`Guilt and shame' culture needed for country's future
JAKARTA (JP): A leading scholar says rampant corruption and other violations of the law are caused by a growing "culture of shamelessness".
Dr. Toety Heraty Noerhadi, a professor of philosophy at the University of Indonesia, told a discussion on culture yesterday that Indonesians' innate "guilt and shame" tendencies have been overpowered by a forsaking of responsibility and accountability.
"There are thick-skinned people who believe that remorse over wrongdoing only damages their interests," she told more than 50 participants. "Some people display remorse because others around them force them to do so, not because their conscience is bothering them."
Toety was speaking on strategies to build a "modern, independent and competitive" society, and commenting on various social ills.
She also referred to the Rp 1.3 trillion (USS620 million) loan scam at the state-owned Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo), which involved several top government officials.
The case has led to public demands that officials, including chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council Admiral (ret.) Sudomo, be held accountable and resign.
Besides the pressure to oust Sudomo, there have also been calls for the resignation of J.B. Sumarlin, who was finance minister at the time the loans were granted, and who is now chairman of the Supreme Audit Board.
Vice President Try Sutrisno, however, was quick to say that resigning and accountability are not Indonesian concepts and not elements of Indonesian culture.
Try also insisted that such behavior is foreign and that Indonesia does not need to adopt it blindly.
'Un-Indonesian'
Critics of the assertion that resigning is "un-Indonesian" countered by pointing out instances in which resignation was resorted to during the 49 years since independence, including by vice presidents Mohammad Hatta and Sultan Hamengkubuwono X.
The first stepped down during his term of office, while the latter turned down an offer to run for a second term.
Toety, however, believes that the two leaders' decisions were not caused by the so-called culture of shame.
She said Hatta's resignation and Hamengkubuwono's refusal to run for a second term were more influenced by the two figures' realization that conflicts at the top national leadership would adversely affect the country.
In the discussion, Toety also spoke about the country's whole social, cultural and political scene which is characterized by "repression" in various layers of society due to the paranoia of the power holders.
She said the paranoia and security approach originated with the traumatic experience of the now-outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) aborted coup in 1965.
This "trauma", however, has not been dealt with sufficiently and people are forced to repress grievances in the face off the powerful, she said.
"Psychologically, repression cannot go on forever. Someday it will become overwhelming and result in people running amok out of frustration," she said.
She said that if Indonesian society were rational, grievances would be aired and demonstrated through various media. However, as Indonesian people are by nature "soft, although only on the surface" and the society is still "irrational", the repressed grievances may someday explode and destruct, she said.
"We should be worried now, because nobody will be saved from such an explosion," she said.
Other speakers were the prominent author Danarto, leading member of the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI) Dr. Watik Pratiknya, and researcher Dr. Dewi Fortuna Anwar. (swe)