Nationalist specter raises its head in a crisis<\/p>\n
By Makmur Keliat<\/p>\n
SURABAYA (JP): Is it necessary for Indonesia not to endorse
\nthe International Monetary Fund's (IMF) reform package because of
\nnationalistic reasons? Is nationalism an answer to our economic
\nturmoil? The answer seems inconclusive and to a large extent it
\nwill be determined by how we define and put the idea into
\npractice.<\/p>\n
Semantically, the term nationalism originated from the word
\nnation. The term nation itself, which is derived from the Latin
\nword nasci, meaning to be born, refers to a group of people who
\nidentify with a state. According to Herbert M. Levine,
\nnationalism can be defined as an ideology in which a people,
\nirrespective of religion, race and class, feel they have more in
\ncommon with each other than they have with other people and give
\ntheir loyalty to a state. No one doubts, therefore, that
\nnationalism is of great importance to all countries. It is a
\nmiracle force uniting diverse ethnic and tribal groups into a
\nlarger political unit called a state.<\/p>\n
It is common to hear people say proudly \"I am Indonesian\" or
\n\"I am American\" when they are out of their country. In this
\ncontext, it may not be an exaggeration to say that a sense of
\nnationalism has led them to feel dignified when mentioning the
\nname of their country.<\/p>\n
It is important to note, however, that identifying with a
\ncountry does not merely imply a legality. It is not just a
\nconfirmation of legally holding a passport issued by a
\ngovernment. Of no less significance, it embodies an
\nanthropological notion, meaning that culturally and socially they
\nbelong to Indonesia or the United States.<\/p>\n
In the context of internationally recognized norms, the
\nanthropological perception seems more manifest and far stronger
\nthan the legal one. This can be easily seen in the case of
\nrefugees. For instance, it is wrong to say that people from
\nMyanmar who have illegally crossed the border into India or
\nThailand are stateless or people without nationality.<\/p>\n
Irrespective of the fact that they do not possess official
\npassports issued by the Myanmar government, they still culturally
\nand socially belong to the Myanmar people. By implication,
\nalthough the establishment of the state is a political gesture of
\nnationalism, it does not necessarily mean that the state itself
\nis identical with nationalism. It is easy to see why.<\/p>\n
There is always a possibility that those who control the state
\nhave misinterpreted the ideology of nationalism to the point of
\ncausing social, political and economic calamity in their society.<\/p>\n
Let us take an example from Nazi Germany. By equating
\nnationalism with people's boundless loyalty to the state and by
\ninculcating the idea that Germans were the super race, Hitler
\nestablished a fascist regime through which the state was seen as
\nmore important than the individual.<\/p>\n
It was through such a regime that Hitler turned the ideology
\nof nationalism into that of chauvinism, and provoked the country
\nto instigate World War II. This bitter experience, in turn, has
\nencouraged people not to believe in a political parlance saying
\nthat \"right or wrong, my country\". The expression, initially
\nstated by American Admiral Stephen Decatur in 1816, has been
\nrefuted and strongly criticized because it totally disregards the
\naspect of morality in international relations.<\/p>\n
If seen from a moral view point, there should be a clear-cut
\ndefinition of what kind of behavior is right and wrong, not only
\nin each government but also in the international community as a
\nwhole. In other words, nationalism should also respect the canons
\nof internationally recognized norms in which right is right and
\nwrong is wrong. Otherwise, people could easily be trapped in a
\nsort of excessive nationalism to the point of seeing outsiders as
\ninferior, uncivilized and hostile. This does not mean to say that
\nnationalism has become redundant and superfluous.<\/p>\n
There is no doubt that nationalism is more important for
\ndeveloping countries than for developed countries. The reason
\nlies in the fact that their territorial jurisdictions are largely
\nbased on maps drawn up by their former colonial masters. As a
\nresult, most developing countries are diverse societies in terms
\nof religion, language and ethnicity.<\/p>\n
This diversity makes many countries somewhat vulnerable to
\npolitical movements of separatism and irredentism. Since
\nnationalism derives its legitimacy from the assumption that a
\nnation is established not on the basis of religion, language or
\nethnicity, but on the sense of belonging among a people, the
\ngovernments in developing countries should be encouraged to
\ncultivate a strong sense of nationalism in their citizenry.<\/p>\n
Seen from this point of view, particularly when a state is
\nbeing overwhelmed by a crisis, an idea of revitalizing a strong
\nsense of nationalism seems a persuasive political idea. It could
\nbe used positively by a government as a psychological bulwark
\nagainst foreign intervention.<\/p>\n
As a saying goes, a good idea can be ruined by a bad advocate,
\nso nationalism can also be manipulated by a ruling government for
\na hidden political agenda. For developing countries, it is not
\ndifficult to trace the reason why this likelihood cannot be
\nunderestimated. There have been plenty of cases of developing
\ncountries, particularly in Latin American, showing the misuse of
\nnationalism by ruling elites to obscure their inability to manage
\nand resolve domestic economic problems.<\/p>\n
Ranging from statements such as \"we are a sovereign nation\",
\nand \"we do not want to be dictated to\", to \"our economic problems
\nhave been created by external powers\", some governments in Latin
\nAmerica -- which in the 1980s was beset with an acute problem of
\nservicing its debts -- on occasions aired these kinds of
\nstatements and blamed the IMF when they defaulted and asked for
\nmoratoriums. There are strong reasons to believe, however, that
\nwhat they actually sought to achieve was to distract people's
\nattention from the real situation.<\/p>\n
It should be noted that in most cases it was not the IMF that
\ncaused the region's acute problems in servicing its debts. The
\nintroduction of IMF economic reforms emphasizing belt-tightening
\npolicies and market economies was largely a consequence of the
\nregion's bad policies and wasteful spending. If the countries in
\nthe region had not strongly believed in indebted
\nindustrialization, the IMF would not have provided its financial
\nhelp and bitter economic prescriptions with high social costs.<\/p>\n
Keeping this in mind, it sounds strange if a government which
\nhas relied on indebted industrialization criticizes the IMF over
\nits economic reform package because of economic nationalism. The
\nlogic, however, is not difficult to explain.<\/p>\n
Indeed, since the very beginning, while implementing indebted
\nindustrialization, such a government puts aside nationalism in
\neconomic development. Moreover, it is not uncommon to find the
\nelite in developing countries, which have been indulged in the
\nbuilding of beacon projects, spending part of the debt by taking
\na holiday in foreign countries or even buying luxury goods.<\/p>\n
With this situation, it would be fair to say that to criticize
\nthe IMF's economic prescription because of nationalism would be
\nto formulate a nationalism with a double standard.<\/p>\n
In other words, revitalizing nationalism is valuable but if
\ngovernment leaders do not match their words with deeds, it could
\nlose its persuasiveness and become a white elephant. It would
\nonly give birth to a form of pseudo nationalism in which the
\nsupporters would be pseudo nationalists.<\/p>\n
The writer is a teacher of political science at Airlangga
\nUniversity, Surabaya.<\/p>",
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