Earthquake: Time for Introspection

(published by The Jakarta Post on 14 Oct 2009. Click here)

As usual, every time natural disaster strikes Indonesia, some people will relate the disaster to something divine. That’s okay, because religious people believe there is God who orchestrates everything that happens in nature. Others perceive the disaster is merely a natural phenomenon, because nature lives and tectonic plates move, so natural disasters are not an act of God. Maybe the argument is not completely wrong, because science teaches us how and why all of those things happen. Scientists will explain the earthquake that struck West Sumatra recently with logical theory.
Indonesia seems to be religious nation, so it is hard to deny that every disaster stands alone without God’s involvement. However, as a religious nation, some of us like to contradict religious beliefs with superstition. Some people who love numerology immediately analyze the date, month and year when a disaster occurs. They claim spiritual numbers can tell us what will happen in future.

Besides seeing the world through numbers, others blame natural disasters on leaders casting jinxes, because during the last term, a series of disasters occurred in Indonesia. They said it was bad luck. This is so absurd.

While some people like to be superstitious, other people believe the earthquake that claimed thousands of lives was a curse and punishment from God. The wise man says if we do not care when God is speaking, God will use the nature to speak.

Whether or not the earthquake has anything to do with God’s punishment, this is a time for us to do some introspection. We should not become too busy to make connections between the disaster and punishment from God, because we are human being with many weaknesses. Do we think people who live in Jakarta and other regions are better than those living in Padang?

Let us think positively and put negative thoughts aside. Those who always think negatively will respond the disaster by judging others, but positive thinkers will respond to it by introspecting and confessing, that we are too small, and have nothing to be proud of. The pessimists will say the disaster was a curse, a punishment and bad luck, but the optimists will see that disasters raise our consciousness and bring us back to God.

Indonesian people have been losing their original identity for a long time. We have forgotten our pride, our nation’s solidarity that was established by our founding fathers, and prefer to be proud of our own group. With the disaster, we can see that all people, regardless of social background, religion, ethnicity and culture, have come together in display of solidarity to our brothers and sisters in the afflicted area. Disaster, in fact, has made people unify and come together. Just take the example of Aceh after the tsunami 2004.

Please don’t behave as if we are the only truthful nation and consider other nations (read: Western nations) as infidels anymore, because in every disaster that has struck our country, they are the ones who quickly responded with sympathy, financial aid, modern equipments, food and even volunteers to provide relief efforts on site.

We appreciate members of the international community who do not hold our past experiences against us, such as some of their citizens dying in terrorists acts committed in Indonesia. Faced with disasters, aren’t we just meaningless human being in the middle of the vast nature?

Please don’t proclaim proudly that we are the religious nation anymore, if our country is at the top list as most corrupt countries in the world. We walk around as dignified nation, yet corruption is still rife. We know corruption destroys our moral principles and damages our country, but instead of avoiding it, we befriend corrupt individuals and try to prevent anti-graft institutions from doing their job.

Let’s reinvigorate our nation’s sense of solidarity regardless of background or attributes. Let’s remove our differences and strengthen our spirit of togetherness, not only among our fellow Indonesians, but also with members of the international community. We cannot live alone.

Our country sits on the “ring of fire” where about 90 percent of world’s earthquakes occur. If we don’t experience an earthquake today, it doesn’t mean it will not happen to us tomorrow. Natural phenomena are unavoidable but we don’t need to worry too much as long as we have many friends.

God will not handily punish humankind, because He will always send us sign before. It might be through a natural phenomenon. Actually if we’re not too busy, and want to be more humble, we can learn from what nature tells us. The problem is, He has spoken to us but we did not listen to Him, did not care, or pretending to be deaf.

***
Serpong, 6 Oct 2009
Titus J.