The response from Jimi Piter, a Bandung university student, to TEMPO’s query on his choice of a national hero was clear: folk singer Iwan Fals. His reason? “Through his songs he dares to criticize the powers that be.”

Sri Yunaidah, a lecturer at Sriwijaya University in Palembang, chose another person, entirely different: Sultan Hamengku Buwono X of Yogyakarta. “He’s not like past kings, who liked to have many