Gus Dur questions motive behind nationalism drive

Gus Dur questions motive behind nationalism drive

JAKARTA (JP): Vocal Moslem leader Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday
said the current official drive to fire up people's nationalist
sentiments was being engineered to serve the interests of those
in power.

The nationalism campaign was designed "to support the power
holders in their attempt to strengthen their elite groups," said
the chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama. He also heads the Forum for
Democracy, an organization of intellectuals and government
critics.

Speaking at a seminar on nationalism organized by the
Indonesian Nationalist Students' Movement, Abdurrahman said the
campaign to instill a greater sense of nationalism in the people
often betrayed the spirit of nationalism itself.

As a simple "concept of territory", nationalism was in danger
of being eroded because nations were forming regional groups for
economic, political and security reasons, he said.

Nationalism as a process of history had failed to touch the
most important aspect of people, which was their ability to think
logically, he said. Instead, the current drive to invoke
nationalism had appealed only to people's emotions.

"Nationalism has become big through a process of militancy and
glorification of the past. In short, through emotion-invoking
processes," he said.

The result of the misguided campaign, Abdurrahman said, was a
sense of nationalism which was filled with prejudices.

"This ultimately means a betrayal of the original aim of
nationalism," he said. "The process of history has caused the
nationalism drive to lose its ability to stay loyal to its
goals...instead it has helped create new forms of elitism."

Abdurrahman cited the 1990 establishment of the Indonesian
Association of Moslem Intellectuals, chaired by State Minister of
Research and Technology B.J. Habibie, as an example of a
nationalism drive which borders on prejudice.

"Intellectuals are boxed into groups," he said. "This only
shows that nationalism has been serving as a tool to support the
power holders."

Abdurrahman said that the administration of the late president
Sukarno had made similar mistakes, noting that Sukarno initially
adhered to the principles of egalitarianism and only later become
an authoritarian ruler.

"Sukarno forgot that egalitarianism could not remain a goal
only, but should also characterize the process of achieving the
goals," he said.

Public discussion of nationalism takes place every year around
May 20, when the nation commemorates National Awakening Day.

Last year, President Soeharto called on Indonesians to keep
the spirit of nationalism alive, both to ensure unity among the
different groups of people in the country and to meet the
challenges facing the country as a result of global change. This
year Indonesia marked the day by launching a drive for national
discipline and the use of correct Indonesian language.

In a speech on Wednesday, Abdurrahman was more upbeat about
the future of Indonesia, saying that the nation would be able to
retain its integrity over the next 50 years.

Addressing some 300 students of the Petra Christian University
in Surabaya, Abdurrahman said Indonesia would remain solid as
long as the different ethnic groups and religions continued to
co-exist peacefully, Antara reported yesterday.

He gave at least three reasons for his conviction: the
increasing mobility of the various ethnic groups, the increasing
use of Bahasa Indonesia nationwide and the current
administration's efforts to bring about greater social justice.

"In Jakarta or in Ambon, people who are posted in official
institutions come from different backgrounds," he said. "You can
find Ambonese in Java, and vice versa."

"It's true that 76 percent of (Indonesia's) total funds are
circulating in Jakarta alone, but there are signs that the
development of remote places is not being neglected," he said.
(swe)