Ariel Heryanto
\nSociologist
\nUniversity of Melbourne
\nAustralia<\/p>\n
The Australian public is rightfully outraged by the interview
\nbetween Indonesia's Police Chief Da'i Bachtiar and Bali bombing
\nsuspect Amrozi. At issue was the series of smiles, laughter, and
\nhandshakes between them, and a few other attending law enforcers.
\nThe whole event has been taken as a gross offense, incredibly
\ninsensitive to the sufferings of the victims, and their families.<\/p>\n
However, what most angry commentators, Australian and non-
\nAustralian alike, have failed to understand is the extent to
\nwhich similar gestures, and smiling in particular, has been
\nembedded in social lives of most Indonesians with diverse
\nmeanings. The same is true about many societies across Southeast
\nAsia.<\/p>\n
This is neither to exonerate the crime against humanity of the
\nBali bombing perpetrators, nor to excuse the police officers'
\nfailure to understand the regrettable implication of the widely
\nreported interview. Rather, this is an alternative interpretation
\nof what is indisputably a blunder, underscoring the need for
\nbetter understanding of, and consideration for different
\ncultures, including their respective parochialism.<\/p>\n
Instead of simply a failure to express sympathy for the
\nvictims, the problematic interview has in fact reflected the
\nIndonesian law enforcers' failure to understand that there exist
\nsensibilities and ethical codes that are radically different from
\nthose prevailing in contemporary Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the foreign media and analysts have not
\nunderstood any better the failure of these less than cosmopolitan
\nIndonesian state officials. The event has been misconstrued,
\nalthough with good reasons.<\/p>\n
To the Australian public several sympathetic Australian
\njournalists and Indonesian commentators have offered explanations
\nabout the disturbing scene. Most of them attribute it to
\n\"cultural differences\" between the two peoples, plus the
\ndifficult circumstances under which the Indonesian police
\noperate.<\/p>\n
Those giving cultural explanations correctly stressed that the
\nsmiles did not necessarily imply delight, amusement, friendliness
\nbetween the suspect and the officers, nor antagonistic attitude
\ntowards the victims of the Bali bombing. They \"laughed\", but they
\ndid not \"laugh at\" anything or anyone as often incorrectly,
\nthough understandably, understood in the Australian context.<\/p>\n
I share the cultural explanations, but would take issue when
\nthey are presented, as often the case in Australian media, with
\nadditional rationalist reasoning by Indonesians and experts of
\nIndonesia alike. Such reasoning was provided in effect to show
\nthe \"objective rationality\" behind the smiles by considering the
\npolitical contexts.<\/p>\n
The smiles were interpreted as if they were a well calculated
\ngesture, a part of a larger strategy on the part of the suspect
\nand his captors to achieve political gains (for instance, for the
\npolice to appear humane in public, and for the suspect to avoid
\nheavy sentencing).<\/p>\n
Cultures have no objective reasoning outside themselves. I
\nbelieve the controversial smiles have been done unconsciously.
\nMost likely no calculation, clever or otherwise, was involved. No
\nreal political circumstances seem relevant here. Those people
\nappeared to have smiled because they could not help it, because
\nthat's the way they were brought up since childhood.<\/p>\n
For the same reason, most ordinary members of the Indonesian
\npublic did not notice the very same smiles, and took issues,
\nbecause these smiles appeared so insignificant. Significantly,
\nwith the exception of The Jakarta Post, no Indonesian press has
\npicked up the interview as an issue. What several dailies
\nreported as newsworthy was the Australian outrage, not what had
\nprovoked it.<\/p>\n
As French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu said, \"cultures are
\nthose what goes without saying\", as they have come without
\nquestioning, or reasoning. They are like languages or accents. To
\nask why Amrozi and the police should smile is almost like asking
\nwhy English speaking people always open an official letter with
\nthe greeting \"Dear\", even if this is a letter of very serious
\ncomplaint or protest.<\/p>\n
It is also comparable to the controversial 1998 pose of IMF
\nExecutive Director Michel Camdessus. He stood straight, arms
\nfolded, next to then president Soeharto who bowed down to the
\ntable to sign a new reform package. Indonesians took offense of
\nthe pose, despite their being impatient to see Soeharto step
\ndown!<\/p>\n
Smiles are built-in in many languages in Indonesia, just as
\ntenses or gender in European languages. Thousands of Australians
\nhave enthusiastically learned to speak Bahasa Indonesia.<\/p>\n
One common pitfall for them, as for most English native
\nspeakers learning the language, is to pronounce words that start
\nwith c-, j-, t-, or p-. One can only do it properly if one
\nspreads one's lips widely enough. In other words, one has to
\nsmile as one speaks. Indonesians unconsciously and effortlessly
\nsmile as they meet people, speak with others, or encounter
\nexperiences that are neither funny, nor delightful.<\/p>\n
For these reasons, many first-time visitors to Indonesia (or
\nAsia) have been misled to think that Indonesians are unusually
\nalways happy, hospitable, or courteous people. Their smiles have
\nbeen taken more seriously than warranted. When these foreigners
\ntold their impressions of, and to the same Indonesians
\n(\"Indonesians are so gentle, graceful, hospitable\"), the latter
\nhave often misunderstood the remarks, taking it more seriously
\nthan necessary. Indonesians do not -- as they are taught not to
\nsince childhood -- habitually express such complementary remarks,
\nor any other strong feelings, directly to strangers or new
\nacquaintances.<\/p>\n
Likewise, Indonesians learn to express embarrassment, shame,
\nsorrow, sympathy, or affection in ways that are not necessarily
\nfamiliar to outsiders. One example has to do with death and
\nfuneral. Several overseas observers have described the highly
\nelaborate and capital-intensive funerals in several ethnic groups
\nin Indonesia (e.g. Toraja, Balinese) with great amazement,
\ncommenting that \"they live in order to die\".<\/p>\n
Foreigners are often baffled when visiting urban middle class
\nIndonesian families. While conversing casually in the living
\nrooms, their Indonesian hosts grab family photo albums in the
\nroom, and show a large number of pictures of the funeral of a
\ndeceased member of the family, with no apparent remorse or sense
\nof loss.<\/p>\n
Lest be misunderstood, cultural differences do not rigidly
\nfollow the boundaries of nation-states. Neither do any of these
\ncultural differences remain unchanged. There are as profound
\ncultural differences across sub-national groups in Indonesia,
\nalong gender, ethnic, religious, residential, and linguistic
\nlines as they are internationally. The same is true with inter-
\ncultural borrowings. Indonesian cultures, whatever these may
\nmean, are nothing but hybrids of diverse world and local
\ntraditions, under constant change.<\/p>\n
Despite these complexities, one can still recognize that the
\nsmiles that Amrozi and the Indonesian law enforcers demonstrated
\nare so common among many Indonesians. Theirs in Denpasar may be
\nsomewhat more excessive than usually observed in Indonesia. Such
\nsmiles can mean different things within their immediate social
\nenvironment, some are more commendable than others. In any case,
\nthey do not solely and unambiguously imply malice to the victims
\nof the Bali bombing, and obviously not to the Australians in
\nparticular.<\/p>\n
The Bali bombing is seriously deplorable. The excessive smiles
\nin the Nov. 13 interview are regrettable, for reasons suggested
\nabove rather than those indicated in the Australian media and The
\nJakarta Post.<\/p>\n
The painful incident provides yet one more opportunity for
\nIndonesians to understand better other people's sensibility, and
\nfor their friendly Australian neighbors to understand why
\nIndonesians' have not learned this any better. It would be a pity
\nif this opportunity is lost.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ariel-heryanto-1447899208",
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