Indonesians are proud of their nationality: Poll
Indonesians are proud of their nationality: Poll
JAKARTA (JP): The majority of Indonesians are proud of their
nationality, but think that the onslaught of Western information
through mass media may erode their nationalism, a new poll says.
Involving 1,000 people from three major cities, the poll by
the Center for the Study of Development and Democracy (CESDA)
revealed yesterday that a whopping 96 percent of its respondents
said they are proud of being Indonesians.
As many as 50 percent of all respondents, however, agreed that
"foreign cultures, especially from the Western countries, can
erode people's sense of nationalism", the poll revealed.
Rustam Ibrahim, director of LP3ES, the non-governmental
organization (NGO) actively examining social and economic issues
which oversees CESDA, told the press that the poll was designed
to examine whether recent discourses on the allegedly declining
nationalism among people had any foundation.
Some 57 percent of them said their pride remains constant,
while 32 percent said they are proud only when Indonesia receives
international honors or awards.
Rustam said 73 percent of the respondents translated their
sense of pride by paying attention to various problems faced by
Indonesia. Of these, 80 percent were university or college
educated.
The poll also found that 36 percent said poverty is the most
important problem Indonesia has to solve now, followed by 21
percent who cited unemployment, 18 percent who wished to see more
opportunity for quality education, and seven percent who thought
that rampant corruption is the most serious problem faced by the
country.
Rustam said, 74 percent of all respondents said the government
and the people bear equal responsibility to tackle the problems,
while 19 percent thought they are the sole responsibility of the
government.
The designers of the poll also tried to gauge the respondents'
involvement with the nation's political process by asking what
political parties they voted in the 1992 general elections.
Despite the government's campaign on making people's votes a
"free and confidential" business, 47 percent of the respondents
revealed their choices.
The poll said 29 percent of the respondents voted for the
ruling group Golkar, 10 percent voted for the Moslem-based United
Development Party (PPP), and eight percent supported the populist
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
The largest group, however, refused to reveal their political
aspiration, saying their choice was a secret.
Most of them, both with high and low education levels, also
said they are first Indonesians before anything else; membership
of certain ethnic groups or religions come second.
This finding indicates that "the efforts to integrate the
multiethnic Indonesia is successful and that (the government)
does not have to worry too much that different ethnic groups here
would cause frictions," according to Rustam.
Religions
When it comes to religions, however, the respondents' answers
were not as uniform. According to Rustam, 30 percent said they
put their Indonesian identity first before their religions, while
14 percent respondents said they feel they are first followers of
certain religion, and put their nationality second.
Rustam interpreted the finding as proof that religions,
compared to ethnic groups, present more potential for conflicts.
"So if some people are afraid that sectarianism is growing
here, then their concern contains a grain of truth," he said.
His statement caused protests from reporters and other people
attending the small discussion yesterday, who felt that the
conclusion was too hastily made.
A reporter pointed out that suspicion of people of ethnic
Chinese descent-- many of whom dominate the country's economy
--is real and has not been covered by the poll.
LP3ES, an NGO concerned with economic and social issues,
conducted the poll on nationalism from July 4 to 23 in Jakarta,
Surabaya, East Java, and Medan, North Sumatra. (swe)