"United we stand, divided we fall!"
The sentence was popular among Indonesians in the 90s, but the buzz is now rarely heard. The sentence is short, but its meaning can be very clearly illustrated. Unity is the foundation of the spirit that the fighters have always used to build the nation. Culture gotong royong is one manifestation of the spirit of unity of Indonesian society.
The first President of the Republic of Indonesia, namely President Soekarno, even conveyed if gotong royong was the "soul" of Indonesian society in the session of Indonesian Preparatory Investigation Personnel (BPUPKI) in 1945. Unfortunately, the culture of mutual cooperation began to disappear.
If we speak of the past, it is easy to find a culture of mutual cooperation in various forms. Starting from the work of devotion that is often done by citizens every once a week until the culture gotong royong among religious people. Culture gotong royong is a national identity. Therefore, culture gotong royong should continue to be maintained in order to be kept in daily life.
The term gotong royong comes from the Javanese language. Gotong means pikul or lift, while royong means together. So if taken literally, gotong royong means lifting together or doing something together. Gotong royong can be understood also as a form of active participation of each individual to get involved in giving a positive value of every object, problem, or the needs of the people around him. Such active participation can be material, financial, physical, mental, spiritual, skill, constructive thought or counseling, to pray only to God
