I was born as Indonesian, and for the 24-years of my life, I was raised in a country named Indonesia. Sometimes I envy for people who got a chance to study or live in other countries, and mostly, (I say mostly) that’s because of their parents' part of effort (at least in the initial steps). Okay, say, I’m not as lucky as those. And I do believe that some people do also have an envious feeling like me. Indonesian people usually think and believe that the other countries are better than us; more developed, more open-minded, more freedom, more beautiful, etc. And those get us to think that we want to see other countries or live there (for a while or forever, that’s your freedom to decide). That’s not a wrong thing to belong to that group of people, that just simply shows that you want a chance to grow better and experience something different.
However, I’ve heard here and there people mumbling, tweeting, and saying to build a unification of opinion or trying to advocate that Indonesia is a beautiful place, rich for the natural resources, and occupied with smart and down to earth people. “We are rich, we have Raja Ampat, we have batik, we have rendang, we have the best coffee in the world, we are the only one who have the last dragon, Komodo. I am proud to be Indonesian.” But still, when you are faced with foreign people from more developed country, you adore them, you are happy to hang out or having a conversation with them. If that’s because they are good looking and you like to experience something different, that’s considerably to be fair enough, still. However, have you ever felt like since they are coming from a developed country, then they’re that much cool and even smarter than you, fellow Indonesians? Every idea spoken from their mouth is fabulous? To be seen hanging out with them, have a picture taken with them, or having a special relationship with them will uplift your social status? And you try to show more polite attitude and respect to them rather than to your Indonesian friends? If the answers are yes, then sorry to say, maybe you’re still having some prides of being Indonesian in some other ways, but in my opinion, you are not a confident Indonesian.
A pride is important, but a confident needs to be there first before the pride is coming. Well, before, I might not be a confident Indonesian one. The truth is I am a kind of person who has huge curiosity, loves to meet and get to know people from different countries and cultures, but after awhile I think that this curiosity sometimes came further in a way that I wanted to be perceived cooler or ‘more international’ when I hang out, dating, or something in common with foreign people. I realized that it indicated if I used to be not confident with my nationality and blood, as Indonesian. I used to be, been for a while, until I see something.
A little story and point of view, but, this wasn’t the one that got me to change. It happened in November 2012, when my Twitter timeline was filled with quite influential people (and some were people that I know) tweeted with a hash tag #ShitIndonesianSays. Basically, they with that hash tag said that Indonesians do the silly annoying things, and that’s epic funny or embarrassing. The way those people tweeted was meant to be ‘fun’, but from my point of view it was mocking Indonesian people, while the people who tweeted that were also Indonesians! I have the screen shots of those, please see below (Twitter handles have been made blurry). Some examples were like : “#ShitIndonesianSays ada pin bebe? ; thanks god its Friday #ShitIndonesianSays; Steak blackpaper #ShitIndonesianSays; #ShitIndonesianSays Silakan selesaikan administrasinya, nanti akan kami tangani.” Okay, some of them were criticizing the grammatical stuff, but, that’s not a proper way to change people in a better way. Not everyone got a chance to learn English properly. Some also criticized government area, but I hope that none of their family belongs in any government’s department; otherwise they mocked their own family. However, still, that was pretty clear that they embarrassed themselves as Indonesians. And I hope that they could have someone to tell them that Twitter is not an Indonesian-only media, it has worldwide reach!
So how to build more confidence as Indonesian? From my experience and point of view, some trainings of skills, exploration, and comparison will take you into that better stage of confidence. Trainings may include, of course, English competence, be in speaking or writing. Whether you like it or not, you will need to use English, and this will come in greater urger when you get direct or indirect international exposure. Personally, I admit that as Indonesian, I’m not an English native speaker, and to be able to write something in English like this, it has come into some development process (the truth is I’ve been studying English since I was 6, and I took English course for 2 years when I was in junior high school). Nevertheless, during that learning process I had guts, spirit, and determination to get better skill in English. And I never stop learning and trying to be better. Without noticing it, there was also a process to build my confidence.
One of the factors why many Indonesian people feel less confident, hesitant, or even ashamed to speak in English is because their guts to become better is under their embarrass or shy feeling. Anyhow, if you don’t believe in yourself and you never try, how can you achieve something? And English doesn’t have to be mastered from an overseas experience or dedicated course. You can still practicing English in other ways, like from a community or English club (can also be a debating club, toastmasters, journalism, writing, etc). The key is don’t be afraid to try to get what you want. English is not the only skill that you need to enhance to build confidence, but from my observation, Indonesians who have better English tend to have better confidence to speak up in public. Besides English, the other skill that may help to improve your confidence is public speaking, and of course not to neglect the core skills matched with your area or expertise. The last one can be the most important factor since that really makes sense when you are good in your expertise, your confidence in everything will automatically get lifted up.
Now it comes to my last point. While Indonesia is very beautiful like a heaven, I do believe that traveling to other countries will get you into a better individual, and of course this will improve your confidence towards others, so will towards foreigners. As I mentioned earlier, some international exposures will take you to become a more confident Indonesian. This is not merely a culture or tourism comparison, but this is about the way when you meet people from other nations, talk to them, and share different ideas and point of views. In some ways you may also find something in common, but most importantly you can compare you (only you, not the whole Indonesians) with them. Whether you are far less open minded, less knowledgeable than them, or both of you sit on the same level, or even you actually can be better than them in some ways? It’s not only traveling abroad actually, it can also come in some ways like international competition, volunteer activities, or work in a multinational company. If you open your mind, heart, and ear correctly, you may find the truth that you have great capabilities, you belong to a smart group, and of course, to a country filled with smart people that makes you feel like you just want to spend the rest of your life here. Now let me ask you a question, have you got enough confidence to say “I’m a confident Indonesian”?
