Experts warn of parties exploiting the jobless

Experts warn of parties exploiting the jobless

Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As political parties prepare for the 2004 General Election,
experts warned the government on Wednesday of the possible
mobilization of unemployed people for vested political interests.

Psychiatrist Limas Sutanto said the unemployed had the
characteristics that would be of use for people with political
interests. That is they tend to be aggressive, narrow-minded,
egocentric, irritable, ignorant, and bad-tempered.

Limas said those characteristics emerged as a result of the
psychological pain caused by their failure to fulfill a basic
need -- to land a job.

"A great number of unemployed people can easily be found in
areas with escalating social unrest because there are many
players -- people with vested interests -- taking advantage of
the unemployed people's weaknesses: low self-reflection and
strained relationships with others," he told The Jakarta Post.

Currently, there are 40 million unemployed in the country,
from a total potential workforce of 99 million. And some 59
percent of the workforce stay in the villages.

Pinky Saptandari, head of the school of anthropology at the
Surabaya-based Airlangga University in East Java, said that many
of the unemployed would see the 2004 election as an opportunity
to make instant money.

"The unemployed will do anything to serve any political
parties that can give them money, even for only Rp 5,000 (55 U.S.
cents) or Rp 10,000," she said.

Pinky added that such mass mobilization could create conflicts
among the parties' supporters. "It can be an instant job
opportunity that leads to destructive activities," she said.

Sociologist Ignas Kleden said the unemployed were able to be
exploited for political purposes because they were politically
and economically unstable.

"They can stand not having a dwelling place and decent
clothing but they cannot tolerate hunger. In this case, the
jobless people will accept any job that can bring instant cash in
a bid to survive," he said.

Ignas, who is also the director of the Center for Eastern
Indonesia Affairs (CEIA), said that people of dubious motives
could easily hire the unemployed to stage a rally, trigger social
unrest and even commit crime.

"The unemployed have unchanneled energy that if released could
create massive unrest," he said.

Yet, the experts believe that family ties still play a major
role in ameliorating the potential social distress caused by
unemployment.

Limas said that the absence of visible distress in the country
was not because the government had taken measures to tackle the
unemployment problem.

"It is more because of the Indonesian people's ability to
endure poverty and also due to their extended family's support,"
he said.

Pinky said a sense of belonging and brotherhood remained high
among Indonesians.

"Here, especially in the villages, an extended family is still
willing to finance its unemployed members' monthly needs like
food, health services, and education," she said.

She urged the society to build moral power at the grassroots
level through raising public awareness about political issues in
the country to prevent the unemployed from being used by people
with evil motives.

Meanwhile, Ignas warned the government that families had a
limited capacity to care for their relatives. "The government
cannot rely on the families' kindness all the time because it is
its responsibility to create job openings and to improve the
welfare of the unemployed," he said.