END OF YEAR 2025 REFLECTION: INDRAMAYU AND THE MANGO TREE, THE PHILOSOPHY OF CHOOSING A LEADER
By: H. Adlan Daie
Political and socio-religious analyst
It is important for Indramayu’s leaders to be born from a collective awareness of the Indramayu mango philosophy, not to be deceived by the luster of mangoes displayed in supermarket display cases. Mangoes sprayed with chemical fertilizers ripen quickly, with beautiful packaging but a “sour taste.”
Indramayu is undoubtedly a regency on the north coast (Pantura) of Java, blessed with God’s unparalleled mango fruit. Other regions may imitate it, but the “taste” of Indramayu mangoes never lies; they grow naturally.
Indramayu mangoes are natural mangoes. They thrive on soil that is familiar to its people. A tree whose roots are deeply rooted in the earth, receiving rain and heat without being forced.
Its leaves move with the rhythm of the wind, producing fruit that not only looks “ripe” to the eye, but is also sweet to the lips and “tastes” deep within. Subhanallah wa tabarakallah!
These are the “verses of kauniyah,” universal signs that the philosophy of the Indramayu mango is important for us to incorporate into our consciousness in a year-end reflection on the importance of choosing leaders who grow naturally, sweating salty sweat with their coastlines and “smelling mud” with the social ecosystem of their farmers.
Survey trends throughout 2025 have led us to a crucial phase in the history of our political leadership. A phase when image begins to be torn apart by reality. When packaged politics slowly begins to rot. When sweet promises begin to be corrected by the bitterness that weighs on the people.
In any religious doctrine, leadership is a matter of principle. A leader is an “imam,” a reference point for “guidance,” a role model, with the power of authority to “rule.” Leaders are not circus “shows” to “entertain” on the political stage, produced by image-making factories.
Image-making, according to Emha Ainun Nadjib, a cultural figure, is the application of a hypocritical mentality. Hypocrisy is manipulation, and manipulation is an inner crime. A hypocritical mentality always forces people to love falsehood.
Leaders produced by image-making, according to George Wells’ theory, are the product of sophisticated and skillful lying in every appearance. However, they are dangerous because the people are “nurtured” by the mentality of leaders with the “advantage” of always “lying.”
The reflective question is: can we produce leaders who adhere to the philosophy of the natural Indramayu mango, grounded in the earth, or will we resign ourselves to falling repeatedly to the deception of leaders produced by image-making factories?
This is not about the tale of a donkey falling repeatedly into the same hole, but about the choice of early detection to prevent the emergence of leaders produced by image-making deception that damages the collective public space (Q.S. Al-Imron, 104).
Developing a leader who thrives naturally is indeed difficult and time-consuming. The leaders we seek are not simply those tasked with administrative work and building “physical” infrastructure, but also those who understand the heartbeat of the people’s conscience, which speaks softly in the silence of social media.
Only leaders who have grown from the ground up will be able to guide Indramayu’s future by honoring the dignity and self-respect of its citizens, fostering resilience and independence, and fostering an awareness of their civil rights.
This is the kind of leader H. Agus Salim, the legendary diplomat, called “Leiden is ledjen”—a leader “on the path of suffering,” a leader who serves, born in the sweat of Indramayu’s political ecosystem, and always involved in the “trouble” of the community long before becoming regent.
This is the responsibility of political figures, mass organizations, the business world, intellectuals, and campus activists, within a sufficient time until 2029, to work together to build collective awareness at the grassroots level about the importance of a leader based on the earth-based philosophy of the Indramayu mango.
At this point, our political dignity is at stake as we pass on our values and legacy of leadership to future generations of Indramayu. Happy New Year 2026.**
Indramayu, December 23, 2025
Wassalam
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