Indonesia: A New Nation Of Asia (1959)

[Music] The ways of my people are old. We work in the patties. We live in the villages as we have for centuries past. Our cities team with people overcrowded, often underfed. Our needs are great, our problems mighty, our nation new. I would like you to know my people, my islands, with their jungle green mountains and rivers winding to the seas which surround us. I am Salim, a teacher. When there's no other place, our classes may even meet outside. There are not enough schools. My students like most of the people are of many different ancestries Malay, Indian, Chinese, Melanesian and mixtures of all of these. But we are all of us Indonesians now. I worry much about the future of our new country. As I leave school in the evening, walking along the shady streets, I often ponder our history and our problems. For over 300 years, we were ruled by the Netherlands. Nearly 80,000 Dutch people lived with us in houses like these. We were called then the Dutch East Indies. They built our cities as they would build a Dutch city with canals, planning the main streets, Dutch banks and trading firms, managed our money and business, ran our railroads and communications. They took the wealth of the land, the raw materials, the thin ore, the rubber, the tea, and the oil which they wanted. We were their hands. They were our heads. But now it is different. Since World War II, we have achieved our freedom. We are the Republic of Indonesia. Our own president lives in the palace of the Dutch governor generals. We fly our own flag, the Maruti, the red and the white. We are grateful to these people of the Netherlands. They left us much. But it is better that one nation does not rule another. I live in a Kong which is one of the many villages hidden away within the city. Though the Kongs are still crowded, many have moved to homes formerly occupied by the Dutch. I have a daughter and a wife and many friends. We are all interested in the problems of our country. It is sometimes hard for us to agree among ourselves as to what should be done. Only recently we have decided upon a common language. Most newspapers and books are now printed in the official Indonesian language. But many different tongues are spoken in our islands and not all yet know the official language. Only one out of three of us can read and write in any language. We need schools and teachers, thousands more of them. For we know that every part of progress depends upon education. We need schools for adults too. Before independence, we had small opportunity to learn. Most important is the need for trade schools so that we can learn the skills to produce for ourselves the things which we need. Now nearly all manufactured goods are imported and our economy does not produce enough to exchange for all the varied needs of our islands. Nearly 3,000 islands scattered across the equator between Southeast Asia and Australia. 80 million people, the sixth largest nation in the world. The larger islands are Sumatra, Jawa, Borneo, and Celibus. Although Jawa has only 7% of the total land area, nearly 3/4 of our people live here. Jawa is crowded. It consumes too much of the food, money, materials and attention that should be more evenly distributed among all the islands. Our capital Jakarta is here. The thousands of betas are the most common means of transportation in the city. Before World War II, Jakarta had only half a million people. Now there are over 3 million. We still use the canals or callies as we call them for bathing and washing clothes. The Chinese population of Jakarta is large as it is in most cities of Southeast Asia. Competing political parties, including communists, hold frequent parades and demonstrations. Their banners litter our cities. This one protests what they say is American intervention in Asia. But Jakarta is not really Indonesia, for we are a nation of villages tucked away in the valleys and along our thousands of miles of coastline. The sea and the land and the rain provide nearly all the people of the countryside need in order to live. Over 3/4 of all Indonesians are farmers like Mjono. Breakfast and other meals consist largely of rice, fish, and spices. Our families are very close to one another and often all of the members of a village are related. Mjono leaves for work in the fields while Cartini spends her day at woman's work shopping in the market for fruit, vegetables, and cooking oil. Working at the loom, weaving cloth for the family. Nearly everything which is needed is made in the village. Little must be bought from the outside. In Java, over half to 20 million acres available for agriculture produces rice. Rice alone makes up 80% of the diet of the people and without it they could not live. The patty fields are owned by the people of the village. Mjono will be able to produce two and a half crops a year for there's little change of season. It is always very warm, always enough rain. The rice seedlings are planted one by one. It's hard work, but within 5 months, the sun and the rains will bring the seedlings through to full golden heavy-headed maturity, ready for harvest. As the stalks are cut, a small and ancient prayer is set. A great contentment settles across the countryside. The land has bestowed its blessing. The rice is in, the people will eat. With our abundance of water, it is possible to produce fish on land formerly used to grow rice. An acre of fish pond will yield far more food than an acre of rice. The people poorly nourished on rice alone need the protein provided by fish. Farmers are encouraged to use part of their land in this way. Though most earn less than $40 cash a year, there's great wealth in our vast forests of rubber trees which are tapped every other day, yielding the thick white latex which will be transformed into rubber. From the earth comes thin ore needed in Europe and America. And there is oil, great reserves of oil still waiting to be discovered. producing wells provide equal profits to both Indonesia and the American or Dutch firm which operates them. But we also profit in another important way from this kind of foreign investment in our country. Thousands of jobs are provided in the oil fields, in the refineries and on the tankers which transport the oil. And all of the time we are learning learning the skills of modern technology. The skills by which we will grow as a nation. Our coconut trees can provide the world with nearly 40% of the coconut oil used in the manufacturer of soaps, margarines, and many other products. In almost every village, you can see the coconuts drying in the sun. for nearly every farmer has his coconut trees. The oil is extracted from the dried meat called [Music] cobra. We raise much sugar [Music] cane and high in the cooler mountain regions are the vast tea estates owned by Indonesian or foreign companies. These plantations cover thousands of acres. The pickers begin early in the morning walking long distances to that part of the estate in which they will work. Tea plants require constant cutting back or they would grow to tree size 25 or 30 ft tall. The leaves are individually selected. The tips of the tender young leaves bring the highest prices on world tea markets. When the women have picked all that they can carry, the long trek back to the collecting sheds begins. Each woman is paid according to the amount and quality of tea she has picked. About 5 rup or 50 cents for the day's work is average. My people are poor. Poor in the knowledge and machines by which we could make more efficient use of the natural wealth of our islands. For this we must do if we are ever to live free from fear, disease and want. It will take time to learn for we are accustomed to doing things slowly by hand. Bic making is an ancient art. The pattern is applied to the cloth. Wax is used to cover those parts of the design which will not be dyed. As much as 200 hours may be consumed in making a single piece of batic, but it is a thing of beauty and for us this is important. The Muslim religion penetrates our culture, dominates our arts and laws. It is a religion based upon belief in one God. It requires frequent daily prayer and influences both our personal and political life. Though most Indonesians are Muslim, Hinduism from India was practiced long before the coming of Muslim teachings. It is still the dominant religion on the islands of Bali and Plumbo. Many ancient and colorful customs are associated with Hinduism. In Bali, before a young man marries, the purification right of tooth filing is performed amidst great ceremony and rejoicing in the village. The Balines have a deep love of color, form and pageantry. These elements of the Hindu religion find expression throughout all Indonesia. All over Indonesia, the theater is part of the scene. Plays are performed everywhere. The play is usually accompanied by a gamlan orchestra. The gumlan can be heard any night, anywhere across the length and breadth of our islands. [Music] Most of the plays dramatize in some form the forces of good and evil in conflict. Often the performances last the whole night through. Dancing is a part of every play as indeed it is a part of our very existence. On Bali, training for the legong dancers begins at an early age. By the time a girl reaches 15 or 16, she no longer dances the legong. Before a performance, makeup is applied and then the dance begins. Each gesture to be precisely performed for each has [Music] meaning. The dance never grows old for us. Facing so much that is new in the present, we cherish our traditions as we move forward into the future. We are learning new ways for new days. We have much to learn and much to do. We are building roads where there were none before. Airlines, modern apartments, houses, even swimming pools. We are trying to build a nation in which we can live securely, decently, and nobly amidst the beauty and natural wealth that is already ours. [Music]