RI needs to develop national character

Antara News, Saturday, May 22, 2010 18:02 WIB

Depok, W Java (ANTARA News) - Indonesia needs to develop its national character because it has a wide range of multidimensional and multi-faceted interests, Depok Mayor Nur Mahmudi Ismail said.

"It is important for Indonesia to develop its national character," Nur Mahmudi Ismail said at a function to mark National Awekening Day here on Saturday.

He said the development of national character was necessary because of a number of reasons. The first was that if the nation did not have a national character, it would also miss its next generation.

Second, character was like a steering wheel that could stabilize the nation, and the third was the character did not come by itself but it should be built so that the nation would have dignity.

He said the national character building should be made from year to year because it was the people who had the character that were able to continue with the national goal.

According to Nur Mahmudi, a nation with good character was a nation that had its own identity.

"Therefore, let us build and apply the values of National Awakening Day seriously and sincerely," he said, adding that the national character was a strong foundation on which we could build our nation and overcome various problems ahead.

He added that if the values of National Awakening Day were seriously and sincerely applied, it would be a strong foundation in the solution of various problems that the country was facing.

"Our common enemy in the past was called colonialism, but the foes we are facing today are poverty, unemployment, corruption, lenient law enforcement, and others," he said.

Nur Mahmudi said that with a big spirit in the past the common enemy of colonialism was defeated, and now the same spirit should be revived through existing human resources to fight against the present foes.

"Let us join hands with one commitment to realizing the Indonesian people`s resilience by acting and doing well in accordance with our respective field of duty," he said.