New Hope: Defending the State as National Service and Character Building
By: Arifin *)
“Defending the state, don’t be interpreted like military conscription, no”, said President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo answered questions from Antara in a special interview with Antara, RRI and TVRI held at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Monday ( 19/10 ) , as quoted SuaraPembaruan.
President said, in addition to grow up self-confidence, optimism, mutual cooperation nationalism, this program also concerns about the future of the most important is to change our mindset.
“What he imagined about defending the state is like building values of patriotic, and the value of optimism that should be grown in every citizen. He was imagined as national service in some countries, but not same as military conscription,” said Tim Communications President, Ari Dwipayana at the Presidential Palace, Jakarta, Monday, October 19, 2015, quoted liputan6.com.
Ari said, defending the state such as character development, positive values point to character building.
Head of Lightning Education Ministry of Defense, Major General Hartind Asrin said defending the state program that held with his organization is the implementation of the general policies of President Joko Widodo in the defense sector, reported by CNN Indonesia.
As reported by Tempo.co, Defense Minister said the purpose of defending the state is to change the behavior of the nation so proud of and love for his country. Defense Minister asserted this defense program is different with military conscription which implemented by other countries.
“Program to foster a sense of pride and love for the nation and the country conduct by training on law, civic education and Pancasila, the history of national struggle and handling of natural disasters,” said Ryamizard at the complex Presidential Palace, Monday, October 19, 2015.
Last week Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu and his subordinates explained that his proposal of civilians being trained in state defense was not the same as earlier proposals of compulsory military service. His proposal of defending the state would be a civilian forces program with 100 million civilians being trained within the next 10 years, which would not only comprise physical military training such as introducing civilians to “only the basics of handling a firearm”, as one official said, but also highly needed values such as patriotism. As quoted theJakartaPost.
As has been reported previously, defend the state program controlled by Ministry of Defense held on Monday (19/10/2015), in 45 districts/cities. For the initial stage, the civil defense program was implemented for the cadre of coaches conducted during one month.
*) The Author is Jakarta Regional Contributor
