Minorities and nation-building

This is the first of two articles taken from a speech delivered by Yayan G.H. Mulyana, chief of the Social Economic Affairs Section at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the second Informal Seminar on Human Rights of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Beijing on June 28 to June 30.

BEIJING: Minorities are decisive to the stability-instability of a pluralistic nation-state. In some nation-states, minorities are "forgotten" or left "undisturbed" -- they have their own lives within the nation-state.

They become the silent, with their pristine lives. In other nation-states, they are not only overwhelmed by the echo of modern development which manifests itself in heavy industrialization, but also forgotten as a fundamental part of the nation-state. Their very rights have often been curbed and neglected.

The lack of engagement of minorities by the ruling majority of a nation-state, and the reluctance of the minorities to take part in national development often lead to internal friction and conflict. Minority conflicts, for example, have been seen in such countries as South Africa, Burundi, Angola, Yugoslavia, Lebanon, Sri Lanka and Russia. The Kosovo conflict is, perhaps, the most appalling tragedy involving minorities we have seen in recent times.

During the process of nation-building -- a process a nation must go through to accomplish the unity necessary to become a nation-state -- divergent elements interact with each other under a unitary framework. This interaction results in social cohesion and loyalty, which manifests itself in a sense of nationalism and statehood. In a further manifestation, the interaction is strengthened by the implementation of irredentism.

At the peak of enthusiasm for nation-building, as one can see in early postwar periods, when new nation-states are born, the process of nation-building is encapsulated in the formation of the institutions of a modern nation-state and the establishment of governmental programs. A legitimate government is often central to the process of nation-building. It facilitates and streamlines the process of nation-building. In a more analytical sense, the "who-governs" in the legitimate government of a nation-state molds the course of nation-building.

In regard to the question of "who governs", the problem of minority-majority arises. In an ethnically, linguistically or religiously heterogeneous nation-state, the ruling majority is faced by the challenging question of should heterogeneity be made homogeneity?

Countries around the world take different paths in engaging their minorities during the process of nation-building.

Assimilation is one of the most popular modes of engagement. Problems arise, however, when minorities are "inassimilable". It is quite often that minorities do not want to be assimilated through insensitive, "monoethnic" state policies.

In addition, some people pessimistically think a policy of assimilation carries with it "assertive" elements which take advantage of minorities' hesitance and resistance to the process of nation-building.

Some countries have pursued the policy of "accommodation without assimilation". This policy is built upon three pillars: Improving the social, economic and political condition of minorities while preserving their culture, values, communal structures and traditions; requiring minority members to affirm their identity while encouraging them to develop certain skills that help them peacefully interact and cooperate with the majority; and requiring the state to completely fulfill the need of the minorities.

The problem with this policy is that it perpetuates competition between minorities and majorities in a one nation- state.

This article does not intend to offer or show which policy of managing minorities is most viable, yet it will highlight the fact that a failure to engage minorities in nation-building is devastating not only to the process of nation-building itself, but also to the very existence of the nation-state.

One of the most serious consequences of the failure is the emergence of ethnonationalism, which holds the view that the political entity (nation-state) shall territorially be congruent with ethnic group, or that one ethnic group is entitled to dominate others living within the same state.

This ideology has often been justified by the alleged right to "national" self-determination. Abusive use of ethnonationalism is detrimental to the nation-building process and facilitates the deconstruction of nation-states.

A successful nation-building process results in the creation of solid, coexisting and interactive "imagined communities" within a nation-state. This will result in all elements of the nation-state having a shared sense of oneness and an image of communion, despite the fact that they do not know most of their fellow-members. Such a successful process shall in turn serve as a stepping-stone toward a more integrated nation-state.

The discourse on engaging minorities in national development will focus on the question: Does engaging minorities in national development mean promoting and protecting their rights?

Postwar nation-states were marked by rising expectations that nation-states would promote national development, which was critical to their very existence after a hard struggle for independence or after the destruction of the world war.

Countries around the globe took different development paths to resurrect themselves from the destruction of the war or from the remnants of colonialism. The capitalist model versus the socialist model, the top-down model versus the bottom-up model and the command model versus the participatory model, were some of the options open to the nation-states.

The democratic-capitalist model was workable in engaging minorities in national development, as was the socialist model, except in Yugoslavia. The Soviet model was successful in accommodating Muslim minorities in its southern republics.

Protecting minorities by engaging them in national development is an active step toward guaranteeing minorities the full enjoyment of their rights.

Without nullifying the significance of national and international legal safeguards promoting and protecting minority rights, participatory development programs give more meaning to the existence of minorities and thus encourage mutual interaction and adjustment between minorities and majorities.

Ideally, international legal provisions on the protection of minorities would be at the front, but these are increasingly supplementary to political will and decisions, which seem to be more flexible and more effective.

This article argues that a combination of engaging minorities in national development and the devising and development of national and international legal safeguards for the promotion and protection of minority rights will have the most constructive effect on minorities.

The next challenge that nation-states face is what sort of development policy will best encourage mutual interaction and adaptation between minorities and majorities.

A participatory "development-for-all" policy that puts the engagement of minorities at its center might be one answer. Such a policy may seems grandiose and demanding. However, when governments are able to translate it into applicable development programs, it will induce the creation of an all-inclusive development process, which is a prerequisite for mutual interaction and adaptation.

The international community could also share the burdens and responsibilities of nation-states in their efforts to engage minorities in national development. Many nation-states rely on foreign or international resources in financing and implementing their development.

International assistance has often been granted with a view toward boosting the growth rate of the nation-states. Such a growth-oriented policy should be coupled with an engaging- minorities policy of development assistance.

What then is the ultimate outcome of successfully engaging minorities in nation-building and national development? The answer is a culture of living together, in which all elements of a nation-state seek unity beyond diversity. Such a culture is often coined "creative diversity".

The outgoing director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Federico Mayor, says creative diversity rests on the degree to which cultures (or subcultures) relate to each other in an interactive world (or state system), and on the extent of acceptance of cultural (or subcultural) diversity. The creative diversity which serves as a mechanism for engaging minorities will promote the integration and peaceful coexistence of all elements in a nation-state.