Children of a new age
Until yesterday, few of us are likely to have heard of the village called Semambung. Now, this East Javanese village has become the center of celebrations to publicize Indonesia's first National Family Day. As President Soeharto remarked on the occasion, June 29 was chosen because on that day 45 years ago Indonesian families in the areas around Yogyakarta -- Indonesia's wartime capital during the war of independence -- were for the first time reunited after four years of fighting the Dutch in a guerrilla war.
Semambung, in the regency of Sidoarjo near Surabaya, was chosen to receive the honor of hosting the official ceremonies because of the village's exemplary community spirit in support of development. The result was a type family life in the village that displayed a constant improvement over the past years. "I am certain thousands of others of our villages will take Semambung as an example," the President said.
No doubt the model of a harmonious family life, as implied in President Soeharto's remarks, is something that most of us find worth striving for. Yet it is precisely this image of a traditional model family that tempts us to question how long this ideal can be maintained in the light of what we usually call "globalization".
To illustrate, a news item that appeared on one of the inside pages of this newspaper yesterday quoted communications expert Alwi Dahlan as warning that American television hero "MacGyver" was slowly taking over the role of parents in Indonesia in instilling values to their children. Between 50 to 60 million Indonesian children are growing up to become a "TV generation" who acquire their values from television rather than from their parents. Moreover, the domination of foreign programs on television means that the children are learning values that are alien to them or their parents.
There may be a considerable degree of truth in Dr. Alwi Dahlan's observation. For certain, many young Indonesians seem to be quite receptive to certain new ways or ideas that come to them via television or movie screens. For example, certain gestures and mannerisms that were unknown here some years ago but have long been common among youths in America, seem now to have been effortlessly adopted by our youngsters.
As the tide of globalization is bound to keep swelling with the coming advances in communications technology, the obvious question is whether a "globalization" of ideas and values will eventually take place in this country and, if so, to what degree. Even now a study done by University of Indonesia communications expert Muhammad Budyatna has found that, on the average, Indonesian youths of senior high school age spend between three and four hours of their free time in front of television sets. About three-quarters of the youths questioned said watching television was part of their daily routine.
As more and more women are joining their husbands in earning a living for the family, the resulting change in the pattern of family life probably provides the impetus for this phenomenon. In any case, it is interesting to note the implications stated by Dr. Alwi Dahlan, who is also a member of the government's BP-7 board which in charge of propagating the Pancasila national ideology in Indonesia.
Indonesian children, Alwi Dahlan said, need to learn the desired values from the "Generation of 1945" -- those who fought the war of independence -- but a new and fresh way must be found to convey the message to them. Those values include a strong fighting spirit in times of trouble, something the present generation of young Indonesians has never experienced. Clearly, such values are worth perpetuating. But the only way the message can be conveyed effectively is by knowing how to communicate with the young, members of an entirely new generation of Indonesians.