The human dimension must appear in every development program. The national awareness of the digital era, the more we feel as an awareness to be human. Human authenticity cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence.
At least in the past decade, we have been surrounded by discourses that mark our era as different from before. We are in the digital age.
After all, when the discourse of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 echoes everywhere, it is inevitable that we are indeed in the midst of a vortex of digital technology and the shadow of the power of artificial intelligence with extraordinary power. Many types of conventional work are being encroached upon by machines. Humans are contesting with machines now.
The excesses of digital disruption
All experts are now busy talking about the excesses of digital disruption which leads to big questions, how far are we prepared. Digital interactions continue to thrive, dominating our lives. It is not surprising that international political columnist and expert Fareed Zakaria formulates it in a short sentence, "life is digital". Now, almost everything we can find in the digital space. All of this forms a digital culture that is unique, as well as unimaginable in the past.
The digitization of history is inevitable. All historical archives that have been digitized are increasingly accessible, especially when linked to the context of public openness.
This allows the current generation, call it the digital generation, to trace the traces of the past, linking one another and constructing new narratives and interpretations. Including, in the context of presenting what the historian Kuntowijoyo wrote, “Portrait of Our National Awareness Journey” (1986). He presented the article at the Youth Meeting which was initiated by the daily Kompas.
Kuntowijoyo offers the characteristics of a historical period of national consciousness.
In this article addressed to young people, Kuntowijoyo begins by explaining the context of historical periodization. That seems to have become accepted history, the development of our national consciousness, is divided into periods which have their own characteristics.
Although periodization always contains simplifications and generalizations so that there are always facts that are excluded in the selection process, this is merely an attempt to make history easier to understand.
Kuntowijoyo offers the characteristics of a historical period of national consciousness. This awareness involves several things, namely social formation, knowledge systems, social cohesion, historical tendencies, and historical agents. Kuntowijoyo describes the development of our national consciousness in three phases, namely pre-national (before 1908), national (1908-1985), and post-national (1985 and after).
In the pre-national phase, the social formation was pre-capitalist, then the next phases were capitalist and post-capitalist. The knowledge system also develops from myth, ideology, and science. Social cohesion develops from primordial, national, and system. The historical trend stems from the phases of culturation, politicization-economyization, and systemization.
We understand that Kuntowijoyo's writing was written in 1986, the era at the height of the New Order. We also understand the narrative about the prehistoric phase marked by the presence of regional, religious, and social movements against the invaders. That is what makes the nationalist movement an early stage. It ended when nationalism had transformed into an associational social movement, such as the Budi Utomo movement in 1908, a sign of the national revival.
Then, the movement developed during this national period, culminating in 1945 as a horizontal national integration. And, then vertical integration was achieved in 1985, associated with the making of Pancasila as the only principle for the life of the nation and society, and because of that Kuntowijoyo noted that the problem of integration had been resolved. The ideological phase moves to the science phase.
However, helped by Kuntowijoyo's explanation, the Reformation era which entered the post-capitalist or post-national phase encountered political practices that linked the two previous phases: pre-capitalist (pranational) and capitalist (national).
Democracy, openness, multi-party, marked the era of open contestation with a capitalistic pattern. The single principle of Pancasila was annulled, but the process towards Pancasilaist integration continued to emerge until the current era of the Pancasila Ideology Development Agency (BPIP).
Modern nationalism
We have learned a lot from history, and so has our generation. These are all important references so that we can remain objective in considering the nation's journey. The digital era presents modified challenges, in the sense that the classic challenges of the nation are modified as new challenges that are no less crucial. The current shift in challenges requires an up-to-date understanding and response. We stand in the digital era, we must also have digital alertness.
Our challenge is not only how to improve digital literacy, so that everyone can use digital technology wisely and intelligently, but rather how to invite young people to re-examine our national awareness journey, map out the challenges of the nation now and in the future which are not easy.
Various experts are now trying to reconstruct Indonesia in 2045, a century after independence. It is imagined that in the future, the era is Golden Indonesia, present as a victorious nation.
The latest nationalism is looking to the future, calculating how much strength our resources are, especially human resources (HR).
The latest nationalism is looking to the future, calculating how much strength our resources are, especially human resources (HR). It has become common knowledge, our natural resources (SDA) are increasingly limited. We will lose the competition if we only rely on natural resources.
We are increasingly aware that this digital development should lead to the presence of Indonesian people who are characterized and intelligent. The word smart, in line with the state's goal of "educating the nation's life", has a historical meaning that at least includes the mastery of the latest science and technology. Recent nationalism should have exceeded the completed phase of national integration.
Thus, all the nation's children are able to concentrate in their respective fields, but have a high national awareness. They not only listen to news on national bureaucratic institutional reform, but also developments in the Asia-Pacific region and globally. National awareness in the digital era is also, consciously or not, driven towards economic independence.
Although the challenges are tough, precisely at the level of government policy, the spirit of independence continues to grow along with the development of digital interactions.
The Covid-19 pandemic has also brought wisdom, especially in boosting our digital habits. However, he also gave an important message in the context of national consciousness. Referring to Mahatma Gandhi's classic jargon as quoted by Bung Karno, "My Nationalism is Humanity”, maka kesadaran nasional kita erat berdimensi kemanusiaan.
The human dimension must appear in every development program. The national awareness of the digital era that we are increasingly feeling is the awareness to be human. Humans are still unique with all their advantages and disadvantages. However, they are still different from machines. Human authenticity and humanity cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence.
M Alfan Alfian Lecturer in Political Science at the National University, Jakarta
