IO – Speaker of RI’s House of Represen-tatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat – “DPR”) Puan Maharani has declared that the mental revolution movement that Jokowi’s Government announced in its first term has not ended yet. A mental revolution is extremely im-portant, especially as a reflex among the young. It is a necessity that will allow Indonesians to achieve progress and overcome challenges. “I reiterate that mental revolution is still ongoing, mental revolution has not ended yet,” Puan stated during the celebration of the 56th Anniversary of the Province of North Sulawesi and the opening of the 2020 Millennial Mental Revolu-tion Extravaganza held in Manado on Wednesday (23/09/2020).
Puan commented that President Sukarno introduced the concept of “mental revolution” to Indonesians in 1957. Bung Karno said at the time that mental revolution is a new life movement that tempers Indonesians into new humans with pure hearts, steel wills, eagle spirits, and fiery souls. 57 years later, in 2014, Indo-nesia was reminded of the importance of implementing the mental revolution concept in the real world. Puan fur-ther stated that a mental revolution is a national movement that focuses on three primary values: Integrity, work ethics, and cooperation. “By making mental revolution a reality, we are also bringing a sovereign, independent, and strong-charactered Indonesia into reality,” she said.
Puan further reiterates that Indo-nesia needs a mental revolution in order to face the challenges of cul-tural globalization, uncontrolled in-formation or hoaxes, the eroding of noble values, threats to the integrity of the State and nation, and even the COVID-19 pandemic. She expresses her appreciation of the Coordinating Minister of Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy for con-tinuing the implementation of the mental revolution movement. “The duration of the national movement of mental revolution must not be limited to a given term of a Government. On the contrary, all components of the na-tion must implement it constantly. It must start with oneself, then expands towards one’s family, and then one’s neighborhood. Therefore, since I was still the Coordinating Minister of Hu-man Development and Culture, I have been stating that a mental revolution is not an ordinary Government program. On the contrary, a mental revolution must become a national movement,” she said.
Puan further stated that in the COVID-19 pandemic, Indonesia needs to express mental revolution by adopting new behavior, such as wearing masks, washing hands fre-quently, and maintaining physical distance. “When facing the COVID-19 pandemic, we need a mental revolu-tion. We need to change our behavior now. We must be more disciplined in implementing the health protocols of wearing masks, washing hands fre-quently, and maintaining physical distance,” she said.
Puan hopes that the Government of North Sulawesi can utilize its demo-graphic bonus, the millennial gener-ation, as the implementers of mental revolution. After all, millennials are future leaders. “Statistics Indonesia (Badan Pusat Statistik – “BPS”) 2019 data shows that North Sumatra’s mil-lennials comprise 30.47% of its 2.5 million population. In other words, that is a total of 760,000 young peo-ple. Therefore, mental revolution must become part of the young generation, must be part of your lives as millenni-als from the start,” she said.
Mental revolution must also be im-plemented in all political activity, from the establishment of the Complemen-tary Organs of the House (Alat Keleng-kapan Dewan – “AKD”) to Commission Meetings. Health protocols as mental revolution must be implemented prop-erly at all times. “We in the DPR also continue to implement the values of mental revolution since we were ap-pointed in 2019. For example, cooper-ation is implemented more thorough-ly in DPR, as shown by the rapid and spirited appointment of AKD leaders caught up with no conflicts. DPR re-mains proactive amid COVID-19. We are disciplined in our implementation of health protocols. We are limiting the physical presence of meeting partici-pants to 20% and obliging the rest to participate in the meetings virtually,” she said. (dan)