Indonesia is currently in the middle of an identity crisis, said activist and writer Julia Suryakusuma on Tuesday.

"Indonesia is fraught with complexities, contradictions and ironies. We are still in search of who we are," she said during an evening-lecture series titled "Indonesia's Curious Identity Crisis" held by the Indonesian Heritage Society at the Erasmus Huis in South Jakarta, referring the country as a "bundle of contradictions".

Julia described the nation as democratic and authoritarian, moderate and extreme, tolerant and bigoted, open and closed. She cited several current issues in Indonesia to back her arguments, including the recent idea of outlawing casual sex, how pro-democracy, anti-democracy and the market push against each other in Indonesia's political scene, as well as the persecution of minorities. To Julia, Indonesia's democracy may be going backward as the nation has the tendency to "shoot ourselves in the foot, not using the amazing resources the country has, and being our own worst enemy".

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She questioned whether Indonesia's size really mattered, because as a country that is number 15 in terms of area size and the fourth largest country in terms of population is still an "unknown country". "Indonesia has everything and is everything. But despite its size and all its amazing characteristics, Indonesia is still an unknown giant. Why?" Julia asked.

"We want desperately to be recognized and taken seriously, but we haven't really earned a prominent place in the world and our insecurity sometimes causes us to lash out at the world in almost childish fits," she added.

However, despite the problems, the Indian-born Indonesian scholar stated that she would still line up with those who sought to make Indonesia better. Before closing her lecture, Julia quoted the example of Sacha Stevenson, who is famous for her YouTube series "How to Act Indonesian". Although she is a Canadian, Stevenson stated that Indonesia had made her open-minded. "She's a Canadian. Then how come Indonesia doesn't make Indonesians more open-minded?" Julia said, as she hoped Indonesia would become more open minded and "great again". (kes)