'Blueprint for Survival': Time to own up to our failings
Dewi Anggraeni, Contributor, Melbourne
Indonesia, A Blueprint for Survival; By Nirwan Idrus; Published by Center for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta, 2003; Paperback, 99 pp; In English
Before you read this book, you need to define your own personality group, then plan a strategy. If you are of the "right or wrong, it's still my country" sort, who cannot take criticism, constructive or otherwise, be on guard.
The book, while unlikely to beat you into a pulp, may very well beat you into a corner to cower for a while. If you are of the "happy-go-lucky-'cause-I'm-OK" type, prepare to wince for once because the book will become a mirror for the wrinkles and blemishes on your face which you have hitherto tried to deny.
If you are of the kind who is frustrated almost to beyond salvation at the way Indonesia has been managed and governed, then this is exactly the book for you. Not only will it throw light on the sources of your frustration, hence somewhat therapeutic, but it will also suggest solutions, albeit not in detail.
You may have thought about them yourself, of course, but it is generally gratifying to see someone agreeing with you in print.
Economist and economic observer Mohamad Chatib Basri once quoted a friend of his, saying, "It is so easy being Indonesian. When something goes wrong, you blame someone. The Dutch colonialists, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the U.S., Australia ..."
Nirwan Idrus also blames the Dutch, and some other parties who usually cop the blame, but he does not let anyone in the Indonesian governing elite through the almost six decades of independence escape scot-free. And he cannot be dismissed as being partisan or serving any vested interest group, because he is critical of all parties.
While many advocates of grassroots development tend to attribute greed and selfishness to the multinational companies exploiting Indonesia's natural resources, Nirwan goes further. He gives examples of greed on the part of Indonesia's own ruling elite, who have failed to show the quality and capacity necessary in leaders and have gone ahead lining their own pockets.
This book, with a foreword by Hadi Soesastro and an introduction by Djisman S. Simandjuntak, is not the ranting of a disaffected citizen who has been robbed of his fortune or savings by some corruptor-crony of those in power.
In order to write this book Nirwan rallied a great deal of his knowledge gained from his extensive education background and work experience, the most significant and relevant of which being chief executive and director of the Otago Polytechnic in Dunedin, New Zealand (1993-1998), International Quality Assurance specialist with an Asian Development Bank project on engineering education development in Indonesia (1998-2000) and head of the Business School of IPMI Graduate School of Business in Jakarta (2000-2002).
If the title suggests the existence of some satirical humor, you are not wrong, at least in the early parts. Then gradually it becomes increasingly ruthless and direct in pointing you in the direction of the sores which have indiscriminately pockmarked the nation.
It is sobering to see where Indonesia was compared to Malaysia in the 1960s and 1970s, when Indonesian teachers were invited to teach in Malaysia, and now if Indonesia is compared to Malaysia, who has advanced in leaps and bounds ahead of its supposedly "senior" neighbor.
Nirwan does not only show what and who are responsible for the mess in almost every level in Indonesia, but also why, how, and where things have gone wrong and are still going awry.
In chapter 3, "Natural Resources vs Human Resources", for example, Nirwan points to the sorry state of Indonesia's valuable rain forests, where widespread complacency coupled with greed and badly managed tree felling are depleting these natural resources.
One of the sectors Nirwan feels strongly about is education. Education in this country has been left in the rut, rendering it entirely irrelevant and pulling the whole nation backwards. He goes into detail with instances and examples, and it is hard to argue with him.
His blueprint for a better future for Indonesia demands a total turnaround involving the whole nation, from leaders to the most menial workers. The imagery which comes to mind is a crowd standing around trying to fix a long, broken train that has gone off-rail and left to rust. It is a big thing to ask, and a big task all around.
However, as Nirwan writes, "...as the saying goes, the journey of a thousand miles starts with the first little step. One must make that little step first and one must have a destination even at that very first little step."
Those in the position of power and policy-making may not agree with his analyses and his blueprint, but at least the book will hopefully jolt them out of their complacency and inertia, into arguing with him and offering an alternative -- and acting on it. In fact, everybody, along with the policy-makers has the duty to heave this unwieldy vehicle back onto its rail and get it going again. It is a must read.