Paras Indonesia, April, 10 2006 @ 08:51 am
Anxieties About Indonesia's Future
By Mochtar Buchori
About two years ago a frustrated friend said in a discussion that he was fed up with
conditions existing in the country. He did not believe that the government and the
political system will ever be able to bring about significant improvements. "What is the
use of all these discussions?" he asked. "What is the use of discussing ways to
improve our governance system, our political system, our bureaucratic system, and
every other system we have? The deteriorations within our society have been
occurring much faster than the pace of our efforts to repair and to rebuild. I doubt
whether twenty years hence this country still exists." I was dumbfounded.
I never have any doubt in the ability of this nation to survive crises. But this is just my
belief, and that particular friend of mine happens to believe differently. And I know that
in matters of belief one can never be sure which is right, and which is wrong. I felt at
the time, however, that I have to say something to respond to my friend's statement. I
think I said the following.
"You may be right, but you can also be wrong," I started. "No one can say with
certainty whether we will come out of the present crises weakened and eventually
perish, or whether we will come out strengthened and become a robust nation. One
thing I am sure of, however, is that as long as the sense of nationhood is strong
among the coming generations, this nation and this country will prevail. The format of
the state may change, but the nation will always be there."
"I share your apprehensions about our future. But to me the question is not whether
we will survive or perish. To me the question is what must we do now to ensure that
this nation prevails. To me, one question we have to answer is how to make the
coming generations acquire a strong sense of Indonesian nationhood, and make it
into a torch of their individual and collective life."
"If we manage to do this, we will not make the same mistakes as Yugoslavia, a
country and a nation which became extinct and replaced by smaller states and
nations: Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo, and Monte Negro. The difficult question in
this regard is how to reform our present system of education, to enable it to effectively
carry out this function."
That was about two years ago. Since then I have heard voices expressing similar
anxieties more and more frequently. About two months ago I heard someone
expressing his doubts concerning the execution of the 2009 general election. He
doubts, first, whether the 2009 general election will actually take place, and secondly,
whether the 2009 general election will bring about a national government and a
national parliament that will be better than the present ones. To me this is an
expression of a total loss of confidence in our political system and our politicians. And
my impression is that more and more people have lost this trust. They no longer
believe that our politicians have the ability to exercise their political power intelligently,
sincerely, and honestly. Add to this the fact that thus far there is no single group
visible in our society that that has the will, the determination, and the ability to
redress our political course and reform our political culture, and it becomes very
difficult for anyone not to feel depressed and apprehensive.
Isn't this fear a little bit exaggerated? I do not know! My personal experiences tend to
reaffirm this fear. Another friend of mine told a story a week ago that I found very
shocking. This friend is a young man, about 35 years old, and works in the field of
international fund management. He told me that in any international fund management
company worthy of mentioning there is always at least one Indonesian, bright and
young, who works hard to be at the top. These bright young executives have been
focusing their attention on creating a regional communication channel that will
effectively links all parts of Indonesia, and makes Indonesia a strong link in the
regional communication network. What eventually will pass through this channel is
not a matter of much concern to them. And how Indonesia will come out of this
communication network project is also none of their concern. Their main concern is
that the companies they represent will become the party that has the ultimate control
of this communication network project. Whether eventually American, European,
Japanese, Chinese, Australian, or Indian capital will dominate this international
undertaking is also a matter that does not concern them. And they just don't care
about the place and role of Indonesia in this project.
I am completely illiterate in matters related to business, national or international, and I
just have no way of knowing the extent to which this story tells the truth. If, however,
this story is true it certainly breaks my heart. I just cannot imagine that there are
young Indonesians who do not care about Indonesia. This is simply absurd to me!
But, on the other hand, I have no reason not to believe my friend.
Who should take the blame for this situation? It is unfair in my opinion to put the
blame entirely on these young executives. Our politicians and our bureaucrats should
also carry part of the blame. It is they, in the first place, who have created situations
that make people unhappy and frustrated, including these young executives. Granted
these young executives constitute only a small minority in our society, but they are
the cores of our middle class, a social stratum that always plays a crucial role in
reforming or remaking a society. If these people have lost hope in the future of the
country, then it will become nearly impossible to repair the damages inflicted upon our
society by our politicians and our bureaucrats.
How do we go from here? It depends upon what we want and what we do not want. If
we do not know what we want then it is impossible to say how and where to go from
here. Most of us know, I think, what we do not want. We do not want to see our
country crumble in the midst of global competition. We do not want to be enslaved by
any foreign country or foreign capital. We do not want to be intimidated by any foreign
power. This list can be extended ad infinitum. And at the end of the list we will get a
clear idea of what we want. From this point on it will be easy to say what has to be
done to avoid what we do not want and to achieve what we want.
I, for one, would like very much to see that our education improves its ability to
cultivate among the young the sense of being part of the nation and to foster hope for
the future of this nation. This can be done only, in my view, if we can develop a new
educational paradigm that will create the spirit of sharing in our schools. We must
encourage our teachers to share anxieties and hopes with the students. This spirit of
sharing will evolve in our schools gradually if we look upon every learning interaction
as an opportunity for learning to share knowledge and ignorance.
Mochtar Buchori a legislator and educationist
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