Children of a new age

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.