Anticipating social change in RI<\/p>\n
By Ignas Kleden<\/p>\n
This is the first of two articles on development and the
\naccompanying changes the people have to face.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Needless to say, the economic development
\nwhich has been the focus of the first 25-year period of
\nIndonesia's national development program has brought about many
\ngood things. However, it was apparently not so clear from the
\nbeginning, that once people start to enhance economic
\ndevelopment, they ipso facto allow for changes originating in
\nshifts in the material base of the culture and society, of which
\nthe economy of goods and services becomes the main underpinning.<\/p>\n
On a very elementary level, a young man in East Flores, who
\npreviously used to earn only Rp 5,000 to Rp 10,000 from
\ntraditional fishing, undergoes a change in lifestyles because,
\ndue to new motorized fishing techniques, he can now earn Rp
\n500,000 to Rp 1,000,000 by taking a fishing boat out with friends
\nfor only three or four days. The tragedy -- to some extent it is
\na real comedy -- is that the big increase in income is not
\naccompanied by the same increase in economic fantasy or economic
\nimagination. How could we expect the fisherman concerned to be
\nable to use that large amount of money productively overnight? No
\nwonder, the rising income has resulted, first of all, in the
\nincreasing consumption of alcohol, which traditionally has always
\nbeen available on that island.<\/p>\n
This example simply illustrates how economic growth
\ngenerates social changes, and the fact that we cannot deal with
\nthose changes simply by believing that everything is still the
\nsame as it previously was, or by attributing them to scapegoat
\nfactors, which are actually impossible to blame. The increasingly
\nwidespread use of drugs among the young people in the big cities
\nshould be dealt with in terms of the changing material base and
\nour preparation to come to terms with it. One school teacher is
\nof the opinion that the parents should control the amount of
\npocket money available to their children before they start to
\ncomplain about what is going on among the young people. Suddenly
\nwe are faced with \"Ecstasy\", which overwhelms the young people we
\nare placing our hopes on.<\/p>\n
If the kids have enough money in their pockets, they are
\nexposed automatically to the temptation to buy something which
\nthey are not allowed to have, or something which their parents do
\nnot want them exposed to. I would argue that our attitude toward
\nmaterial things and material culture should be seriously examined
\nbefore we start to talk about moral values or things related to
\nconsciousness building. Of course there is no difference between
\nthe young people of East Flores who spend their extra income on
\nalcohol and the young Jakartans who waste their financial
\nresources on drugs. This is to say that it is unrealistic for us
\nto carry on believing that despite our economic growth and
\nincreasing material wealth we will be able to retain our
\ntraditional values without real efforts to readjust or to recast
\nthem in order that they can stand on good terms with the changing
\nmaterial base.<\/p>\n
To come back to our example, the people of East Flores will
\ncontinue spending the money they earn much more quickly and
\neasily from modern fishing on alcohol if there is no supporting
\neducation made available for them on management, marketing,
\norganization, distribution or processing. The same can be said of
\nthe young people who are buying \"Ecstasy\" in Jakarta. It is quite
\neasy to blame them, but it is more difficult to answer the
\nquestion: Why do they look for the drug? One of the reasons for
\nusing drugs is psychological. It can become a means to extend the
\narea of one's experience by means of being elevated into such
\npsychic circumstances which cannot be reached through everyday
\nexperiences. If the opportunities for this sort of enchantment
\nare lacking, those who are in search of it will try to get it
\nthrough other channels, which might be rewarding psychologically,
\nalthough they are socially disastrous.<\/p>\n
On another level we are faced with the question of the
\nrelationship between the changing material base of culture and
\nsociety on the one hand and political attitudes on the other. The
\nproject of national development has been built upon the belief
\nthat political stability is a condition sine qua non for the
\ncontinuation of economic development. There is no possibility for
\nplanning, implementation, and investment if the country is shaken
\nby political turbulence all along. The achievement of the New
\nOrder government is to be seen not only in the improvement of
\neconomic conditions, but in maintaining the political stability
\non which to carry out economic undertakings. The political reform
\nwhich has been attempted so far aims to secure political
\nstability by means of reducing the potential of political
\nconflicts, shortening the once long procedure of political
\ndecision making, as well as regulating the channeling of
\npolitical participation. All these major measures have been taken
\nin order to restructure political institutions in order that they
\ndo not contradict the goal of economic growth, but remain in line
\nwith it.<\/p>\n
However, the restructuring of political institutions is one
\nthing, whereas the formation of political perceptions and
\npolitical attitudes is another. If there are changes in that
\nregard, they should first of all be treated as merely logical
\nconsequences of the improvement of economic conditions, or the
\nchanging material base of politics. If relative wealth is there,
\npeople have more time and energy for other things, be they
\npolitical, philosophical, esthetic or religious.<\/p>\n
All these phenomena can be observed in everyday life in
\nJakarta. It is the young people from the new middle class who are
\nstarting to stage periodic discussions on religious matters with
\nsuch a great enthusiasm and involvement. It is the members of the
\nsame class who meet regularly for the reading of poems they have
\nwritten in their leisure time, or to organize exhibitions of
\npaintings they produced during their holidays or on weekends.
\nThis is a natural tendency because it is one of the basic
\nfeatures of human beings that they do not live by bread alone. If
\nthe involvement in religious, esthetic, or philosophical affairs
\nare fairly welcome, why is the new engagement or the new sense of
\nbelonging in politics so easily subject to suspicion?<\/p>",
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