Leaving Jakarta for the Land of Opportunity Who does not want to visit America, the land of opportunity? When I landed in Los Angeles, the United States of America, I had heard that it was the best country in the world. Is that right? I thought and hoped that in the USA, every human being was equal and there was no social hierarchy. I came from Indonesia and decided to take a vacation to see the other side of the world. I was born and grew up in Jakarta, a big metropolitan city of Indonesia. I am a city girl. The leader of my country at the time was practicing dictatorship. Before Indonesia declared its Independence in 1945, they fought for four years with the colonizer, the Dutch. The Dutch left us a legacy filled with corruption and crippling rulers. To this day, Indonesia is still struggling with dictatorship and corruption. I lived in America because I dreamed of seeing a different kind of world. As I settled down in America and called it home, I sought to discover if America truly was the land of opportunity. As a junior in high school, my history teacher taught us that our native country, Indonesia, was colonized by the Dutch for three hundred fifty years beginning in the year 1591. The Netherlands is one of the European countries that established itself over other countries. In …show more content…
Until now, we have Christians as minority. Only a few Indonesians engaged in modern economic activities, owned and operated their own businesses, or were involved in foreign trade. All European colonizing countries were involved in corrupt and oppressive activities. After World War II, Indonesia finally rejected the Dutch’s power in maintaining control of our Land. From the year of 1941 to 1945, we proclaimed our independence from the Netherlands after fighting for four years. The United Nations also assisted Indonesia in her struggle for independence by acting as a mediator between the two