THE RETURN OF INDONESIA: ARE WE READY ENOUGH TO BE THE NEXT DEVELOPED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD?(PART 2)

NATION'S LITERACY IGNORED?

Indonesian celebrated poet, Mr. Taufik Ismail, pointed out the other vital issue this nation is encountering. Ismail regretted the government's feeble and wavering political will to strengthen Indonesian young generation literacy level. Most Indonesian students are now losing their ability to write as they are seldom exposed to reading activity. Ismail surprisingly compared our current literature way of teaching to the one that we adopted during the Dutch Collonialism era. At that time, Ismail went on, students were required to read more literary works and then to write compositions related to the works they just read.

The moderator reasoned this must be caused by Indonesian tendency to be an oral-cultured nation. The reason, however, was instantly rebutted by Ismail by stating that our literacy during Dutch colonialization was even better than now.

Ismail also lamented the government's complete ignorance towards the development of literature publication in Indonesia. Indonesian one and only literature magazine is now trying hard to survive but the government isn't even aware of that..

SCHOOLS LEASH CREATIVITY?

Another amazing aspiring figure invited by Metro TV to the stage was Rheynald Kassali. He was eloquently conveying his message about Indonesian inappropriately-designed education system. Kassali stated that Indonesia is a big nation with leashed creativity. He gave an example that Indonesian children have no option but being controlled by the authority (parents, babysitters, teachers, etc). Schools and teachers give boundaries to their students. Similarly, the government also employs a set of curricula that seem inconsistent unfriendly to students.

To overcome this, Kassali suggested a massive and thorough  educational reform which involves the teachers quality improvement. The unsuitable teaching methods Indonesian teachers are using are allegedly to be the culprit.

Other than that, Kassali mentioned this nation should start to learn how to compete fairly. Thus far, Indonesians have been so much acquainted with solidarity values. Solidarity is above all, that's what they believe. What makes Indonesians fail to compete with other nations is that they tend to think  based on solidarity values, that togetherness is good, without exception. That's why we easily find a group of students cheating during exams. They're never told that some cases of togetherness/ solidarity are exceptionally destructive, unethical and improper.