I Got Issues

By: Kevin Thenedi (16/397928/KU/19072)

An Indonesian proverb once said, “Tak kenal maka tak sayang” Therefore prior to starting

to talk about this topic, a little background of me as the writer will be good. I was born and raised

in the capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta. My family is from a minority category of the country both

from ethnicity and religion. Experiencing life as an Indonesian has been an epic one, as I get to

see how it has made me who I am today, and no one should ever be regretful to be an Indonesian.

But no regrets does not mean everything is flawless and perfect, “I” in the title refers to

“Indonesia”, and in this essay we will open up about the current issues in Indonesia that needs to

come to the center stage, in the hopes of gaining enough attention and solution for the better of

Indonesia.

Born in the times of monetary crisis at the year of 1998, I can already say two things about

Indonesia; Indonesia is a country where its people can have the freedom to speak their voices

regarding their views, what they see happening in the country, and be the power of decision for

whom will be the leader of the country; The other interesting thing about this country is that the

youth community in Indonesia has always shown the eagerness to help develop this country

towards a better future, both from their own studies for future occupations and also from their

movements of putting out their voice towards the government in times of what they may feel

‘unjust’.
 Indonesia uses democracy as its political system, upholding the “Trias Politika”

comprising the Executive, Legislative, and Judicative governmental bodies, with the President

(Part of the Judicative group) as the leader of the country. Unfortunately, this system has not

succeeded in creating a balanced economical nor population distribution in Indonesia. As felt, the

major economic and population growth of Indonesia is centered in Java Island, and a large part of

it is centered in the capital city of Jakarta. It results in a large spectrum of social gap (especially in

the majority of large cities), this issue has made its impact as one of the factors for the emerging

of separatist groups such as the current OPM (Papua). GAM (Aceh), and the previous FRETILIN

(East Timor).

In the context of natural geographical condition, this over-abundant natural wealth country lies in

the equator of the globe, which means the country experience mostly tropical weather comprising

of 2 seasons (Rainy season or Drought season). This geographical condition also coexist with the

fact that Indonesia lies in between 2 major tectonic plates making the country one of if not the

most volcanically active country and has proven to be very prone to earthquakes. Tropical storms,

has been an annual event in most part of Indonesia, contributing to be the major factor of flooding.

This means, natural disasters in Indonesia has never be seen as a strange occurrence. This fact,

combined with infrastructures of Indonesia often not ready to compensate, has created many

catastrophic events experienced by Indonesian civilians.

From the health sector, Indonesia used to emphasize its main focus on the occurrence of tropical

diseases, such as Malaria, Dengue Fever, Tuberculosis, and etc. But now, by the increasing trend

of sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy dietary consumption, Indonesia is now heading towards the

emergence of non-communicable diseases. This require a conscious effort by the government to

help promote healthy lifestyle towards civilians, and also to provide the necessary infrastructures

currently unavailable in doing so.

From this point on, elaborations regarding these specific issues will be discussed more specifically.

i. Corruption

This issue has raised a tremendous attention in both the society and also the government.

The subject of this issue most of the time are powerful people, mostly seated in the

powerful positions of the country. They tend to use the nation riches gained from

corruptions for the sake of their personal uses. In the example of a recent major event of

corruption, the e-KTP corruption case has caused the people of Indonesia to no longer put

their full trust towards the head of DPR (Setya Novanto). Indonesia has formed KPK

(Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi) in order to help eradicate this issue.

ii. Unemployment

According to BPS (Badan Pusat Statistik) Indonesia in 2019, Indonesia has TPT (Tingkat

Pengangguran Terbuka) as many as 5.34% which means there are around 7 million people

still needing job vacancies. One of the factors leading to this issue is because the inferiority

of human resource of Indonesia compared to foreign human resources. Some solutions

regarding this issue is for the government to establish human resource development

training, lingual courses, skills training which might help contribute to increase the quality

of Indonesian workers.

iii. Poverty
 Indonesia has long been identified as a poor / low-income country and just recently been

classified as a middle-income country. The impacts of poverty do not only be felt by the

poor civilians themselves, but will also be a burden for the country.

One possible solution is by encouraging the society to do some entrepreneurship in various

potential sectors such as tourism, food, and etc.

iv. Legal Gap

One of the cause for this issue is the steeper view towards the low socio-economical level

people, compared to the higher level people.

One of the possible solution possible is by abiding towards the supremacy of the

established law with just, in accordance with it the trust put by the society towards the

governing law will then also rise.

v. Conflicts (in Indonesian: Pertikaian)

This definition of conflict refers to the lack of social cohesiveness in terms of reaching a

unified goal in between societies. The background of each conflicts may be caused due to

conflict of interests, or large social gaps.

Possible solution for this issue is by embodying the values of Pancasila as the rightful

Ideology of Indonesia.

vi. Social Conflict between groups

This issue rises in the state of disagreement towards the situations or direction they are in.

Examples of this issue are; tribal, tradition wars (Peperangan suku, budaya). This condition

should be conveyed by the government towards the conflicting parties that they belong to

the same country and that the country belongs to them.

vii. Racial Conflict

 Indonesia ranks 4th in the world for their population, and also the largest maritime country

(which also means a country with the most islands in the world). This resulted in

approximately 1,340 tribes and 300 ethnic groups, making Indonesia one of the most

racially diverse country in the world. This issue develops as a result of intolerance in living

the life of diverse society.

viii. Low Education

This issue correlates greatly with the previously discussed issue (ii). Low educated people

will not be able to compete with foreign workers, and as the matter of fact Indonesia has

been identified as a country which provides PRT (Pembantu Rumah Tangga) with

relatively cheap salaries for exports to other countries.

This indicate the importance of increasing the quality of education and to make balance of

education especially in underdeveloped regions in Indonesia.

ix. Malnutrition

Malnutrition has been a logical consequence of a country which can’t help their people in

maintaining a sufficient economical income. This issue alone would manifest into the

decreasing of quality human resources, and According to the Ministry of Health Indonesia

as much as 30.8% of babies in Indonesia is suffering from stunting. This issue should

encourage the people of Indonesia especially the government to increase the economic

power of Indonesia as soon as possible.

x. High incidence of infectious disease

This issue still exist and lies mostly on underdeveloped regions, mostly the eastern part of

Indonesia. The one and only possible solution for this issue is to give health promotion and

better health services in these endemic areas.

 xi. Disorganized Families

According to the Ministry of Religion of Indonesia, as much as half million married

couples divorced. This is the result of a constantly upward trend ever since the year of

monetary crisis in 1998. The major factors are due to economic factors and domestic

violence. This shows the importance of pre-marital family counseling to emphasize the

importance of keeping their families intact.

xii. Juvenile Delinquency

As seen on the streets of cities all around Indonesia, unwell-placed murals are painted all

over the walls, transportation vehicles, buildings, and other public utilities are examples of

seen Juvenile Delinquency. This issue impacts on the impairments of the mentality of the

teenagers and youths, dealing with the rapid movement of their social environment and

life. Do note that an impaired generation would be a catastrophic threat for the country.

This issue must be dealt with good counseling or more positive activities to keep them

occupied.

xiii. Substance Abuse

Indonesia has always ban the uses of addictive substances, but in reality the abuse of

substance in this country still exist. This issue need to be socialized to the society regarding

the danger and impacts it may cause to people abusing it, a more strict law and regulations

is also crucial to reduce / eradicate this issue.

xiv. Mobility Traffic

This issue has always been seen in metropolitan areas, due to a large volume of mobility

heading to the same directions. Some solution to this issue is to encourage the people to

reduce the usage of private cars and start utilizing the public transportations, then also for
 the government to start manufacturing a better and more accessible mode of public

transportations.

xv. Consumptive Behavior

This issue defines people whom prefer to overly use goods/services without thinking on

how to do it themselves. Generally, this issue may also cause the Indonesian economic

condition to rely too much on foreign economic powers.

xvi. Healthcare

This particular issue focuses on the expensive toll required for people to get an ideally

sufficient and quality healthcare service. Although the Ministry of Health by the ideas of

President Joko Widodo have established the BPJS (Badan Penyelenggara Jaminan Sosial)

program, the implementation has indicate insufficient amount of service and somewhat

lack in execution frameworks.

xvii. Modernization

Indonesia is currently in a transitional phase from a traditional towards a more modern

lifestyle. Aware of the dangers of modern lifestyle, there are so much benefits that the

people may gain if they are able to transition well to this more modern way of life and

society.

xviii. Globalization

As a brief explanation, globalization causes the invisible walls between countries to some

extent able to disappear. And that the cultural, social, and economics assimilations has

somewhat been the occurrence in the past several decades.

xix. Natural Resource Management

 Realize it or not, Indonesia is one of if not the most rich country in terms of natural

resources in the world. Unfortunately, the lack of human resource competency in utilizing

the natural resources has caused Indonesia to allow foreign countries to make use of these

riches. The easy examples are Freeport in Papua, gold mining in Kapuas River in

Kalimantan.

xx. Sexual Crimes

This issue is related to the cases of BDSM, rape, and etc. that tend to victimize women and

underage children. This issue may develop into the impairment of the victim’s social

orientation in the future.

xxi. Lack of balanced Infrastructural Development

The smaller cities in Indonesia experience huge difficulties in keeping up with the speed

of growth of the larger cities. This issue correlates greatly with the trends of transmigration,

urbanization, and other mobilization of the society.

As a conclusion, this essay is intended to help open the eyes of the readers regarding the required

attentions to our beloved country, Indonesia. In the hopes that in the future, Indonesia can become

a great, successful, and impactful country both to its people and to the world.

Reference:

1. Ayudwipurn. "Pengaruh Globalisasi Terhadap Indonesia." KOMPASIANA. October 15,

2018. Accessed June 20, 2019.
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globalisasi-terhadap-indonesia.

2. DosenSosiologi.Com. "21 Masalah Sosial Di Indonesia Saat Ini Dan Solusinya

Lengkap." DosenSosiologi.Com. October 24, 2018. Accessed June 20, 2019.
http://dosensosiologi.com/masalah-sosial-di-indonesia-saat-ini-dan-solusinya-lengkap/.
3. Netralnews.Com. "Di Indonesia Ada 1.340 Suku Bangsa Dan 300 Kelompok Etnik."
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targetkan-angka-stunting-turun-menjadi-28-persen-akhir-2019.html.

5. Roosyana, Rommy. "Masih Ada 7 Juta Pengangguran Di Indonesia." Https://beritagar.id/.

March 14, 2019. Accessed June 20, 2019. https://beritagar.id/artikel/berita/masih-ada-7-
juta-pengangguran-di-indonesia.

6. Saputra, Andi. "Hampir Setengah Juta Orang Bercerai Di Indonesia Sepanjang 2018."
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4495627/hampir-setengah-juta-orang-bercerai-di-indonesia-sepanjang-2018.