Beware of the forces of social disintegration: Gen. Feisal
JAKARTA (JP): Increasing prejudices among the people could lead to the disintegration of society, Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung warned yesterday.
"Out of these prejudices unhealthy social phenomena develop," Feisal told about 300 ulemas taking part in the national congress of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI).
He cited jealousy, friction, frustration, tension and conflicts of interest as some of the current signs of social problems.
Feisal also warned of the increasing tendency to place one's group -- ethnic, racial or other group -- above other groups in society.
He called the tendency "primordialism" and defined it as a a narrow cultural sentiment or belief that one's group is better than the others.
"This development is a fertile ground for the growth of su'uzhon (suspicions and prejudices)," he said.
Such sentiment encourages people to establish "exclusive groups" and tends view people as occupying conflicting positions. "This creates a feeling of 'us against them'", he said.
Feisal also spoke of the danger of polarization among social groups on the basis of ethnicity or religion, known officially as SARA, an acronym standing for "ethnic group, religion, race and social group".
He said that there was broad agreement in the nation that SARA issues were potential threats to security and stability.
Along with the rush towards globalization, however, the potential sources of danger to national stability had developed into what he called "SARA plus".
"This means that we have to keep on watching out for the potential for conflicts arising from (group differences) which are permanent in nature," he said.
In addition, society has to also guard against problems arising from situations which emerge in the forms of "land disputes, labor, democracy, politics, economics and other issues."
Conflicts which arose from religious differences, "tend to leave very deep scars" and may cost the country very greatly, he said.
Feisal was more upbeat in the other parts of his speech.
Universal issue
He told the ulemas that, along with the danger of disintegration, other forces were at work in society to balance the polarizing influence of group differences.
"In a fast-changing society, a process of integration is also taking place," he said. This particular process would strengthen social solidarity, national unity and people's awareness of their identity as a nation, he said.
He told the ulemas that national integration was a universal issue, something which every nation has to deal with.
Earlier in the day, Minister of Information Harmoko addressed the gathering, reminding the ulemas of the role of the mass media in developing the character of the Indonesian people and instilling in them strong ethics.
He called people in the media business "the trustees of society" who, he said, were bound by an unwritten social contract to deliver only material that was informative, educational and non-violent.
On the sidelines of the congress, however, several ulemas were spotted hotly arguing over the circulation of a film tabloid, published by a politically well-connected group, which runs photos of scantily-clad women. Some ulemas were heard to describe the tabloid as "pornography".
"We have to complain about this to Minister Harmoko," said one of the ulemas. (swe)