation of their nation-state, which it was coincidentally achieved in the same period (August 15, 1945). The second phase of the nation-building of Indonesia took place in 19451950, where the young nation-state of the Republic of Indonesia should had been built by the physical revolution, in which the Indonesian people had to build a national struggle for defending their independence and their new Republic against the external aggressions from the Dutch former colonialist as well as from the internal challenges. It was the period of the formation of the very deepest and actual solidarity of the Indonesian nationhood in the first nation-building after the Second World War. Coincidentally, there was a Korean former Japanese soldier, Yang Chil Song, or Kamarudin (?), joined to the Indonesian Revolution after his desertion from the Japanese troops in 1946, soon after the Japanese surrendered to the Allied. He joined in the Indonesian revolution and the struggle against the Dutch aggression in the West Java until he killed in the battle in a certain combat area in this region. He was buried in the National Hero Graveyard (Taman Pahlawan) in Garut, West Java, and received a special appreciation from the Indonesian Government given by President Soeharto. The third phase or the further development phase actually can be seen

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from the three periods, that are the 1950-1965, the 1966-1998, and 1998-the present. The first was the period of the post revolution nation-building of the Republic of Indonesia which concerned in the establishing of the nation political government system through the parliamentary or constitutional democratic government system. The dynamic of the nationa l political building in this period was characterized by the changing of the political constitutional democracy to the Guided-Democracy which ended with the out-broken of the national tragedy, that was the attempted coup of the 30th September 1965 Movement affair where the Indonesian Communist Party involved. It supposed to be one of the important impact of the Cold War world politic to Indonesia during the period. The second period or the 1965-1998, was to be one of the prominent period of the contemporary history, where it was the period of the emergence of the New Order Government under Soeharto, in which the nation-building was more concentrated on the building of the national political stability and the national economic development under the authoritarian government system. The political stability with the floating- mass system, the process of the industrialization, rural development and the national economy during three decades were successful. At the same time the Koreas national building had also successfully achieved highly position as one of the New Industrial Countries in Asia as well as in possessing the Asian Miracle spirits through the industrialization and the Samaul-Undong or community development. On the contrary, in Indonesia, there arose a political, social and cultural conflict in a certain group and areas in Indonesia. The social and cultural dissatisfaction and protest more and more increased and extended, and finally ended by the emerged of the Reformation Movement which caused the fall of the New Order in 1998. President Soeharto resigned from his position and was succeeded by Habbibie. The fall of the New Order coincidentally took place with the coming of the economic crises. The New Order government in Indonesia, to some extents has comparatively almost the same with the Korean political economic development. Moreover, the relation between the both South Korea and Indonesia in actual fact began. Since this period the political and economic cooperation has been more and more increased, developed and

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meaningful. The last period or the 1998 the present, is often called as the coming up of the Reformation period, where the new government since the Habbibie presidential to Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati Sukarnoputris have attempted to reform the political and government system from the authoritarian to more democratic and more having the civil society bases. The process of the democratization in politic and social-cultural dimension in the present are very interesting and promising. In the present period, surely, to be one of the promising period to advance and more prosper the Korea and Indonesia relation in the building of the future life in the 21st century.

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Hopefully, by the comparative study on the nation building in Indonesia and Korea as well as the using of the historical teaching and writing in the both countries will be fruitful and useful in supporting the building of the continuation of the Korea-Indonesia mutual cooperation and understanding in the present and the future.

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REFERENCES

Berger, Mark T. and Douglas A Borer, The Rise of East Asia, Critica Visions of the Pacific Century. London and new York: Routledge, 1997. Chung Hoon Lee, Culture and Institution in the Economic Development of South Korea, in Korea Observer, A Quarterly Journal, Vol. XXVIII No. 4, Winter 1997, pp. 613-627. Feith, Herbert, The Decline of Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia. IthacaLondon: Cornell University Press, 1978 (Fifth printing). Hill, Hal (ed.), Indonesia s New Order, The Dynamics of Socio-Econopmic Transformation. Honolulu: University of Hawai Press, 1994. Ki-baik Lee, A New History of Korea. Trans. By E.W. Wagner and E.J. Shultz. Seoul: Ilchokak Publishers, 1984. Ricklefs, M.C., A History of vModern Indonesiqa, since c. 1200. Third Edition. Houndmills ect. : Palgrave, 2001. Yang Seung-Yoon, Dinamika Hubungan Korea Selatan-Indonesia 1968-2000, Kajian Tentang Saling Ketergantungan. Dissertation in the Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta. 2002.

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