Sunday, August 17, 2008

Happy Birthday, Indonesia!

Yesterday was Indonesia's 63rd Independence Day, so today's a public holiday here. Most people I know have taken advantage of the long weekend and gone off to Bali or Singapore for the long weekend. We stayed put for the weekend because we're due to fly off to the UK tomorrow for approximately 2 weeks to visit my in-laws.

What I wish for Indonesia... well, based on what I've seen here... I wish for the children of Indonesia more social equality, more opportunities to better themselves and a chance to improve their lives. I am sitting here in the McD's of Kemang where well-to-do children are enjoying a McD Happy Meal (something I rarely got to enjoy in my own childhood) and I am thinking of the street children who happily played football in the lane outside our compound with my hubby yesterday and wondering if they'd ever gotten into a McD, let alone tried a Happy Meal. Not that a Happy Meal is everything but I hope you get my drift.

It is interesting that the Jakarta Post (my daily paper) asked its readers to comment via SMS if they had a reason to celebrate or mourn on Independence Day with regards to the nation's affairs. I cannot imagine a similar thing happening in Malaysia on our Merdeka Day, some chief editor would lose his head, I'm sure!

Happy birthday, Indonesia. May you have many more.

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