Time to Heard the Unvoiced Wishes

By. Irfan Ghani Alim

Yesterday, April 20th 2015, approximately thousand of local college students of Muhammadiyah
University are assembled in Makassar. Celebrating the National Revival Day, known as Hari
Kebangkitan Nasional, they demonstrate their awareness of the spirit of nationalism in a form of
protest1. In regard to national bureaucracy under the authority of Joko Widodo, the students demanded
Mr. President to surrender his position as the head of the state. They believed that he has failed run the
government to increase the social welfare due to the unfair disposition prevailing in the nation.
Nevertheless, according to some sources, the way the students were holding the demonstration were a
mistake that they were overextend in protesting their concern by arising so much public attention in
the place where they were gathered. They impaired the public environment by throwing vase and
stone to the street and burned some tires, and due to their measures, half of the street where the traffic
was operated was blocked.
It was the very common circumstances that the citizen of particular country are doing an action of
protesting against any regulation endangering their rights. However, the path undertaken by those
students were violencing the ethical norms of holding demonstration. While voicing what was
becoming their concern upon the stability of the nation, they were harming the public infrastructure
and practicing such inappropriate behaviour.
Refering to its fundamental idea, the term Democracy have an understanding that people, when
acknowlege the unjust policy hold by their local bureaucracy, cooperate one to another to gather in
certain places under certain level of ethical method on practicing such event and accommodated by
some purposes. One of the most common purpose behind demonstration is merely to have nothing but
to have their standpoint heard by the government.
In addition, to its implementation, it is essential that the recent activities done by the student of
Muhammadiyah University was a kind of demonstration. Yet, under no circumstances, such activities
harming the public environment are able to be justified. It was the action that is on opposite side to the
ethical norms conventionally believed by the society. The side effect of their recent behaviour was the
defective movement done by its participants that it injured the aesthetic aspects of the surrounding.
1 Kompas. Kontributor Makassar, Hendra Cipto. Demo Harkitnas Memanas,
Mahasiswa Lempari Polisi dengan Batu. Retrieved on Thursday, May 21th 2015,
at 13:00
(http://regional.kompas.com/read/2015/05/20/13183201/Demo.Harkitnas.Meman
as.Mahasiswa.Lempari.Polisi.dengan.Batu).

Moreover, if such behaviours remain the very phenomena arised from the act of demonstration, this
kind of aspirating opinion, will be uneffective.
There are at least a better way to voice the citizens concern on the other hand to holding
demonstration, one of the best manners, according to perspective of the litterateur, is by adressing
such opinions through writing, and in my personal opinion, this method is the elegant way of
aspirating opinion. In order to be effective, not only shall the opinion be heard by the government, it
also takes less cost than practicing demo. In writing, beside people will enhance their ability to write
properly, they will be able to aspirate their wishes more complex rather than expressing those hopes
orally. Therefore, the government will have a way more better understanding upon people desire.
Moreover, while demonstration requires a dozen of people doing the same action so that it shall be
carried out, the literature, on the other hand, require only a piece of paper or a computer to fulfill the
desire of uttering opinion of the authors.
In addition to the efficiency of uttering opinion, in writing, people need not to spare much time in
order government notice their effort. While the demonstrants protesting the unjust policy regulated by
the state, and installed themselves in the street in order to practice such even, the writer, in purpose to
criticize such injustice, just take a seat in front of his desk, and began to break down specifically what
thought interferes their mind most. The writer, therefore, need lessen effort to create a brief essay of
which they utter their voice in compare to several activist sacrificing so much of their time to walk
down the street that, in fact, such actions have a great potential to the violation of ethical norms as in
the example of the students in Makassar were doing.
As a result of choosing literature as the movement of protesting the unjust phenomena, people will
gain so much positive on their effort. The government will be easy to recognize the unpleasant effect
of their regulations causing the citizen to react. More opinion shall be collected in a place where it is
mandatory to be viewed and, in further, be evaluated. In contrast, the voices gathered from the
demonstrant in the street are the constellation of unstructured opinions uttered with no prospect, and
moreover, unreasonable. Furthermore, according to the history of local demonstration as far as I can
concern, the output of the action was merely the utterance of personal sentiment of certain
community, especially if the demo was held under extreme condition that it presence was a violation
to the public infrastructure.
Ultimately, It is correct that demonstration is the way on how peole voice their heart to the injustice
authority that may be fallen upon them, but according to the recent activities in National Revival Day,
the action done by some students in Makassar, demonstration has potential to the damage of pulic
infrascructure. In order to avoid this issue, there are other method of stating the voice of being in
unjust side of the regulation, one could say is through writing. In this movement, not only does people

will save their time more efficiently, the government will more put their cosiderations to the written
opinion than the spoken aspiration in which making the literature movement is better.