Holiday delirium and lack of public civility

Holiday delirium and lack of public civility

B. Herry-Priyono, Jakarta

A colossal catastrophe caused by the gigantic earthquake and
tsunami has befallen us on the days we were preparing all kinds
of glittery parties and delirious merrymaking to ring in the year
2005.

The world was jolted in an almost apocalyptic manner that soon
exposed the depth of human suffering. In a hasty move of
admirable public virtues, governments across the globe called on
citizens to cancel all forms of parties on New Year's Eve -- and
rightly so.

The point was surely not to outlaw New Year parties, let alone
to overlook the economic benefits brought by the New Year
celebrations. Rather, it was a call to the global community to
embrace a sense that human suffering on a colossal scale had
happened, and that we are all invited to feel and digest its
heartbreaking depths, with respect, a sense of crisis and
societal empathy. It is only a matter of public common sense that
all forms of celebratory events were suspended for a while.

In many ways, the call was an acid test for our sense of
public civility. It mirrors the character of our public culture
and it reflects our societal capacity to transcend its navel-
gazing attitude. Even many far-flung nations not affected
directly by the catastrophe responded in a noble manner to the
call to cancel parties.

It was shocking then when I surveyed the sights in Jakarta on
that night. There was no sense of mourning, and what took place
was the delirium of dancing, noise, fireworks and all forms of
raucous disregard. That is also the delirium that seen on local
television stations, the undeserved new educator of our public
taste. With one exception or two, all were drowned in the
delirium of festive New Year programs.

This, of course, is not to deny the fact that for a moment or
two during the intervals, all the programs reminded us of the
catastrophe. Nor is this to forget the fact that many have been
considerate by offering prayers, donating money, working for
fundraising and emergency aid groups, as well as joining
volunteer task forces for relief.

Nonetheless, it is the mentality of "I-have-made-the-donation-
anyway" followed by the stubbornness of "so-let-me-party-as-I-
like" that is so disturbing. It is a state of our public lack of
civility that has degenerated to an abysmal point. My colleague
at the Driyarkara School of Philosophy, Karlina Supelli, has an
incisive expression for this phenomenon: "We have lost even our
public decorum to express condolences" (Kompas, Jan. 3, 2005).

The loss of public decorum and public common sense has, in
turn, bred a general dearth of civility. "Public civility" is no
doubt a slippery term. It refers to our instinctive ways of
thinking, seeing, feeling, understanding, acting and relating to
each other; all making up day-to-day practices in and of our
public life. We can hardly pin down its contents, but it is
strongly reflected in the character of our road traffic, how we
wait in lines, television programs, our public reaction to
colossal suffering and other major humanitarian disasters.

How many cars or motorbikes simply carry on when the traffic
light at the road intersections turns red? The answer is easy:
Many! How many television stations simply go on with their
voyeuristic, glittery and festive programs as usual during the
days of mourning? The answer, again, is plain: Almost all! If we
wish to understand what public civility is, think of the opposite
of all this.

Indeed, public civility and lack thereof are things that, for
the most part, make up the unconscious layers of our social life.
That is why it can hardly be pinned down in an exact manner. It
is hardly touched upon by our year-end reflections on the
economy, politics or law, but in truth it is what has shaped the
recurrent practices that make up the present state of our economy
or political life.

We may be well versed in describing the state of affairs
concerning law, economics or politics, but unless we pay equally
close attention to the problem of the public's lack of incivility
that is increasingly besieging Indonesian society, no amount of
analyses and policies will rescue us from the current condition
we are in now. The road traffic will remain as chaotic as it is
now, the television programs will remain culturally tasteless as
they are today, the illegal logging will remain rampant with dire
impacts on our ecology, business will remain mired in corporate
scandals, violence will go on obscenely, and so forth.

It is often argued that the problem is rooted in the lack of
law enforcement. While that has a grain of truth, this sort of
argument has become a cliche. It is a cliche in the sense that we
are dulled by a truism. More importantly, it is a cliche in the
sense that we are all prevented from seeing that the problem does
not rest only with law enforcers, but also in all of us. That is,
in the way we think, feel, see, behave, act and relate to each
other in public life, regardless of our economic class, politico-
administrative positions, ethnic origins, life styles,
educational backgrounds, religious creeds, etc.

The delirium of the New Year celebrations was simply the
latest case in the stock of our public incivility. How can we
wake up from this abysmal state of public culture? This, of
course, is a question that could be addressed only in the long
term. Somehow something has to be started somewhere. The key is
the herd character and our collective action. The key to
understanding the herd instinct is that we act on the basis of
the visible and tangible occurrences before our eyes.

That is why transformation of the character of our public
civility cannot but start from something that is visible and
tangible. For instance, it starts from a massive campaign to
repair the state of decorum in our road traffic, for road traffic
is something tangible and visible before our eyes. Another
candidate for change is the tasteless character of many
television programs that have been stupefying our senses every
single day.

Indeed, we may be able to achieve a higher economic growth
this year. But, unless we have a better public civility, we will
simply grow richer in an uncouth manner.

The writer is a postgraduate lecturer at the Driyarkara School
of Philosophy, Jakarta.