What does it mean to be self-sufficient? What is self-sufficient? What does it take to be a self-sufficient person, or a self-sufficient nation?

Selfsufficiency has become a campaign rhetoric by some political parties and candidates, but for me this is just an empty rhetoric since no one among them can clearly define what self-sufficient really mean. If what they mean with self-sufficient nation is a nation that can produce everything locally without importing anything or importing less, then for me this is a very narrow and nave interpretation. To give a light of this wrong and oversimplification of the meaning of self-sufficiency let us take this logic to the test. Based on this logic, if a person is self-sufficient, when he wants to build his home he must build it by himself. He will not ask help from someone else. He must make his own nails, hammer, and saw. But to make those tools he must mine his own iron ore, melt it and mold it himself. He must get his own cement, sand, stones, bricks, and all required materials. When he needs food, he must plant it himself; if he needs clothes he must make it himself. He will not borrow money if he needs anything because now he can be dictated and it is not self-sufficient. If this is self-sufficient then it is simply wrong. Maybe you will think it is a too narrow example of this already narrow interpretation, but let us put nation into the context of the example. A politically motivated movement now emerges in Indonesia and claims that Indonesian must be selfsufficient meaning that we must build and produce everything our own and import less from outside. First of all, no country can build everything without help from other country. When we build an airport, event with the fact that all workers are Indonesian, doesnt mean we build it our own. Where do we import the machinery from? And the basic materials? Even a single nail represents harmony of cooperation of numerous countries. The iron ore came from one country, the smelting in another, the nail manufacturing in another, the machine needed in the production of that nail manufactured in another, the ship used to send it came from other country. That simple nail shows how all of us are in great harmony when we work together not as different nations but as human with common aspiration: to reach peace, prosperity, and a better life. To achieve a decent and humane life, a human being cant live without his fellow. If he cant produce something, he cooperates and barters with other person. He then produces what he can produce best and trade it with what he cant produce. Only by doing so he can fulfill his needs and at the same time he can focus in doing what he is most aspire to. Insisting in fulfilling everything by his own effort will not only make him miserable but also leading to self-destruction. If it is true to a person, then most likely true to a nation. We cant produce the cheapest car, wine, or beef in the world, but we can produce the cheapest palm oil, coal, and textile. It will be a waste of resource if government tries to encourage the people to make cars, same as a skillfully born magician trying hard to be a Formula 1 racer. But in fact there is a country in this planet still believing in this narrow interpretation of self-sufficiency. North Korean doctrine of Juche (Self Reliance in Korean) is their form quasi-religious believe that North Korean can live independently without help of other countries. So deeply believed they are with this wrong doctrine that in their Capital city of Pyongyang you can find The Juche Tower and when the power shut all over the city, the Juche Tower still be illuminated. The result of this believe is economic disaster,

massive famine, and a form of government that can only be sustained by a policing state that abuse basic human rights (even basic human right to rely on other human, or other nation). Allow me then to give my interpretation this word self-sufficient, and I hope you will agree with me too. What is self-sufficient nation? A nation is a group of people. Without people, nation will never be formed. So for a nation to be self-sufficient there must be formed by self-sufficient men and woman. A nation will never be self-sufficient if the people are still oppressed, even if the oppression is for the sake of collective self-sufficiency. So what is it then a self-sufficient person? A self-sufficient person is someone who is independent from oppression from his personal liberty. A self-sufficient person is someone who is able to fulfill his needs and wants without having to beg from anyone, including from his government. He is able to fulfill it by buying it, importing it, or borrow some money to obtain it, realizing that he is able to afford it through his honest labor. A self-sufficient individual is someone who is able to fulfill his basic welfare without relying on government subsidies, and will not go to street if those subsidies are lifted. A self-sufficient individual is a person who has courage to open a business and face competition from domestic and abroad in a fair and free market environment, and will not beg for government to protect his industry form competition. He is ready because he has conviction in his own ability and if he works hard, he can overcome the obstacle. A selfsufficient human being is an individual who well-aware of his basic rights, and able to protect it when it is violated, and help his fellow citizens when theirs are violated. He is able to announce his believe, to practice it, and at the same time respect others rights to profess theirs. He is able to fulfill his needs for a good education, decent housing, medical coverage, fuel for his car, fare for his public transportation, capital for his business, without pleading it from his government. When these characters are in the heart of every Indonesia, only then we can really be a self-sufficient nation. So it is clear that a government that will promise to protect the domestic industry, beef farmer and fruit producer; promising more subsidies for fuel, rice; direct assistance to farmers and fishermen, all in the name of self-sufficiency, is not fostering but rather killing it. A government that promises too much ease to its people is the destroyer of the spirit of self-sufficiency. Unless this nation return to this true meaning of self-sufficiency, we will never be one.