Middle class key to RI's democratization: Juwono

Middle class key to RI's democratization: Juwono

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesians pin their hopes on the middle class
for democratization, vice governor of the National Resilience
Institute Juwono Sudarsono said yesterday.

The Indonesian middle class, albeit not that strong yet, plays
a pivotal role in democratization because they have access to
both the government and the poor.

Besides, the middle class has easy access to information which
was vital for change, he said in a seminar on how the 1997
election would affect the Indonesian Stock Market.

The one-day seminar was organized by the Bisnis Indonesia
daily newspaper.

"The middle class is a strong force in the democratization
drive because its members are educated and economically
independent," said Juwono, a scholar from University of
Indonesia.

People belonging to the middle class, he said, include
professionals like bankers, consultants, lawyers and architects,
who play an important role in the economic and political arena.

They also bridge the rich and the poor. "They play mediator
between the greedy and the needy," he said.

Juwono said the middle class was, in a way, in a difficult
position because it was "squeezed" between the lower and the
upper classes. Besides, it is often suspected of undermining the
government because of their critical stands.

He declined to say how strong the middle class in Indonesia
was but he theorized that, ideally, about 30 percent of the
population would be middle class.

Indonesia would have about 25 million people belonging to the
middle class in the year 2010 when the population reaches about
210 million, he said.

He stressed the need for the government to help the lower
classes develop into the middle class, narrowing the gulf between
the rich and the poor.

He warned that if the rich-poor gap continues to widen,
rioting like that which occurred in Jakarta on July 27 could
reoccur in the future. (03)