Anticipating social change in RI
Anticipating social change in RI
By Ignas Kleden
This is the first of two articles on development and the accompanying changes the people have to face.
JAKARTA (JP): Needless to say, the economic development which has been the focus of the first 25-year period of Indonesia's national development program has brought about many good things. However, it was apparently not so clear from the beginning, that once people start to enhance economic development, they ipso facto allow for changes originating in shifts in the material base of the culture and society, of which the economy of goods and services becomes the main underpinning.
On a very elementary level, a young man in East Flores, who previously used to earn only Rp 5,000 to Rp 10,000 from traditional fishing, undergoes a change in lifestyles because, due to new motorized fishing techniques, he can now earn Rp 500,000 to Rp 1,000,000 by taking a fishing boat out with friends for only three or four days. The tragedy -- to some extent it is a real comedy -- is that the big increase in income is not accompanied by the same increase in economic fantasy or economic imagination. How could we expect the fisherman concerned to be able to use that large amount of money productively overnight? No wonder, the rising income has resulted, first of all, in the increasing consumption of alcohol, which traditionally has always been available on that island.
This example simply illustrates how economic growth generates social changes, and the fact that we cannot deal with those changes simply by believing that everything is still the same as it previously was, or by attributing them to scapegoat factors, which are actually impossible to blame. The increasingly widespread use of drugs among the young people in the big cities should be dealt with in terms of the changing material base and our preparation to come to terms with it. One school teacher is of the opinion that the parents should control the amount of pocket money available to their children before they start to complain about what is going on among the young people. Suddenly we are faced with "Ecstasy", which overwhelms the young people we are placing our hopes on.
If the kids have enough money in their pockets, they are exposed automatically to the temptation to buy something which they are not allowed to have, or something which their parents do not want them exposed to. I would argue that our attitude toward material things and material culture should be seriously examined before we start to talk about moral values or things related to consciousness building. Of course there is no difference between the young people of East Flores who spend their extra income on alcohol and the young Jakartans who waste their financial resources on drugs. This is to say that it is unrealistic for us to carry on believing that despite our economic growth and increasing material wealth we will be able to retain our traditional values without real efforts to readjust or to recast them in order that they can stand on good terms with the changing material base.
To come back to our example, the people of East Flores will continue spending the money they earn much more quickly and easily from modern fishing on alcohol if there is no supporting education made available for them on management, marketing, organization, distribution or processing. The same can be said of the young people who are buying "Ecstasy" in Jakarta. It is quite easy to blame them, but it is more difficult to answer the question: Why do they look for the drug? One of the reasons for using drugs is psychological. It can become a means to extend the area of one's experience by means of being elevated into such psychic circumstances which cannot be reached through everyday experiences. If the opportunities for this sort of enchantment are lacking, those who are in search of it will try to get it through other channels, which might be rewarding psychologically, although they are socially disastrous.
On another level we are faced with the question of the relationship between the changing material base of culture and society on the one hand and political attitudes on the other. The project of national development has been built upon the belief that political stability is a condition sine qua non for the continuation of economic development. There is no possibility for planning, implementation, and investment if the country is shaken by political turbulence all along. The achievement of the New Order government is to be seen not only in the improvement of economic conditions, but in maintaining the political stability on which to carry out economic undertakings. The political reform which has been attempted so far aims to secure political stability by means of reducing the potential of political conflicts, shortening the once long procedure of political decision making, as well as regulating the channeling of political participation. All these major measures have been taken in order to restructure political institutions in order that they do not contradict the goal of economic growth, but remain in line with it.
However, the restructuring of political institutions is one thing, whereas the formation of political perceptions and political attitudes is another. If there are changes in that regard, they should first of all be treated as merely logical consequences of the improvement of economic conditions, or the changing material base of politics. If relative wealth is there, people have more time and energy for other things, be they political, philosophical, esthetic or religious.
All these phenomena can be observed in everyday life in Jakarta. It is the young people from the new middle class who are starting to stage periodic discussions on religious matters with such a great enthusiasm and involvement. It is the members of the same class who meet regularly for the reading of poems they have written in their leisure time, or to organize exhibitions of paintings they produced during their holidays or on weekends. This is a natural tendency because it is one of the basic features of human beings that they do not live by bread alone. If the involvement in religious, esthetic, or philosophical affairs are fairly welcome, why is the new engagement or the new sense of belonging in politics so easily subject to suspicion?