First impressions can be wrong

By Marianus Kleden

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara (JP): Weeks have passed, but actress Sophia Latjuba and her counterparts are still celebrating their success in attracting the attention of Peeping Toms and in distracting politicians' concentration by their exhibitionistic poses in the Popular magazine and other similar publications.

Until very recently, discussions and talk-shows concerning the matter dominated prime time television and tabloid headlines. Why do people become so anxious about one person's nudity, while at the same time enjoy similar nudity exhibited by blond beauties along Kuta beach?

A student participating in one of the talk-shows even questioned who was more naked, the soldiers who had killed hundreds of Acehnese or the artists.

This apprehension reminds us of past Indonesian bureaucrats' uneasiness relating to Dewi Sukarno's Syuga, a book containing her artistic half-naked pictures.

To our astonishment, confidential talks with sex counselors and taxi drivers unveil that it is these bureaucrats that have the greatest access to any type of sexual gratification. Why such hypocrisy?

Three hypotheses can be proposed to explain this attitude. First, diplomatic prejudice or efforts to expose an esthetically and ethically pleasing semblance of a community. Second, authoritarian ethics or ethics based upon irrational authority, and third, the intention to construct a political test case.

Contrast a Western host proudly giving his guest a house tour with an Indonesian hostess warmly receiving her visitor in her beautifully decorated living room. While it is not clear yet whether the bathroom or the kitchen have the same tidiness, the facade should be garnished as well as possible.

It is expected that first impressions may reflect the whole image. It is thus quite understandable that a good part of the national budget is allocated to design an eye-catching landscape at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, while slums in the center of the capital are often neglected.

Robert Chambers (1983) calls this attitude "diplomatic prejudice". His research in many developing countries revealed that people are always anxious about their social appearance and try hard to hide bad aspects of social reality.

Just give a test on literacy and in no time your respective respondent will be surrounded by a throng of uninvited men and women jostling and whispering in the local language now and then so that the respondent can give correct answers.

Or ask the owner of the house where the bathroom is and while he is shyly and clumsily making it plain that the house does not have one, his neighbor intervenes by saying that the house did have a bathroom but it crumbled because of an earthquake.

Back to our example, since Sophia Latjuba is a public figure people are afraid that she may portray an inaccurate representation of our nation. Even if the portrayal is true in some respects, efforts are still exerted to conceal it.

This also explains why Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen. Wiranto or Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas strenuously defend policies in Aceh and East Timor. They say the areas are not killing fields, but places where the armed forces try to secure peace and order.

Instead of expressing gratitude to journalists for their useful information, Ali Alatas has been accusing them of overestimating what he believes are trivial matters. The fact that corruption cases involving top executives are often quelled rather than investigated can also be seen from this perspective.

The above mentioned behavior can also be explained by referring to Eric Fromm's theory of authoritarian ethics. There are two types of authority, namely rational authority which finds its source in competence, and irrational authority which is based on power over people.

In rational authority, a person performs the task entrusted to him competently, and by so doing gains praise and acknowledgment from those who conferred the authority on him. He does not need to intimidate nor seek admiration through manipulative tricks.

This authority not only permits but requires constant criticism and scrutiny of those subjected to it. One who has it is aware that it is temporary and the acceptance of his or her subjects prevails as long as the performance is good.

Irrational authority, on the other hand, relies on power over people, be it mental or physical, realistic or relative.

Mentally, power over people is operated through, for instance, indoctrination of ideologies comprising norms and values, often personified, that compel obedience from citizens.

If the way of thinking has been constructed according to a certain ideology, we call it realistic mental irrational authority. But if there is still a certain degree of independence in judging something, but without an ability to execute it for fear of terror, it is called relative mental irrational authority.

Physically, irrational authority is commonly practiced through military oppression. Security measures in Aceh and East Timor may be the best examples to illustrate this type of authority. There has been little freedom in these provinces, both realistic and relative.

In this article what is meant by authoritarian ethics is limited to irrational authority. Irrational authority yields an unequal relationship between the authority and the subjects and as such denies human capacity to distinguish good from bad. All criteria for judgment are derived from those in power and the most important one is obedience -- for the ultimate purpose of satisfying the interests of those in power.

This ethics is now challenged. Posing half-naked in tabloids and magazines can be viewed as an expression of boredom, of being dictated to all the time. Artists and the media involved in such publications provide an antithesis to the long beguiling ethics. In supposedly their own words: "We are portraying artistic pictures, not from your perspective but from our point of view. We don't care whether you call it pornography or anything else."

It is also necessary to note that the ostentatious appearance of the leggy belles took place just months before the emergence of a hopefully rational authority. To the incumbent, it is a cynical exercise, but to prospective leaders this could be a tricky test case. A moral reaction might confront the same sneer; conversely, being silent could imply cowardice or a feudalistic simple-mindedness. But who knows, silence can be a withheld wisdom.

The writer is a social science lecturer at Widya Mandira Catholic University in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara.