Indonesia mentally ill: Experts

Muhammad Nafik and Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian society is mentally ill, as it has lost its sense of humanity and solidarity due to the current lawlessness and the lack of leadership on the part of the political elite, according to analysts.

They said here on Friday the nation badly needed to examine itself to strengthen its sensitivity toward those suffering and that authorities had to seriously enforce the law against criminals, particularly big-time corrupters.

"Our people are sick. They are confused and lack vision after decades of having been oppressed. There are no exemplary figures who are able to help them escape this problem," Franz Magnis- Suseno, a professor at Jakarta's Driyarkara School of Philosophy, told The Jakarta Post.

He said the people no longer treated others as "human beings rather than animals," such that they crushed them just like cockroaches.

"It is a dark patch in our moral culture," he said, referring to mass killings and other incidents of violence in the past.

Respected Muslim cleric and poet Mustofa Bisri had a similar view, saying the nation should reexamine itself to heal its serious ailments.

"Indonesia has suffered a heavy stroke and needs intensive care. So far we have shown no solidarity with suffering people ... you see many ostentatiously display their wealth without feeling uncomfortable at all," he said.

Mustofa, Magnis and other critics lashed out at the "public exhibition" put on by National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar with Bali bomb suspect Amrozi, who laughed, shook hands and posed for photographs during their face-to-face meeting at Bali Police Headquarters on Wednesday.

The image of the smiling, joking and waving Amrozi, televised across Indonesia and Australia, also outraged Canberra, which called them "ugly images" that would distress relatives of the almost 200 people killed in the Oct. 12 tragedy.

Magnis said the jovial greeting of Amrozi by the National Police chief was similar to last year's public show of "affection" displayed by former chief of Jakarta Police Insp. Gen. Sofjan Jacoeb toward high-profile murder suspect Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, who was later jailed for 15 years.

At that time, Sofjan sparked outrage from analysts and human rights activists for hugging Tommy and, subsequently, appearing with him in a joint news conference following his capture after a year on the run last November.

"I think it is very alarming ..., " Magnis said.

Similarly, Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra said the sense of humanity and social solidarity of the people was ebbing away due to the current lawlessness. "A man suspected of stealing a chicken is set ablaze. How can that be?" he asked.

Azyumardi added, "Our society is suffering schizophrenia and hypocrisy. People devoutly perform their religious rituals but at the same time they are corrupt."

"The problem results partly from a lack of good examples set by our political elite, who mostly struggle for power. Malfunction of the bureaucratic machinery and poor law enforcement, which have eliminated the people's trust, are other factors," he added.

Social psychologist Darmanto Jatman of Semarang-based Diponegoro University concurred, saying the decades-long exposure to violence, both fictional, as shown on television and the movies, and real, had contributed to the eroding sense of humanity.

He said an indication of Indonesians losing their sense of humanity could be observed from their poor response to the Nunukan tragedy in East Kalimantan, where a score of workers died and thousands of others were stranded after being expelled from Malaysia.

"The fact, too, that many people here were reluctant to extend condolences to victims of the Bali bombings, because of fear of being claimed to be pro-America, is another example," Jatman said.