15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him
in his words. 16 And
they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher,
we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not
care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. 17 Tell us, then, what
you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put
me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show
me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and
inscription is this?” 21 They
said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore
render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are
God’s.” 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left
him and went away.
(Matthew
22:15-22)
One
of the clues of one’s nationalism can be found in the taxpaying behavior. If one does not feel like honoring the nation
where he lives, he/she would be reluctant to pay taxes. Tax becomes a measurement of one’s allegiance
to a nation. The Jews in the time of
Jesus, under Roman occupation struggled with this issue. They felt that if they were to be loyal to
the Jewish nation, it would be a betrayal to pay taxes to the Roman
Empire. On the other hand
their life could be in jeopardy if they insisted not to pay taxes to Caesar.
The
question that was raised to Jesus was under that context. But that question was meant to trap
Jesus. They wanted to corner Jesus. The question was a “Yes” or “No”
question. If the answer was yes it was
lawful, meaning under the law of Moses, to pay taxes to Caesar, then Jesus
would be considered disloyal to the Jewish nation and messing with the law of
Moses. For in the law of Moses tributes
are to be given only to the true King, which is God Himself. Now, Caesar had declared that he was God’s
son. And so as deity, the people under
him ought to pay tribute to him. But
then to do so would be to acknowledge Caesar’s deity, and this is in
contradiction with God’s law in the Scripture.
If
the answer was no, then Jesus would be considered traitor under the Roman
law. Intentionally not paying taxes to
Caesar was understood as an act of treason or subversive. Such act was not to be left unpunished. It was imperative for everyone under the Roman Empire to pay taxes. This is the classic example of dilemma. As a great influential teacher to the people,
if Jesus were to give even the slightest indication to act contrary to the Roman
law, then he would be found guilty and must be processed under the Roman law
for trial and then sentencing.
His
answer was very clever, stunning to His audience. No one expected Him to answer in that
way. The Pharisees were almost certain
that Jesus would have to answer yes
or no. There was no other way humanly speaking. The question was set up in such a way to get
someone down. The question was designed
to fail whoever answered it following its proper rule. But Jesus was no ordinary man. He answered unexpectedly. Instead of answering the trap question
according to the logic of the day, He tapped into the ancient wisdom, the logic
of the Creation, the reasoning of the ontological order of things. So Jesus schooled the Pharisees in the
eternal wisdom of God. It was like a preschool
student asking a silly question to a Mighty Wise King of the universe, and the
King gave an answer that defied the logic of the preschooler.
Let
us take a look at the genius of Jesus answer:
19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a
denarius. 20 And
Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said,
“Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore
render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are
God’s.”
An
answer that went beyond debate. It shut
the mouth of His enemies. Not in a bad
way, but in the most elegant way. Nobody
could find the flaw of His answer. His
answer was final. It pointed to the core
of things. The possessive property was
evoked. The coin that was used to pay
taxes had a clear image and inscription that belonged to the ruler of the
country, Caesar. Therefore the
undeniable force of possession could not be rejected, be it logically or
practically. Everybody knew the meaning
of image in the ancient time. When a
ruler of a nation wanted his subjects to know whose land and territory it was,
he erected an image of himself for everybody to see. And then he carved his image in something
that was widely used by his subjects in order to claim ownership of the
land. The coin was the logical choice
for every ruler to utilize. It was very
practical and it spread very quickly to every corner of his territory.
And so the most elegant answer to
give to Caesar what belonged to Caesar was the perfect answer to the tricky
question. Lawful? By whose law?
By the law of Rome? By the law of Moses? And by whose interpretation of the law, be it
the Roman law or the Mosaic law? By the
ontological principle of possession, give to Caesar what belonged to Caesar
could not be argued back. No matter how
hard people would try, the fact that the image and inscription of Caesar was on
the coin provided the perfect platform for returning the possession of Caesar
back to the rightful owner. Even the
Mosaic law could not deny that. Take a
look at Exodus 23:4 that says:
4 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray,
you shall bring it back to him.
So yes,
Caesar’s possession, printed on the coin to pay taxes, must be returned to
Caesar. Jesus’ answer was accurate. He nailed it on the head.
But it was not the end of His
answer. One last line. One last nail on the coffin. That last line sealed it. Give to God what belonged to God. Surprise surprise. Giving back to Caesar what he rightfully
owned was mandatory. Having the coins in
their pocket was like they owed Caesar for using the coin belonging to him. So it was proper to return it to Caesar. But they also owed something to God. This last line was theologically deep. It went back to the Creation account. Right at the very beginning, on day six of
creation, God created humans in a special way.
He put His image and inscription within the body and soul of man. So every human being owed their life to
God. They ought to return it back to the
rightful owner. And God was the rightful
owner. There was no contest there. God was the creator and he claimed ownership
ontologically. So in the spirit of
giving back things to the rightful owner, the people were then reminded that
they too ought to give back themselves to God as the rightful owner of their
body and soul.
A trick question was replied with
the ultimate teaching of possession, identity, right, duty, and
allegiance. And this answer of the Son
of Man is important for us to understand nationalism. Our notion of nationalism has been distorted
by the way of the world. A big rift
between nations is emphasized even further by the pain, suffering, disaster,
etc. that followed war, raid, occupation, colonization, domination, and so
on. Hatred grew deeper as the divide
grew wider. And so nationalism becomes
distorted into focusing only on the race, ethnicity, territory, citizenship of
a country. Our understanding of
nationalism then has failed to comprehend that we are all humans, created in
the image and likeness of God. The
hatred toward other nations that is ingrained within nationalism numbs our
senses that naturally prompt us to embrace people of other nationalities. With such notion we then compete between
nations to get ahead of other nations.
To pride our own nation above others.
To get our nation up high above on the top of the pyramid while at the
same time shoving others down to the bottom of the pyramid. We then forget that we are citizens of the
world before we are citizens of our tiny nation. And most importantly we are actually citizens
of God’s kingdom.
Now, consequently, when we honor our
nation, we ought to take a stand that we are returning what is due to our
nation. We owe it to our nation our
duty. Just like the people owed it to
Caesar that they had to pay taxes to him for it was his right to receive taxes
and their duty to pay. But this duty and
allegiance must not trump our duty and allegiance to the One who owns our body
and soul. Nationalism, if taken to the
extreme would blind our soul to the fact that we consider other nations as our
enemies. Extreme nationalism destroys. Therefore, each nationalistic tendency must
be guarded with the understanding that is based on Jesus’ answer to the
Pharisees in Matthew 22. We mustn’t be
blinded by nationalism so that we do whatever it takes for the sake of putting
our nation on the top of the pyramid.
That’s not it. We render to our
nation what is proper for us to give back.
If our nation asks us to kill the innocents, then it is within our duty
to refuse because there is a greater law that governs our life as we owe to God
our body and soul. It does not matter
whether the people we are ordered to kill are of different nationalities,
races, or ethnicities. All humans belong
to God. They are created in the image
and likeness of God. We cannot just run
around killing people of other nations just because our nation says so. We cannot even undermine people of other
nations just because our nation happens to be stronger at this point in time.
Secondly, we mustn’t also consider
our nation as if we owe our life to it.
So that we put our nation first above everything else. That is not at all what Jesus is
teaching. Yes we do honor our nation,
but above it there is God who must be honored more than our nation. Nationalism must not be blind that we
sacrifice all that is right and good and just only for the sake of the survival
or the honor of our nation. There are
many examples in the world that projects blind nationalism of this kind. A very good illustration is captured in the
movie “A Few Good Men.” This movie was
released in 1992, starred by top Hollywood
artists, Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, and Jack Nicholson. I will not retell the story here, but it
would suffice to say that there is an issue of the justification of murder in
the name of national security. In this
case nationalism is regarded to be above the law, and so killing someone would
be justified as long as it is for the sake of the nation. Many kind of indecent acts, even unethical
conducts would then be permitted, all in the name of nationalism. For sure that is not what God desires.
God is to be honored above anything
else. Saul was rejected by God when he
dishonored God by performing an act that was only lawful for a priest to
do. For Saul it was a matter of national
security. The fate of Israel was on
the line. The Philistines were ready to
crush Israel. And with Saul were exhausted soldiers, who
had lost any taste of war because they did not think that God was with
them. One by one from the Israelite army
left and Saul was nervous. So he broke
God’s law. Saul put his nation above
God. Nationalism wise, Saul was doing
excellently. But when he did that he
sacrificed God for the sake of nationalism.
NT Wright wrote a book called “How
God Became King,” and in that book he elaborated the often missed notion of
Jesus as King. Christians often focused
too much on Jesus’ redemptive work and consequently they forgot to do a just
treatment on the kingship of Jesus.
Wright is right that Yahweh became king in Jesus Christ. Isaiah 9:1-7 speaks about the promise of God
that a Son of David will ascend into the throne. But this Son will reign forever and ever with
righteousness and justice. His kingdom
will never end. And the names given to
Him is Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of
Peace. He is no ordinary human. He is no ordinary king. He is much more than just a son of
David. He is also the Son of God. He is the King of kings. He is God himself. And so when Jesus starts his ministry, the
first message He proclaims is that of the Kingdom of God. His teaching is actually about the Kingdom of God.
When He casts out demons, it’s the establishment of God’s Kingdom. He heals the sick, He feeds the hungry, He
forgives sin, and He resurrects the dead, for in the glorious Kingdom of God
– the new heaven and earth – there is no more sickness, pain, suffering,
hunger, sin, and death. His works is a
foretaste of what is coming. Already and
not yet. The Kingdom
of God collides with the kingdom of
the world, the kingdom
of Satan and the kingdom
of man. But the Kingdom of God
will prevail. For even when the Son of
God is murdered, He does not remain dead.
He rises again in glory. This is
the gospel message. As Christians we are
called to be citizens of God’s kingdom.
This is the first calling of every human. First and foremost we are called to be
citizens of God’s kingdom. This mystery
is revealed by God through His Holy Scripture.
When God created the universe, He was establishing His kingdom. To God’s kingdom we owe our first
allegiance. Therefore, when we talk
about nationalism, we must establish first our allegiance to the Kingdom of Heaven, to God who is King. And this we must do before we talk about our
nation in this physical world.
Why I must insist on our citizenship
of the Kingdom of
God first? It is because the collision of God’s kingdom
with the kingdom of the world results in the citizens of God’s kingdom being
persecuted. When persecution comes, our
allegiance is tested. It will be obvious
where our allegiance actually lies. Is
it for God’s kingdom or for the kingdom of the world? Without trials it would not be clear where
our true allegiance is. Trials,
tribulations, disequilibrium, uncover our masks that we put on, so that our
true self comes out. Jesus says: “For where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also (Matthew 6:21).” The
desire of God is for His people to put God first and everything else next. By implication then, it is also the desire of
God for His people to put the Kingdom
of Heaven first and
everything else next.
The teaching of nationalism then
must have the teaching of the Kingdom
of God as the
pre-requisite. This sequence is
important to make a statement of the priority of the Kingdom of heaven. Impression is important especially for little
kids. What comes first will be
remembered first. If the impression is
proper, then it will not be forgotten.
Then when the study of nationalism (of our nation – where we are born or
where we are citizens) comes their way, they would not abandon their first
allegiance to the Kingdom
of God. As we know, nationalism education is commonly
quite intense. Since the rise of
kingdoms in the world, kings and princes had found a way to strengthen their
kingdoms through educating their subjects to honor their country, their kings,
to be loyal to them, and to love them unconditionally. In the world of formal education, John Dewey
made it even clearer and then became the model of modern education philosophy
worldwide that education has within it the main goal to produce desirable
citizens of a nation. The national
constitution will become the foundation of the educational goal for making
desirable citizens. And so the quality
of the education will depend greatly on the quality of the national
constitution.
As I am an Indonesian, I will
discuss about what I think as a good policy for Indonesian Nationalism
Education based on the Indonesian Constitutional Foundation: Pancasila. Here it is:
The Policy for the Underlying
Philosophy: the Divine Education
Purpose
Based on the first principle (Sila
I) in the Pancasila, that is “KeTuhanan yang Maha Esa” (Belief in the One God),
our education must also be based on the belief of God. Consequently, any kind of education that
betrays such belief should be excluded from Indonesian education. Moreover, the drive of the secularization of
education must be stopped at once in Indonesian education. Therefore, Indonesian education must find its
foundation in the faith in God.
Faith-based education ought to be the norm. Teaching Indonesian people to truly know God
is the heart of the task of education in Indonesia. And since humans are created to be like God,
then it is imperative to teach them to lead a godly life. All this can only be achieved when Indonesian
people learn to put their faith in God.
Guidelines
1. Inserted in the vision and mission
statements of all schools in Indonesia
is the faith in God
2. All Indonesian schools are to take
seriously the teaching of the faith in God, which must be reflected in the
explicit curriculum and should be the overall spirit of the implicit curriculum
3. The worship of God becomes the
ultimate goal of all education in Indonesia and consequently teaching
and learning must proceed as the act of honoring God
4. A holistic life and peaceful living
are to be taught and learned by all Indonesian so they may enjoy life
abundantly and bless all others in the world
5. The acquisition of knowledge is to be
dedicated to the fulfillment of the will of God, that is reflected in the
goodness of humanity and the service to humanity
6. The training of godly character such
as love, justice, righteousness, holiness, wisdom, peace, etc. must encompass
the entire process of education
7. All aspects of life, spiritual,
intellectual, emotional, social, physical, psychological are to be touched
accordingly in education in order to bring up the true nature of human being as
the image bearer of God who must live a life as intended by God
The Policy for the Underlying
Philosophy 2: the Education of Man
Purpose
Based on the second principle (Sila
II) in the Pancasila, that is “Kemanusiaan yang Adil dan Beradab” (the just and
cultured humanity), our education must strive to educate man to be man. As Rousseau pointed out, the noble task of
education is not to educate man to be lawyer, doctor, engineer, etc. but to teach
them to be true man according to their true nature. Pancasila’s second principle lays the
foundation for the humanity that we desire, just and cultured. The understanding of justice is crucial for
all people. Since birth, humans must be
taught to act justly. They need to learn
to differentiate between right and wrong, good and evil. This kind of education cannot be exempt from
any human education. The second one is
to educate man to be cultured. This is
not the education of culture, but this is to make man cultured. In order to do so, the education of values
and ethics become normative. The final
goal is true man.
Guidelines
1. The study of the universal values and
ethics is to be conducted in all education for all level
2. All people of Indonesia are
to be raised knowing right and wrong, good and evil, and choose the right and
the good
3. All Indonesian people are to learn the
way of life that promotes love and mercy
4. The education of wisdom becomes the
core of all teaching and learning
5. At the end of the tunnel, all
Indonesian people must be able to practice wisdom and be ethical people
The Policy for the Underlying
Philosophy 3: The Principle of Unity
Purpose
Based on the third principle (Sila
III) in the Pancasila, that is “Persatuan Indonesia”
(the unity of Indonesia),
our education ought to lead learners appreciate diversity and strive for unity
in Indonesia. Therefore, learners are to learn honor and
respect. For through honor and respect we may stand in honor of our own
uniqueness and be respectful of other people’s differences. In addition, Indonesians are to learn
peace. Peace is much more than just
cease-fire. Peace must include the
flourishing of human life. As human
beings, we ought to seek and support other people’s prosperity. If each does this, than all people will be
prosperous and live in peace. The final
goal is honorable, respectful, and peaceful people of Indonesia. Educating people to be peacemaker is the
mission in this underlying philosophy.
Guidelines
1. True honor and respect must be learned
and exhibited at all times
2. True peace must be studied and chosen
over fake peace
3. The understanding of the diverse
cultures of Indonesia
must be achieved at all level of education
4. Extensive knowledge of what
constitutes unity is to be explored and studied carefully at all level of
education
The Policy for the Underlying
Philosophy 4: the Citizenship Education
Purpose
Based on the fourth principle (Sila
IV) in the Pancasila, that is “Kerakyatan yang dipimpin oleh Hikmat
Kebijaksanaan dalam Permusyawaratan Perwakilan” (citizenship life guided by
wisdom within the dialogue of people’s representatives), our education should
focus on the honor of being Indonesian citizens that are wise through peaceful
dialogue. The honor of living as
Indonesian citizens is to be cultivated to all Indonesians. This requires the transformation of Indonesia as a whole aiming at the dignity of Indonesia as a
sovereign nation and honorable people.
Moreover, the kind of education that is required here is the education
of wisdom and discretion. Impulsiveness,
carelessness, laziness, and neglectfulness must be gradually reduced and
eventually taken out completely from among Indonesian ethos.
Guidelines
1. Meaningful dialogue and critical
decision require all parties involved to be wise and able to think clearly
2. Educate Indonesian people to think
critically and carefully
3. The representatives of the people must
be those with high intelligence and wise heart, who do not merely directed by
the demand of the people but more importantly know truly the need of the people
and the nation
4. Educate Indonesian people to dedicate
their effort, among other things, for the goodness of the nation, and thus be
good citizens who will maintain peace and strategically develop the resources for
the prosperity of the entire Indonesia
The Policy for the Underlying
Philosophy: the Education for Justice
Purpose
Based on the fifth principle (Sila
V) in the Pancasila, that is “Keadilan Sosial bagi seluruh Rakyat Indonesia” (social justice for all people of Indonesia), our
education must reflect and realize the administration of justice. A country will not stand without
justice. Corruption must be prevented at
all cost. Peace may only be maintained
when justice is done. With no justice
mistrust grows like cancer. When
mistrust matures, violence rules. When
violence storms we will reap social disasters.
We all don’t want such horrible things to happen in our beloved Indonesia. Therefore, social justice must not be taken
lightly, but instead it must become one of the underlying philosophies of
Indonesian education.
Guidelines
1. Indonesian education must serve as the
center of social justice study, which will breed the praxis of social justice
in the entire Indonesia
at all social strata
2. Indonesian leaders, especially, must
be educated in such a way that transforms them to become people that promote
and practice social justice
3. The mind and the heart of the people
must be taught to focus on the practice of good deeds to others
4. Schooling must not promote
self-serving ambitions for gaining riches and power for themselves
5. Schooling must promote vision and
mission for the sake of the goodness of others and for the service of humanity
6. Indonesian education is responsible
for the internalization of acting justly in all circumstances for all the
people of Indonesia
7. The final profile of Indonesian people
is full awareness of social justice for all people of Indonesia,
where if there is social injustice they will strive to straighten it,
especially those who have the power and resource to do so
But all
that pretty concept would not work properly without a good educational
architecture supporting it. What I mean
by educational architecture is not the built environment, although built
environment certainly is important, but more of the design of the overall
educational enterprise in Indonesia
which looks even into the educational infrastructure and practice. There are some more policy suggestions for
Indonesian education that would support the Indonesian Nationalism Education
based on Pancasila that I would like to propose here.
The Policy for the Elements of
Education
Purpose
There are three most important
elements of education that must be carefully prepared if excellent education is
to be achieved. Based on the Pancasila
and the educational policies derived from it, all three elements of education
must be nurtured properly. The three
elements of education are: 1) Teacher, 2) Student, and 3) Curriculum.
Guidelines
for Teacher
1. Believe in God and actively involved
in the good and ethical works for the goodness of mankind as the implementation
of the faith in God
2. Purposefully teach for the betterment
of mankind by:
§
Teaching
people the good way of life by integrating faith and knowledge
§
Mastering
knowledge according to the respected discipline and teach their students to
master and enhance knowledge
§
Guiding
students to the application of theories in real life
§
Modeling
service to their students so all students will learn to serve others
§
Living
a true life of righteousness, love, mercy, and wisdom
3. Understand Indonesian culture and able
to implement unity in diversity
4. Educate the people the principles of
good and effective governance for the goodness of the nation
5. Implement justice and righteousness in
all aspects of life and focusing on caring for the less fortunate and the
poorest of the poor
Guidelines
for Student
1. Believe in God and willingly learn to
be involved in the good and ethical works for the goodness of mankind as the
implementation of the faith in God
2. Highly motivated to learn and study
for the betterment of mankind:
§
Learn
the good way of life by integrating faith and knowledge
§
Learn
to master knowledge and strive for the enhancement of it
§
Learn
to apply theories into solving real life problems
§
Learn
to serve others sincerely
§
Learn
to live a true life of righteousness, love, mercy, and wisdom
3. Eager to learn Indonesian culture and
willing to support unity in diversity
4. Strive to learn the principles of good
and effective governance in order to lead the nation with wisdom and justice
5. Learn the application and execution of
justice and righteousness in all aspects of life, particularly its application
for the less fortunate and the poorest of the poor
Guidelines
for Curriculum
1. The study of theology and its
practical application for the goodness of humanity
2. Directed toward the improvement and
betterment of humanity through:
§
The
study of the good way of life the integration of faith and knowledge
§
The
study of knowledge mastery and its enhancement
§
The
study of problem solving skills through the application of theories in the real
life
§
The
study of service to others
§
The
study of righteousness, love, mercy, and wisdom for the building up of
students’ character in life
3. The study of Indonesian culture and the
idea of unity in diversity
4. The study of the principles of good
and effective governance for the purpose of educating servant leaders who will
lead the nation with wisdom and justice
5. The study of the application and
execution of justice and righteousness in all aspects of life, particularly its
application for the less fortunate and the poorest of the poor
This
policy must also be supported by the policy for the simplicity and clarity of
education. It is explained in the
following.
The Policy for a Simple and Clear
Education
Purpose
If strong education is the aim, then
the basic foundation must be strengthened.
Education enterprise today is filled with too many fancy methods and
standards that somehow overburdens and overshadows the most importance knowledge
and skills. With too many fancy methods
and standards being implemented, students don’t achieve mastery of the
necessary skills and knowledge, but instead they are caught up in the
peripherals. It is imperative,
therefore, for educators to make education simple and clear for students to
dwell in the most important matters.
Guidelines
1. Simplify and clarify curriculum by
identifying the most important knowledge and skills per subject matter (for
example, if understanding of English language is to be achieved, then the
simple and clear study by reading and writing ought to be employed to provide a
solid foundation of English language skills and knowledge)
2. Simplify and clarify curriculum by
trimming down the unnecessary standards and methods (for example, if
understanding of English language is to be achieved, then the study of grammar
might need to be trimmed down since it hampers understanding of English
language)
3. Simplify and clarify assessment in
order to improve education. If
improvement of the students’ skills and knowledge is the aim, then summative
assessment is not the way to go
4. For simplifying and clarifying
assessment, formative assessment is a necessity in this case. A simple and clear check of understanding
here and there will do the trick for formative assessment to be effective. All schools and universities should adopt
formative assessment and implement its practice in all level of teaching and
learning endeavor
5. Simple and clear teaching method is
required. Fancy teaching methods often
only impress supervisors but never get to the heart of teaching and
learning. Put it simply, if a teacher
cannot teach a subject simple enough to make students understand, then the
teaching method will need to be simplified and clarified
All
of the above policies would be greatly hampered if the political decisions of
the government intervene with the progress of Indonesian education. And so I have thought of the better way
Indonesian education can be done. I will
describe it in the next proposal of policy.
The Policy for the Autonomy of
Education: Depoliticizing Education
Purpose
Naturally, education lasts forever
while political direction lasts only a minimum of one period and the maximum of
two periods of the elected government presiding. The effect of any educational policy can only
be felt after a period of time much longer than the two periods of the elected
government. In order to avoid wasting
all the efforts in education and confusing the people due to the premature
cancellation of educational policies by the next elected government, then
education must be separated from politics at all cost. Therefore, the education enterprise should be
made independent and autonomous guarded and guided by the vision and mission of
the elected government. All its rights
and responsibilities must submit under Indonesian law. Autonomy does not mean that education can do
whatever they want, but that they are not interfered by politics. Education is independent in its policies but
must be responsible to the people through the House of Representatives.
Guidelines
1. Set up a system that will accommodate
the autonomy of Indonesian education
2. Set up a governing body of the
independent education enterprise to manage Indonesian education that is free
from political biases
3. Based on the Indonesian Constitution
(UUD’45), then Indonesian education must be recentralized. This centralization must be organized under
the educational rules and regulations signed and authorized by the House of
Representatives
4. Set up the educational rules and
regulations
5. The education governing body is to
devise a short term and long term plan of education following the need and the
vision mission of the Republic
of Indonesia
6. Set up independent accreditation
agencies that focus on the excellence of national education – more than one
agencies per educational level (university, secondary, primary) are needed for
check, balance, and accountability purposes
Yet
another issue needs to be dealt with.
Even though the new direction of the national education hopes to
consider national exams (Ujian Nasional or UN) as non-determinative anymore,
the stigma it carries and the structure that has been built for so many years
to support it are still lingering upon the practice of Indonesian formal
education. Besides, for many schools
across Indonesia UN is actually needed to bring up their standard to what is
desirable for the national education goal.
And so I have written a possible solution for this dilemma.
The Policy for National Exams: 1
Education 2 Systems
Purpose
In order to cope with the persistent
problem of the quality of education in Indonesia which many would wish to
ensure through a standardized test called the national exams (UN), but that many
experts would argue that UN in fact cancels the progress of education Indonesia
may enjoy through the national curriculum (currently KTSP, which soon will be
replaced with K2013), thus the 1 Education 2 Systems policy is created to
govern and manage the tension, so that Indonesian education may cruise through
a better conditioning that is more likely to guarantee learning and success. The first system is the UN schools, and the
second system is the non-UN schools.
Guidelines
1. UN is required for below level B
national schools
2. Below level B national schools must
follow BAN completely for the purpose of upgrading their quality of education
accordingly
3. The National Accreditation Agency
(BAN) must supervise and put a relentless effort to bring up the below level B
national schools to a minimum of level B within a reasonable time frame
4. Level A and B national schools
determine its own standard of assessment benchmarking to a reputable
International education institution
5. Level A and B national schools must
report to BAN their approved standard of assessment
In
order to ensure the achievement of the goals of education based on Pancasila,
it is important that competent teachers be prepared and equipped properly. This leads to our next proposal.
The Policy for Teachers College
Initiative: Educating Indonesian Teachers
Purpose
The most important ingredient in
education is teacher. Without teachers,
education suffers. The quality of
education in Indonesia
depends on the quality of the teachers.
The lack of teachers college in Indonesia has already hurt
Indonesian education. Therefore, it is
imperative for Indonesia
to take the initiative to develop excellent teachers college to graduate high
quality teachers. Those teachers will in
turn give birth to the highly ethical, excellent intellectuals, dependable
professionals, and more importantly responsible human beings in Indonesia.
Guidelines
1. Put the main focus of Indonesian
national growth and development on the raising up of high quality teacher
education, and practically plan and found enough teachers college throughout Indonesia, and
also create a critical curriculum for the teachers college that will truly
serve the needs of Indonesian people
2. Place the underlying philosophy of
education of the teachers college on the unshakable foundation of educating
people to be GURU who will teach people to live according to their true nature
as the dignified human being – the image bearer of God
3. Set the national values (Pancasila) as
the bases of the teachers’ mindset in bringing up generations that will truly
set their belief in God, focus on the justice and culture of humanity, unite Indonesia, be good and wise citizens of Indonesia, and
administer social justice for all Indonesians
4. The Indonesian government, at the
national or provincial level, must strive to call the brightest minds, the
highest ethical, and the truly good people of Indonesia to be educated as
teachers in Indonesian teachers colleges
5. Restructure the mind of the people
that being teachers is not the same with choosing poverty, and thus require all
parties involved to justly and gradually increase their appreciation, be it
materially or morally or socially, of the Indonesian teachers
6. All sectors must send their brightest
minds to give their time and effort to contribute to the strengthening and
developing high quality Indonesian teachers colleges
7. Frame the teachers college as the
center of learning and consultation (city, province, national) depending on the
scope and scale proportional to the respective teachers college
It
is undeniable that Indonesian education is not focusing enough on the knowledge
creation endeavor. We all know that
knowledge is essential for the growth of education and also for life as a
whole. Therefore, sustaining a solid
education for Indonesia
must consider this effort of knowledge creation. This then cannot escape the next proposal.
The Policy for Research
Initiative: Knowledge Creation
Purpose
Through research we accumulate
knowledge. With enough knowledge we may
build something. We need enough knowledge to provide us the platform of the
building of Indonesia
as a whole. But to have enough knowledge
we desperately need enough research. As
we know it, research has not been effectively administered in Indonesia. Therefore, an initiative to push research in
all educational institutions for all level in Indonesia becomes crucial. Students from primary level needs to learn
the research skill so when the time comes for them to conduct a research that
will contribute to knowledge and be beneficial for the betterment of humanity,
they will be ready. This being the case,
Indonesian education must have shifted from drilling formulas, theories, or
pushing students to memorizing information to research-oriented learning.
Guidelines
1. All schools in Indonesia at
all level must begin to leave the rote memorization model and start adopting
research-oriented learning approach
2. All Indonesian teachers must be
prepared and equipped with the readiness to lead their students to conduct the
proper research
3. All Teachers College must gear their
curriculum toward preparing and equipping candidate teachers with the skills of
knowledge of research
4. Research in all sectors: science,
social science, humanities, etc. must be valued highly at all level
5. Educational institutions like schools,
universities, are to collaborate with industry in order to bring research down
to earth
6. Industry must seek out and respect
educational institutions for their research effort that will provide many
reasonable solutions to the actual problems in the field, this includes
financial support for the research initiative at educational institutions
7. All other institutions will also be
supportive for the research conducted by educational institutions
8. The result of the research will be
used widely in Indonesia
for the purpose of upgrading the quality of life
And
lastly, the Nationalism path must seriously consider the uniqueness of Indonesia,
which resides primarily in its rich cultural diversity. Therefore it is not too much to put emphasis
on the preservation of Indonesian culture.
And what is the better way to do so than to integrate it into
education? Therefore I propose the
following policy.
The Policy for the Preservation
of Indonesian Culture through Education
Purpose
One of the main purposes of
education is the preservation of the culture of a nation. However, what is meant by culture is not
merely the rituals or the performances of art, music, and architecture, but
also the values and the social dynamics.
With Indonesian education currently borrows a lot from the concept of
education in many developed countries, somehow we are losing the Indonesian
culture through education. If we are to
preserve the Indonesian culture, then it is important to start educating our
children with Indonesian culture. No
longer can we marginalize cultural study in our Indonesian education.
Guidelines
1. The study of Indonesian culture must
be conducted in all Indonesia
2. The result of the study must be stored
in the National Library for references
3. Each respective context and area will
be responsible for the teaching of the local culture
4. Cross cultural study should be
encouraged and be made possible within the Indonesian territory itself
Practically
speaking, it is the privilege of education to be wise in internalizing the love
of the country. Practices like flag
ceremony might need to be revisited and reconsidered with better way of doing
it in mind. The traditional method for
flag ceremony is based on the military model and it surely is not quite
appropriate for use in school. School is
not military training. Perhaps the
better way to educate Indonesian citizens to love Indonesia,
and thus being nationalist for Indonesia,
is through modeling the good conducts toward building and defending the
country. If the leaders of the country
are modeling corruption, then it would be daydreaming to hope for Indonesian
citizens to love Indonesia. What Ahok is doing in Jakarta as governor might just be the right
model for nationalism education. People
like him must be ushered into leading the country and thus provide good model
of nationalists. The next generation
then could learn through imitating them in nobility, honor, respect, wisdom,
and courage for building and defending the country. Then and only then all the hard works in
providing education for the next generation of Indonesian people to love the
country would be successful. If our
country is free from immoral practice of the leaders, then it would be natural
for the next generation to live a life of high ethics as citizens of Indonesia.
Ahok is doing what he does because
his life is founded upon his first allegiance to God who created the entire
universe and who created him in the first place. His fear of God motivates him to live
properly. For he is not only a citizen
of Indonesia,
but most importantly a citizen of God’s kingdom. Therefore, if we are to have a proper
education that aims at nationalism, we ought to have a strong foundation on our
identity as created by God and be given mandate to be stewards of the world and
thus serve God wholeheartedly. May all
glory and honor be to God alone. And may
our first allegiance be for God.
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