Is Western press adopting a blurred focus on RI?

Is Western press adopting a blurred focus on RI?

By Mulyo Sunyoto

JAKARTA (Antara): The Western press is putting Indonesia under
a microscope as the country endures tough economic times.

In the past few weeks, major publications, including Newsweek,
The Economist and Time, have continuously blended reports into
their cover stories.

With their liberal perspective, they have presented Indonesian
news stories which can easily make their readers shiver.

Their reports basically describe how bad the socioeconomical
and political situation is in the country.

The Economist, on its Feb. 23 cover, depicts the country as a
cone-shaped firecracker. The firecracker, with a drawing of the
archipelago on it, has its fuse lit. In its reports, with
journalists' opinions blended in, the weekly describes how
fragile Indonesia's defense is, and gloomy predictions on the
nation's future are the highlight.

Based on its observation, which is not always proportional,
the Western press uses the words "chaos", "anarchy", "social
exploitation" and other revolutionary diction as the key words in
this coverage.

When Antara asked Prof. Juwono Sudarsono, a political expert
who knows much about Indonesian defense, for his comment, he gave
answers which sounded "light", not serious.

"The Western press does not understand Indonesians," said the
University of Indonesia professor in the School of Social and
Political Sciences, who is also the vice governor of the National
Resilience Institute.

Even though his answer sounds "unscientific", because he did
not use scientific jargon or scientific terms which are often
used by academicians in discussing Indonesia's political issues,
it carries deep meaning. It is a kind of philosophical
formulation reflecting a philosopher's contemplation.

According to Juwono, Indonesians, as sociopolitical agents,
are not like Westerners, whose values are based on logical,
rational and pragmatic consideration.

Tolerance

Umar Kayam, a prominent scholar, once said that Indonesians
still have the value system, which, to some level, has the spirit
of tepo seliro (tolerance). They believe in material deprivation
as a certain virtue, which actually has undeniable religious
roots.

Because of the lack of understanding on Indonesians, the
Western press immediately looks at the events in Indonesia as
having linear implications, as if they happened in the West.

The fall of the rupiah, which has resulted in mass
unemployment, skyrocketing prices and a decline in the people's
welfare, will give birth to revolutionary actions, or, rather,
that is the Western press' perspective in looking at the issues
here.

But the Western press does not consider at all Indonesians'
familial spirit, which is relatively high. If one is laid off, he
or she can hang on to an extended family. Such a phenomenon is
overlooked by the Western press.

Therefore, it is not necessarily wrong if an economist says
that hanging on to one's family is a kind of social insurance
which is typically Indonesian.

Another issue extensively observed by the Western press in
relation to the monetary crisis in Indonesia is the hunger
threat.

In this case, the Western press seems to be certain that the
crisis, which has depreciated the value of rupiah by 75 percent,
will cause a famine, which can result in revolutionary actions.

The Western press' gloomy projection of Indonesia's
socioeconomical and political condition emerges not only because
of its weak philosophical understanding in perceiving the nature
of Indonesians, but also because they do not conduct objective
research. For example: how great is Indonesians' need for staple
food, how great the supply is, how great is the possibility to
meet future needs and how far the government's ability goes to
subsidize the people's need for food.

Because of this weakness in the Western press, Juwono does not
really believe the reports and opinions presented globally by
them.

What's more, we should bear in mind the concept of
journalists, including Westerners, which is based more on the
ideology of "bad news is good news". Accordingly, there is a big
tendency by the press to highlight the bad news.

Therefore, it is not surprising if a riot, like the one in
Ujungpandang, is presented as if all of Indonesia is in a
horrible chaotic situation. This is compounded further when the
report is accompanied by ghastly pictures of desperate victims.