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)