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.