`Guilt and shame' culture needed for country's future

`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)