What to do for globalisation in the next 10 or 20 years?

By Joseph Bernard, XII A 5 - 24

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Globalisation is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. Globalisation has made the whole world changing.

Globalisation is inevitable. If a country decides that it would not follow the international stream of globalisation, it would have no chances of having a developed country.

So, what can we do about it?

Globalisation is a thing that will always continue in the next decades. It is not clear when does globalisation stop. Or maybe, it will never stop. It also poses a major challenge to the young generation around the world, from both rich and developing countries.  The challenge is to always and constantly catch up with on-going globalisation.

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For us, the young generation of Indonesia, one thing we can do to deal with globalisation is to study well. Senior high schools usually have two majors: natural sciences and social sciences. Students from both majors can make a contribution on catching up with globalisation but by their own ways.

Students majoring in natural sciences can learn on how to develop new technologies and innovations. Technology has been a catalyst of globalisation since a long time ago. From these new technologies, life in Indonesia is hoped to get better by the day.

For example, in IT or information technology sector, students can start to make new innovations so that people can get faster internet, even in the rural areas of Indonesia. This way, everyone in Indonesia can experience globalisation first hand. They can learn about things outside of their world and expand their horizon.

In electronics, we can start to develop robots for manufacturing industries. Robots can make the production process much faster and more efficient. Therefore, Indonesian industries can produce good quality products and able to sell it domestically and internationally. Cell phone and smartphone technology also has a good prospect. Today, everyone needs a smartphone to connect and interact with each other. We can make smartphones that are good in quality but affordable, so hopefully everyone can access information from the internet easily.

In healthcare, we can make new innovations to improve the people’s health, especially for diseases that are known to be difficult to be cured, for example, cancer, hypertension, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, etc. Those diseases are mostly caused by today’s way of life which has been influenced by globalisation, for example, eating junk food and promiscuity Maybe, in the next 10 or 20 years, people kill cancer by injecting microscopic robots inside the body instead of using chemotherapy.

For students majoring in social sciences, they can do many other things. In economics, they can learn how to efficiently manage an Indonesian company so that it can expand worldwide. These companies can take advantage from free trade today, where trade is not limited only in one company’s country. Free trade has made the whole world’s economy expanding. If they can manage Indonesian companies well, we would not be left behind by free trade by just being a consuming country.

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Students and people in the international relations sector are also crucial. These people know how to strike a deal with other countries. They set up the rules governing international trade. They should increase their negotiating skills so that our national interest of gaining advantages from globalisation won’t be lost by rich countries’ interests.

How to make Indonesian students able to do that?

We as Indonesian students must realise that globalisation needs preparations. Those preparations include studying well and always think innovatively.

To realise that, firstly we should think freely. We should never think that what we have is enough. We should be open to new ideas. From those new ideas, we can create innovations. Those innovations are crucial for catching up globalisation.

How to gain new ideas? We can do it by expanding our horizon by reading. Reading opens our mind to the world and gives new insights on the world. It gives us new ideas on how to make the world a better place for living or at least how to make lives better. The first step of innovating is to dream. Dare to dream of an ideal world.

Today’s reading is not just about reading books. We now have limitless access to information thanks to technology. Information can be obtained in just one click. The only problem for Indonesian students is do they want to read?

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Because of that, we should acknowledge the potential of the internet to expand our horizon. We should be wise on using technology and social media. Social media is used not to harm other people or just to gain mere entertainment. Social media should be used as a way to make ourselves smarter every day. We should wisely sort out the contents of social media so that social media can be beneficial for one’s self.

Another thing about new ideas is that new ideas can be bad for our country. Indonesians are known for their kind-heartedness, etiquette, hospitable and politeness. That is our identity. It is our challenge to take new ideas from the world without eliminating our identity as Indonesians. Especially, those ideas have started to fade away in many countries due to globalisation. If we can maintain that identity, we can set an example for other countries for a globalised but warm-hearted country. By that, our country will not just catch up with the globalisation of the world, but also become a unique combination of traditional values and modern ideas. This will certainly make our country stand out among the other countries of the world.

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Students also should always think globally. New ideas can come from everywhere and from any country. We need to think what we can do in the era of globalisation. Globalisation has made the whole world collaborating and competing in the same time. Workforces are not just only from one’s country, but from the whole world. This leads to the presence of numerous cultural differences. So, an open mind is needed also to be able to collaborate with these people. We as students should train to always adapt to the colleagues’ differences, at least with the classmates and respect their differences. By that way, we will be always used to work together with the rest of the world to make a better planet.

The last but not least essential thing on catching up globalisation is on English proficiency. It is the international language of the world. Without fluent English, Indonesians would never be able to catch up with globalisation. Because of that, we as students should endlessly practice English proficiency so that we are used to speak in English. If we are used to speak in English, it is very easy to interact with the whole world wherever they are from.

Easy ways to practice English may include reading English texts or books, watching movies or videos in English, listen to speeches in English, and other sorts of stuff. The first step of being able to speak English fluently is to listen. After that, we can try to speak. If we are familiar with the language, speaking in the language will not be a difficult thing.

In the end, globalisation is a good thing if we know how to cope with it wisely. We, students, who will hold the steering wheel of the world 10 or 20 years after today should brace ourselves for the changing world by learning endlessly.
Keep up the good spirit!

"Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me
And the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place for you and for me"
- Heal the World, Michael Jackson -

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