Helplessness pervasive among Indonesians
Helplessness pervasive among Indonesians
JAKARTA (JP): A pervasive feeling of helplessness is still
reigning over most Indonesians, and they have a tendency to
remain silent in the face of injustices or other difficulties, a
scholar says.
Dr. Marwah Daud Ibrahim, a legislator from the House's
Commission I on security and political affairs, said on Wednesday
that this helplessness is a legacy of the authorities' domination
during the first 25 years of the New Order government.
Speaking during a monthly dialog at the Jakarta Arts Center,
Taman Ismail Marzuki, Marwah was commenting on the glitches in
the present implementation of democracy, including the recent
bans against the public appearances of a literary figure and a
human rights activist.
Poet/playwright Emha Ainun Nadjib was barred from staging his
play in Ujungpandang, while activist Adnan Buyung Nasution was
prevented from speaking in a seminar in Surabaya, East Java.
According to Marwah, her meetings with people in rural areas,
for instance, has convinced her of the magnitude of problems the
people face. However, she said she detected an encouraging
development because most people "are capable of articulating
their grievances".
In the discussion attended by several literary figures and
also by Adnan Buyung, Marwah examined the ongoing changes
affecting the pattern of domestic political communication.
However, despite various shortcomings in the present
situation, there are many reasons to be optimistic, she said.
Marwah, who is also a leading member of the ruling functional
group Golkar, identified a number of fundamental changes
Indonesia has undergone during the last several decades which
promise even better development in the future.
Among them are better economic conditions, more access to
education, advancement in science and technology and better
abilities among people to comprehend problems, she said.
"There is an overall increase of confidence,..which helps spur
transformations in political communication," she said.
According to Marwah, the future pattern of political
communication will change, from the previous centralized flow to
a more decentralized nature.
"Politics will be more pluralistic and participatory in the
future," she said. "The government will have to distribute more
responsibility for political communication to non-state actors."
More say
Political communication will also flow from "bottom-up" rather
than "top-down", meaning that ordinary people will have more say
in the decision making processes. "This in an inevitable
development, as people become more educated, better informed and
will want more access to policy making," she said.
In order to help usher in such changes, both the people and
the government should discard many of the old, often polarizing,
views about many issues.
"Take politics, for example," Marwah said. "Perhaps we should
discard its old definition, which is a struggle of power, and
take up a new one, which is the management of the nation."
"If we want this positive transformation to take place, we
should take a more synergic view of life," she said. "We should
pool the energy of the young people and the wisdom of the old,
balance the roles of civilians and the military, the government
institution and the non-governmental organizations."
Several participants in the discussion promptly branded
Marwah's opinion as "far-fetched", "unrealistic" and "too
idealistic", and came up with a long list of "proof" that such
transformation is still far away.
"Our young people now are mute, inarticulate," said Hardi, a
painter. "The art bans are proof that we are still subjected to
political engineering by the power holders. And politics is still
a struggle for power."
A student participant protested Marwah's presentation, saying
that no positive transformation could be made by leaving the
greater portion of political power to the authorities alone.
Marwah countered the criticism saying that favorable
development has already arrived, and that it represents "raw
material" for greater democracy.
"Certainly we need to nudge the machinery to start it off, and
above all we need a psychological change, in order to erase the
feeling of helplessness," she said.
"But we're moving, because the government has no other course
except to, for instance, decentralize authority. And we should
not just wait for the government to do the whole job."
She also reminded the participants that "important change is
the accumulation of many small changes."
"Even the banning of some people serve as a way to awaken our
vision and brings hope of more freedom," she said. (swe)