Dialog vital among political groupings

Dialog vital among political groupings

The burgeoning of political parties in this post-Soeharto era
is just one of many indications of people's restlessness in
coping with change. B.S. Mardiatmadja, a lecturer at Driyarkara
School of Philosophy, strives to find the reason for this
restlessness.

JAKARTA (JP): There are many currents in our society: Some
moving toward union and others toward fragmentation.

Some political groups in the country are striving for unity,
expressed through initiatives for interreligious dialogs and in
proposals for reconciliation. On the other hand, there is a
distant cry for decentralization and even a growing political and
religious pluralism due to the creation and diffusion of new
parties and denominations at the regional and national levels.

For people on the streets, this situation is far from
peaceful. Some call for leaders of different parties to debate
through the media. To make such a debate fruitful, there should
be a common ground established.

Current nationalistic and spiritual movements are expressing a
need to return to fundamentals -- both in the context of religion
and politics.

Not only have these new groups energetically called for the
preservation of certain nationalistic and religious ideas
inherent in the country's culture, but they have also highlighted
many of the political implications stemming from certain myths
about our societal legacy.

This trend, however, has also brought about many new ideas
which have prompted groups to break away from established
institutions or doctrine in the community -- some to emerge as a
radical alternative to the dominant group and culture in a
specific area.

The result is an increasing fragmentation in society, which is
happening in nearly all aspects of life, especially in political
life. Some are now questioning the legitimacy and even morality
of certain policies, judicial decisions and political incidents,
including the March 11 handover of power from Sukarno to
Soeharto.

The trend has been attributed to various causes, whether
historical, social-cultural, economic and political, while some
have concluded it is due to the reform movement.

One explanation for the trend, however, seems to ring more
true than others: a thirst for the sacred. There is a current
explosion of people searching for the spiritual, even in the most
secularized of groups.

While on the one hand many people seem to be fervently
pursuing material needs in a quest to fulfill materialistic
desires, on the other, we are witnessing a desperate search for
meaning, the need for an inner life and a desire to learn new
forms and methods of meditation and prayer.

This is happening not only in subcultures with strong
religious beliefs, but also in secularized subcultures, where the
spiritual dimension of life is being sought after as an antidote
to dehumanization.

Facing a growing plurality of paths opening up in economic,
political and religious quests, some exalt pluralism as the
highest value that expresses the creativity and freedom of man --
the new savior of our society. Many others, on the contrary,
aspire to justify pluralism by finding an element of unity among
all paths. Different ways of encountering other groups which are
based on different models of unity derive from this aspiration.

Nationalistic movements to unify the country could take on the
form of several models. One model stems from the concept that an
essential unity is developed through an all-pervasive primordial
nationalism. The existence of nationalism -- acknowledged but
veiled and whose nucleus of truths is only contained in and
revealed by esoteric nationalistic doctrines -- is taken for
granted.

Groups in the model are allowed to express their nationalistic
doctrines through their own political traditions in order to
return to their roots. Relations among different groups are
embedded with a sense of mission to purify themselves and thus
unite in what is essential and transcends them.

A second model could be expressed through political groups
responding to the challenge of nationalistic pluralism by
presenting themselves as a vehicle superseding the cacophony of
nationalistic expressions in society. The interdenominational
initiatives promoted by these movements are inspired by a mission
of attaining unity.

One way that we may see this is how one party could claim to
assist people wishing to examine the diversities and divisions
within groups and facilitate reconciliations within political
groupings.

A third but similar model would be the possibility of a new
party that transcends all existing parties. Such a party would
unite the country by pointing to the crisis as a need for people
to transcend economic, religious, cultural and tribal boundaries
to solve the nation's problems.

Overall, the basis and model for interparty dialog is the
unity of the Indonesian people forged through a national
consciousness and similar ideals. It is not a question of uniting
or unifying parties, but of reconciling people in the common
awareness that they belong to a single Indonesian family.