LP3ES must find ways to revive its influence

LP3ES must find ways to revive its influence

By Rikza Abdullah

JAKARTA (JP): Anyone attending the glamorous 30th anniversary
reception of the Institute for Social and Economic Research,
Education and Information (LP3ES) at the ballroom of the five-
star Hilton Hotel in Jakarta on Monday evening would have thought
that the organization, well-known for its prestigious
publications, is at its peak.

The reception was attended by some of its founders, such as
Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti,
Supreme Audit Agency chief Satrio B. Joedono, economist Emil
Salim, who was a minister for several years during the New Order
regime, Nono Anwar Makarim, the institute's first director, Ismid
Hadad, the first editor of its scientific journal Prisma and D.G.
Wilke of Germany, the institute's first deputy director.

However the performance of the institute, whose activities
currently include the publication of scientific books and
magazines, research and training, is now on a downward trend due
to intellectual fatigue. It therefore needs to be revitalized to
develop further.

LP3ES's establishment in 1971 was engineered by student
activists involved in the 1966-1967 demonstrations to topple then
president Sukarno.

According to Hadad, the student activists intended to use
LP3ES to support the government with ideas for national
development and criticize it whenever it makes mistakes. It took
the developmentalist approach, one based on theories of
development and modernization, and its target was the developing
of young human resources. As the activists wanted to expand and
strengthen the institute's influence, they invited prominent
intellectuals, academicians, professionals and technocrats, such
as then minister of trade Soemitro Djojohadikusumo, Adam Malik,
who was then chairman of the United Nations General Assembly,
historian Taufik Abdullah and businessman M. Jusuf Ronodipuro, to
become members of its advisory council.

Nono Anwar said the activists initially found procedural
difficulties in establishing LP3ES because the government did not
allow a private legal organization to be formed under the
"institution" category. They, therefore, established an umbrella
organization called the Indonesian Group for Economic and Social
Development (Bineksos), which then, together with Friederick
Naumann Stiftung (FNS) of Germany, formed LP3ES.

All LP3ES's activities during the first 10 years of operation
were financed by FNS, whose Jakarta office, was then led by
Wilke, a former student activist in Germany. The institution was
required to finance its own activities in the following years.

LP3ES started its activities by publishing a scientific
magazine, Prisma, presenting prominent figures -- including
Soemitro, who was a minister under the governments of both
presidents Sukarno and Soeharto, Emil Salim and J. Soedradjad
Djiwandono, who later became governor of Bank Indonesia -- as its
writers. The magazine generally discussed social and economic
issues, including economic development, education, societal
health, agricultural economy, technology and industrialization.

"We were proud of Prisma's editions for the 1970s and 1980s,
which were used as compulsory reading and a source of reference
by intellectuals and university students," commented lawyer Adnan
Buyung Nasution.

The circulation of the magazine, which was published bimonthly
in the first four years and monthly in the following years,
increased from 1,000 copies at the start and peaked to 22,000
copies in Aug. 1977 when it discussed political figures
encountered by prominent figures. However, its circulation
steadily decreased in the 1990s and its publication ceased in
1998.

Besides the magazine, LP3ES also publishes scientific books
and university textbooks. Its books are mostly written in
Indonesian by domestic experts and discuss social and economic
issues with backgrounds and samples of cases relevant to the
Indonesian context. Some of its books are a translation from
foreign books discussing issues relevant to Indonesia. As of the
middle of this year, LP3ES, through its subsidiary company PT
Pustaka LP3ES Indonesia, has released 210 titles of books
involving 180 writers and editors.

In research, the institution studies various social and
economic subjects with the main aim of formulating innovative
programs for development. Some of the results of its research
have been used by the government for its development programs.

In the 1970s, for example, it studied a model for development
planning in local areas and the result of the study was then
adopted by the government in the establishment of provincial
offices for development planning (Bappeda). The result of its
research on the development of small-scale industries has now
been implemented by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in
developing small-scale industry centers (PIK) in various parts of
the country.

The institute is now carrying out a three-year study on the
empowerment of business associations in the country in
cooperation with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(Kadin) and the Washington-based Center for International Private
Enterprise (CIPE).

To meet increasing demands, LP3ES established a consulting
company, PT Arthacary Konsultama, in 1995 to provide consulting
services to both government and private institutions. However,
the company has stopped operating since 1999 due to a scarcity of
orders during the present economic crisis.

In line with the decline in its activities, LP3ES has now
substantially reduced its staff -- both employees and project-
based workers -- from 146 in 1980 to less than 60 at present.

Nono Anwar, who no longer works for LP3ES, said the fact that
the institution could survive for 30 years was quite an
achievement but it was difficult to believe that such a
prestigious organization could subside. "It seems that malaise
has reduced its vitality," he said.

Sociologist Ignas Kleden told the participants of the Monday
reception that the subsiding of LP3ES was caused mainly by
changes in social conditions. On the one hand, the institution
emerged as a phenomenon of modernization during the New Order
era, while social conditions since the late 1980s has changed to
postmodernism.

Modernization was generally marked by centralization of power,
rationalism as well as good organization and management, while
postmodernism was marked by decentralization of power, pluralism,
ignorance of organization and structures and the emergence of
demands for the respect of human rights, he said.

"LP3ES has carried out its tasks very well," he said in his
speech at the reception. "With its 30 years of traditional work,
it will be very difficult for us to demand the institute make
radical changes."

However, since the institute has become a valuable asset that
has made substantial contributions to the development of the
nation, its revitalization will be very important. As, like what
Kleden said, demanding the institution make drastic changes will
be very difficult. The best way to revitalize it is by inviting a
strategic partner who can offer new innovative and creative ideas
and be backed by strong financial support. The proposed strategic
partner is expected to lead the institution in formulating new
activities with innovative and creative strategies in line with
the future developments of the nation.