CEW Essay Response

Back there in Indonesia, I somehow often associate the word “government” with the word “corruption”. I am not sure why, but I think the fact that my country’s government is severely corrupted and losing its integrity makes me think that way. Based on the Corruption Perception Index 2012 released by Transparency International, my country was scored 32 in the index— which shows that my country’s government is seriously corrupted. What surprised me was the fact that none of the 176 countries listed on the report reached a score of 100 on the index (which indicates that none of the public sector in those countries is corrupted in the rate of 0).

ALL countries experience this problem. I do feel sad, insecure and anxious for this.

I always want to be a global issue advocate—a young change-maker. And corruption is one of the global issues that try to “kill” so many innocent people. And we definitely need to make a change to diminish this. I even think ‘to cut corruption rate’ must be included as one of the Millennium Development Goals generated by the United Nation. It is not that we cannot trust our government, but how we learn from them. We have learned that corruption has put many people in danger and poor condition. To stop it, I think we need to start from the root of the corruption itself: mindset of corruptor. I want to eliminate that mindset from the agent of change: the youth. They are the one who will bring the enlightenment, the change. To let them do any forms of corruption is not an option.

Corruption usually comes from political areas (and personal value of integrity), but it can impact the whole aspects in life of a citizen of a country. The political area itself can be affected. And what worse is that it can greatly impact social and economic sector too. Corruption has brought so many people in danger, starvation and poor condition. It only satisfies one’s need and, in fact, neglect other people’s need which I found sad because it means an injustice. I have learned that the corrupted things (because it is not only money that is corrupted—sometimes it can be position with a particular power over something or any facilities) can actually be used to help those starving, poor or less-educated people instead of, say, being corrupted. Why and how is this happening?

I feel bad to see how some governments abuse their power and how some people still live in a very poor condition. Those who corrupt do not rule the world, but instead ruin it. I start to question my self: what can I do to address this issue? By joining the CEW, I hope I can learn as many as possible the key concepts and values US citizens hold. I always believe that value that one holds is the precursor of what one is doing. I want to absorb the knowledge of these concepts and values, to extract the positive ones that I can apply along with the values I have from Indonesia, and to distribute those values to my friends and family in Indonesia so that they can hold them to build their own integrity—so they do not corrupt anything in life. Moreover, I also hope I can learn more about federal system of US government. I always look forward to apply my knowledge in real life. I want to implement concept from the system in the Student Council in my school in Indonesia and see what I can do better by applying it in my organization.

I might be able to create a “government” that is purely clean for the small community I live in.

To sum up, I basically want to help as many people as possible, to change the world for a better place and share my knowledge from the workshop to as many people as possible (not only my community in my home-country but may also be my host-community). I want to learn and share something. That is basically it.