'Indonesians face dehumanization'

'Indonesians face dehumanization'

SEMARANG (JP): Two philosophers are speaking out against
modernization brought about by economic development, and the
resulting "dehumanization" that Indonesians now face.

Mudji Sutrisno, a professor at the Jakarta-based Driyarkara
School of Philosophy, and Slamet Sutrisno who teaches at the
Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University both expressed concern
about the dehumanizing effect of development in a seminar at
Sugiyapranoto Catholic University here yesterday.

"Men are becoming more like instruments, tools for the
interests of ideologies, politics, power or capital," Mudji said.
"The complex values of humanity have been reduced."

He blamed society's emphasis on economic development, which
has eclipsed other values which are "qualitatively higher".

He explored at length what he called modernization and
identified a number of indications of its process, the first of
which is that men have become increasingly uniform. Men become
part of the masses and individuality is eclipsed, he pointed out.

The second feature of modernization is the growing secularism,
he said, in which religions fast lose their place in people's
lives.

The third indication is a growing yearning among people for
instant solutions for just about every problem they encounter in
life. The fourth is the disintegration of social bonds, he said.

Slamet Sutrisno seconded Mudji's opinion, but focused his
analysis on education institutions which he said are also
experiencing "dehumanization".

He named a number of indications, including the rampant
violation of rules in colleges and universities. Students
cheating by resorting to plagiarism when they have to write
thesis, or trading test materials for the sake of getting good
grades.

"Social values are being turned upside down," he said. He
pointed out that people used to respect the values of religions,
philosophy, ideology, the sciences and arts.

"Economics, technology and politics used to have last place in
people's priorities," he said. "Now, everything has changed.
Politics, technology and economics get priority while religions
and philosophy are neglected."

He blamed the situation on what he described as spreading
hedonism. "Now people's basic rights are violated, religions
become relegated as mere rituals...people observe a religious
ritual only because other people do," he said. (har/swe)