Fellow Indonesians, as we already know that our country’s independence was not easy to

obtain. Our heroes and heroines had to struggle and shed their blood or even sacrificed their
lives for it. Many patriots died on the battle field, fought bravely against the colonizers.
Indonesia attained its Independence from the Japanese on August 17th, 1945 in a very
deteriotating long war and conflict since 1596 and the Declaration of Indonesian
Independence was eventually proclaimed and heard in this lovely mother land for the first
time in the history. Since then, we celebrate and comemorate our independence day every
year as our gratitude and respect to God, this country’s founding fathers, and the nation.

In the begining, indonesia was a country that consisted of various imperials. Each imperial
tried to face against the colonization and strove to unite the whole Indonesia, or as what we
call as Nusantara, but in their own way. So then it was failed, because no matter how great
the imperial was, they couldn’t unite the indonesia by their own efforts.

Nevertheless, after several attempts and experiences, the light of hope and trust began to rise
in the horizon of our land when Dr Soetomo and some Stovia students established Budi
Utomo organization in may 20th 1908 that united all of the people and imperials in indonesia
as one and we could have the independence proclamation and celebrated it. But
unfortunately, although we are already united and freed from colonization, there are still
many problems that make our country unstable. Take conflict that happened in Ambon,
Maluku, as an example, which happened on 1999-2002 and killed more than 8,000 people
because of religion differences. They were killing and fighting against themselves. They are
brothers and sisters of one region and ethnic. It is truly a gloomy history for our country.

Brothers and sisters of one nation, I believe that we were born in the same land and same
country and we are meant to be united. From the past we also may know that our country has
been through a lot of obstacles like the colonization when the dutch invaded our country.
Besides the Dutch, our country was also colonized by the Japanese and the portuguese in
same region of our land. Japan colonized us cruelly, until by God’s grace we could achieve
our independence after a series of suffering and struggle. We are indeed have been freed from
colonization, but nowadays we are facing internal problems which can suck our strength in
building this country. But, even if our country still have obstacles and stumbling blocks such
as corruption case and narcotics, but at least if we compare the recent situation with the past
years, Indonesia has been more advanced in knowledge and human resources.
I believe that the only thing that can make a change for our country is us, the society, as the
souvereign stakeholders of this country. If we are united and have the pure motivation to
build and develope our country, I strongly believe that we can make our country more
developed and advanced than any countries in the world and that Indonesia would be honored
particularly by our neighboring countries. To stand firm and being united, is one of our task
and struggle to fill the independence, and I believe that this duty is far much lighter and
easier, cause we don’t have to lift up weapons and battle against rulers. By having the same
spirit, I believe, although we are separated by regions, islands, and sea, and although we have
different religion, ethnic, or local language, we are still INDONESIAN.

We have to know that our main vision and mission is to advance Indonesia by trying our best
effort to becoming qualified persons. as a teacher, we should be a qualified teacher who has
knowledge, interesting teaching method and good behaviour . By being a qualified teacher,
indonesia will be more developed and advanced because they would be able also to create
qualified students. And as a student, we should have the heart to be a qualified student. We
should have the passion and dream to be reliable next generation. We are students today, and
we will be leaders tomorrow.

Celebration of the independence day is more than just a celebration, it’s an opportuinity for
each of us to improve and develope our nationalism. It’s a chance to brighten our nation’s
future. The government expects through this independence day celebration and
commemoration, the children of the nation would get the essence of our struggles and rise for
the nation. So, I’m willing to take this opportunity to invite you all to support the
government's efforts in maintaining, protecting, and enhancing the nation's unity. History has
taught us that conflicts between ethnic groups, races, and religions, would only ruin our
nation and there’s nothing that can be proud of it. It is absolutely true that, 'UNITED WE
STAND, DIVIDED WE CRUMBLE' or in bahasa ‘BERSATU KITA TEGUH,
BERCERAI KITA RUNTUH’.

Let all of us celebrate this annual event wholeheartedly and appreciate the independence that
we have reached by giving our best potential for the country.