VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

December 20 is commemorated as the Social Solidarity Day. The date was chosen since in 1948, all Indonesian people were united to protect the nation’s sovereignty by expelling the colonizers from Yogyakarta, the capital of Indonesia at that time. Ten years afterwards, the Social Solidarity day was initiated and later commemorated annually.

Social solidarity is an original value of Indonesia. The soul and spirit of social solidarity in the nation and people’s lives have principally existed long before Indonesia stands as an independent nation. Therefore, the social solidarity becomes an identity and is practiced until now. In the struggle for independence, it became a tool to fight the colonization.

Nowadays, Indonesia does not face colonizer anymore, but social issues such as poverty, social gap, natural disasters, diversity, and many others.

The struggle against those issues is not easy. Soekarno, the 1^st President of Indonesia once said, “My struggle is easier, since it’s against colonizer. But, your struggle will be heavier, since you are facing your own brothers.” That quote reminds the current generation that the next struggle is social issues.

However, the Indonesian government cannot work alone. The people need to cooperate in solving it together. In solving the issues, the people must prioritize the social solidarity values such as mutual cooperation and helping each other.

Indonesian people’s work is how to maintain the social solidarity to stay in the mind set and real work of Indonesians in politics, economy, social, and culture. And that is not an easy task.