Loekman guards his independence

By Santi W.E. Soekanto

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Sociologist Loekman Soetrisno, known for his sharp commentaries on many social and political issues, bristles at the question as to whether he considers himself independent.

"Oh yes! I'm a very independent social scientist," the professor at Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University said. "I have my own political bias, certainly, but I'm not 'red,' 'yellow' or 'green'. At heart, I'm a red-and white."

The first three colors Loekman mentioned are the party colors of the Christian-nationalist Indonesian Democratic Party, the ruling Golkar and the Moslem-based United Development Party respectively. Red-and-white is the color of the national flag; people say they're "red-and-white" if they wish to declare their patriotism.

Loekman has never belonged to any sociopolitical organizations, even during his student days; a fact he cites as proof of his independence.

"I've never been a member of, say, the Moslem Students Association or the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals. I don't belong to Golkar, although I'm a member of the Civil Servants Corps," he said, referring to an organization whose members are tacitly instructed to root for Golkar during general elections.

Among journalists seeking expert comments on social and political issues, Loekman is known for his critical and outspoken ideas.

Over the past three years there has been growing public debate over social and political scientists' integrity and political independence; a number of them have been accused of being coopted by political parties and interest groups. Loekman, however, is considered to have remained independent.

"Scientists have to be independent. If the government is mistaken, we have to point out that it's mistaken, if it's correct, we say so too," he said. "Most importantly, however, scientists need to be independent in order to be able to protect the people.

"When it comes to the people, I'm not independent. I am on their side because not many others are."

The 60-year-old father of two, a doctor daughter and a lawyer son, is a passionate speaker, especially when discussing the fate of the masses "marginalized" by development policies.

This passion is evident not only in his many defenses of rural people against indiscriminate development, but also from his choice of studies. After graduating from the School of Letters at Gadjah Mada in 1970, he took a nondegree course in basic humanities at the East West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, from 1971 to 1972.

After obtaining his masters at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague in 1976, and doctorate in rural sociology from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York in 1980.

Loekman grabbed attention last year following an interview with a Jakarta-based magazine in which he called Indonesia one of a number of "vampire states" for allowing bloodthirsty corruption to ravage the nation.

He admitted that there were times when he became pressured because of his outspokenness. He recounted how after he returned from New York, he became disillusioned with how the country was being run and started to criticize many government policies. He believed that some people had taken offense at his statements and had therefore striven to block his career.

"I understood how difficult it was to introduce changes here," he said. "This nation, especially its leaders, has yet to reach political maturity. Its people are still childish politically; Unable to see the truth."

Unrest

Loekman expressed concern over the spate of recent violence, and said that in light of Indonesian history the outburst was unusual. "I've never seen such hatred among people of different religions as that we have witnessed in the past few months," he said.

He said that the wide social economic disparity provides fertile soil for upheavals triggered by religious conflicts. But there were also a host of other causes to the unrest, including rampant economic injustices and poor law enforcement.

"People have given up on the law, because they don't think they would ever win their case in court," he said. "Their frustration is so great. This is what leads to outbreaks of violence."

Loekman believes that a good government is one that does not create ammunition for its critics to use against it. The Indonesian government, he says, has created "social, economic and political ammunition" for use against itself.

"Take economic development activities, for instance. We don't see new people entering the field. We only have what, ten conglomerates, and that's it, plus the family of President Soeharto."

The director of Gadjah Mada's Center for Research on Rural and Regional Development also said the current social, economic and political situation may lead to national disintegration.

"The biggest threat facing this country is disintegration," Loekman said. "Unless we take affirmative action to help isolated ethnic groups such as those in Irian Jaya or Kalimantan, I'm afraid the possibility of disintegration is great.

"The unrest in Sanggau Ledo, West Kalimantan, that claimed five lives is an example. It was actually a clash over living space between the native Dayak tribesmen and the migrant from Madura. Because the Dayaks are predominately Christian and the migrants mostly Moslem, the resulting violence was also sectarian in nature.

"Can you imagine how much smaller the ethnic groups' living space would become once multinational corporations enter the region?" he said, referring to planned foreign contractors' involvement in the Busang gold mine in East Kalimantan.

Loekman said Indonesia could avert the possible catastrophe of national disintegration by establishing a clean government.

Nepotism

Loekman once said nepotism in economic development had created gaps in the distribution of economic rights in Indonesia.

He said the phenomenon was linked to the fact that those with greater access to the political power holders usually have their economic rights secured.

"Not every Indonesian can realize his economic rights. Look how most bank loans go to big businesses," he said late last year in a discussion in Semarang, Central Java.

The argument that the disparity is caused by differences in ability and business skills only serves as a smokescreen for the nepotism and the lack of separation between economic and political power, he said.

"Nepotism is the reason why Indonesian economics cannot be regulated with rational economic considerations, especially in regard to access to production factors and to business opportunities," he was quoted by Kompas as saying.

He said the current catchword of "economic empowerment" for small entrepreneurs, including the plan to have conglomerates divest a percentage of their profit for them, was "a political concept."

"Unless their political rights are being fulfilled, people cannot exercise their economic rights."