The Role of Youth In Developing Indonesia (An English Speech)

The Honorable Jury,

The Respectable Chairman,

And all my beloved audiences,

All praises be to Alloh SWT, the most merciful, the most beneficent, who created the world belong to the mankind. Shalawat and Salam may always be given to our prophet, Muhammad SAW along with his family, his friends, and his followers.

And I don't forget to thank particularly to the committee who has given me an opportunity to deliver a speech in front of you all. I am standing here I would like to deliver my speech under the title: The Role of Youth in Developing Indonesia.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Do you know that our first President, Mr. Soekarno, has ever said ‘give me ten youth, then I will make them rock the world’? And why did he say that? Of course, there is a meaning behind it. Do you still remember, before the freedom of Indonesia, there were some Youth Organizations like Budi Utomo, Jong Celebes, Jong Sumatera and many others? They were united in the Youth Oath on October 28, 1928 to proclaim the freedom of Indonesia from the colonialism. Their struggles finally reached the best result in August 17, 1945. The freedom of Indonesia was announced to the whole of the world. It was really hard working of our heroes. They had to give their time, money and even their life to this country.

My beloved audiences,

It is contrary with the current condition I have seen in the television and the Internet, as well as what  I heard in the Radio. How worried our young generation is. They do what they want to do, they enjoy their life freely, and more ironically, they do negative things such as juvenile delinquency, drugs abuse, free sex. Let’s take a look at an example, a few months ago, the police in Jakarta found that there was a health centre used for abortion. Do you know who the patients were? Yes, YOUTH. In addition, In Yogyakarta, there was a survey about the Youth Virginity and do you know the result? More than 80%, they had done free sex before marriage. It is absolutely clear that our young generation is in a terrible moral degradation. But I believe that all the audiences here do not belong to it.

Ladies and gentlemen,

If we pay attention to the facts above. Then, what can we give to our country? It is impossible we can reach our goals and develop our country with all those conditions. I can't imagine that. Perhaps, our country will be recolonized by the other country.

So, what can we give to develop our country? I have three answers. They are:

First, obey and respect our parents and our teachers. Why must we do it? Remember, when we were babies, there was nothing we could do except our parents. Now, we have grown and become a student at school. Our teachers teach us from zero to million.

Second, study hard. If we study hard whatever we want, we will get it by the knowledge. Remember, Many Indonesian students have shown their ability in International Science Olympic Exhibition and they got it. Of course it will make our country more popular among countries in the world.

Third, stay away from the negative things like what I said previously. Drug abuse, free sex and other negative things are the main factors which can make our country fall down. Remember, if we are the students with those problems, it means no future at all because we can do nothing.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Let me conclude my speech that we as the young generation must aware deep in our heart to develop our country. Why? Because as Imam Syafi'i said that "the young generation today is a Leader in the future." So, keep our spirit to respect our parents and our teachers. And don't forget to study hard in order to develop our own country, Indonesia.

Thank you very much.

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The Students' Role in Preserving The National Culture of Indonesia (An English Speech)

We begin in the name of Allah, the most merciful, the kindest.

The respectful judges, committees, and all fellow participants of the English Speech Competition.

My name is Qashmir Ramadhan and I am speaking as the delegate of MA Husnul Khotimah.

Before coming to my speech, I would like to thank, if I may, all of the audiences here, especially the committees, for giving me the opportunity to speak. In this grateful occasion, I would like to talk briefly about, “The Students’ Role In Preserving The National Culture.”

Ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, I would like to talk about the significance of preserving the national culture. To begin with, our father of education, Ki Hajar Dewantara, in a simple word, proposed that the national cultures of Indonesia are the characteristics of the nation itself. Therefore, preserving national cultures means preserving ‘the existence’ of the nation since the characteristics of a nation make the nation broadly acknowledged.

Then, this issue has become far more pressing and significant as there are over 30 national cultures of Indonesia that have been claimed by other countries. On the other hand, modernity has been assumed as the best culture across the globe.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Overcoming this problem, by all means, is the responsibility of all elements of the society in this country. So, let’s talk about what we, as students, could possibly do regarding this issue.

Let me begin by saying, for me, there is a solution which in many circumstances, has been barely discussed. It is a concept that we know as ‘adaptation’.

Well, many have said, and I’m trying to agree, that in order to preserve our culture, we have to learn more about the culture itself, and then practically participate in it. But what I’m saying now is more than that. People often think that cultures are something old, something out of date. Because of that mindset, then what we also should do is adaptation. We make the cultures adapt the condition.

Examples of this concept have actually emerged recently. Today, we see batik in football shirts, promoting batik by holding Banyuwangi Batik Fastival, batik fashion show in Festival “Jogja Kota Batik Dunia”, promoting modern design of batik in Indonesia Fashion Week and many more.

The thing is, to make it possible, we need those who understand both the cultures and the condition of today’s world at the same time. And I believe, those are the young generation, and obviously, including the students.

Indeed, it is important to make our culture remain unchanged, yet I believe, it is still more important to preserve the positive values of our culture. As the world around us changes, the core of positive values of our culture remain there.

So, brothers and sisters,

Nothing will be changed until someone changes something! As Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world!”

So, learn more about our culture, love our culture, preserve the positive values of our culture, and be proud of our culture! Let the world know Indonesia as a place where culture breeds innovation.

Indonesia has more than 150 million young-productive students from total 250 million citizens. If Soekarno said that he could ‘shake’ the world with 10 youth who have truthful love to their nation, so what on earth we cannot do with 150 million of those? Don’t wait for Indonesia, because Indonesia has been waiting for you!

Thank you very much.

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