INDONESIA, as you can see and feel every day, is a nation of interesting paradoxes. It comprises of more than sixteen thousand islands with hundreds of ethnic and linguistic communities, but it is one nation with one official language. It is the largest Muslim-majority country in the world, but it is governed under a democratic system, and it is one of the largest democracies on the planet. It is a nation known for being rich in natural resources since colonial times, but until recently refined oil and gas are imported. It is an island-nation surrounded by sea water, but for its daily consumption of salt the country said to be importing from other countries. In its early days Indonesia declared itself a democratic republic, but the first two presidents intended to rule as long as they wished, just like a hereditary king. It claims to be religious and full-of-smile nation, but there has been no official regret for the killings of hundreds of thousands of human done by its citizens half a century earlier. Indeed, it's a land of interesting paradoxes. By using informal historical approach, this book is an invitation to the reader to sit back and reflect upon past events, issues, thoughts and hopes that are still very much operative in Indonesia today. The result might be the discovery of bright insights not only for keeping the hopes alive but also for creating a better collective future.
WHAT did the Romans, Genghis Khan, Christopher Columbus and the CIA have in common? They were all "border crossers". They were not content with their respective traditional borders and they went pass these borders. It appears that since the ancient times, for better or worse, there has been strong tendencies among different peoples and nations to go beyond their own borders, in the broadest sense of the word, in search of something different-- different territories, different peoples, different opportunities, different spheres of influence, etc. Not surprisingly, these historical border-crossing-agents were not alone. There were many others. To them we can add a list of other people who were also went beyond their borders in search of something new, something different: the American Indians, the Vikings, the Germans, the Arabs, the Chinese, and many more. This book tries to humbly offer notes on the dynamics related to such tendency, especially during the colonial and early post-colonial periods. It wants to show how during the two periods people began to globally move around and influence (often dominate) each other, directly and indirectly. It happened not only in one place but in many: not only in England but also in South America; not only in the Continental Europe, but also in Indonesia. As results, there were, birth of new ideas, international collaboration, cultural exchange, formation of trans-national institutions, but also deadly witch-hunting, regional rebellion, war, colonization, and imperialism.
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