Loekman guards his independence

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."