Mutual trust needed for cultural reconciliation
By Mudji Sutrisno S.J.
JAKARTA (JP): The mystery of cultural creativity remains even as civilization continues to develop amid political cruelty, human rights suppression, control of critical thought and restrictions on differences of opinion.
Why the mystery? First, the scope of man's cultural creativity -- in cognitive, aesthetic or religious terms -- lies in a limitless mental horizon which can never yield to physical subjugation or acts of terror perpetrated by physical power, imprisonment, weapons or any other form of physical terror.
Second, artists, people of culture and intellectuals comprehend and express their cultural creativity to ensure the purity of civilization, under which they build a collective, peaceful and humane life, without resorting to fascism and oppression.
In the face of crises and tests that threaten to tear down humanity through cruel treatment among fellow human beings and acts of terror against civilization, history shows that humanistic civilization evolves six ways of resistance to sustain survival.
* Resistance may appear in the form of comedy through cultural transformation, with an aim to ridicule the tyranny of the power holder who tries to eliminate all forms of humankind's critical creativity.
Don Quixote and To Die Laughing in the Style of "Daripada" are examples of comedy essentially ridiculing the power holder who monopolizes the truth and forces his or her ways on the people. This comical style, as a method of survival, becomes popular when voicing critical and free opinions is muzzled not only by means of repression, but also by the elimination of all parties differing in opinion from the totalitarian, authoritarian and fascistic power holder.
* For its survival, humanistic culture may put up its resistance by offering utopianism and future ideals as an escape from the inability to understand present reality, which is hard and repressive.
Understandably, community leaders or the ruling elite sometimes say something like "Let's welcome the new era" when people are confronted with numerous problems, including starvation as well as confidence and leadership crises.
* Resistance may take the form of nostalgic rendering of success stories of the past era or history, no longer actual now, when one has no courage to face the present crisis and must take refuge in a cultural escape into the past.
* In a crisis, cultural resistance may appear in symbols. Frustration, boredom, dreams and ambitions, for example, can be symbolized into the rhetoric of sweet words and pledges, which will never be implemented. This model of resistance is obvious in the government's promise of freedom of speech. While promising freedom of speech under its regulation in lieu of the law on this, the government is restricting such freedom by setting requirements under the name of responsibility.
* Resistance may be manifested in formal rituals which are empty of value and only superficial. A fitting example is the theater-like grandeur expressed by rulers of the Javanese kingdom of Mataram in their splendid and glamorous rites. These substituted for the fact that they no longer physically controlled their territories which, pursuant to the Giyanti Agreement, were put under the control of the Netherlands' VOC.
* Cultural resistance may be expressed in plays using only a few words and creative pantomimes, both of which launch criticism dynamically. Examples of this include constellation art, films and caricatures, which criticize the absence of freedom and the prevailing authoritarianism.
This kind of resistance may be likened to the efforts to find cracks on steel walls in dark prisons, with a belief that one day there will be the rays of freedom, a source of energy which will also serve as an impetus for the continued development of humanistic civilization.
The resistance of Indonesians' cultural creativity has been tested when the nation faced traumatic experiences like the tragedy in 1965 and 1966, when a number of generals were slain and about 600,000 people were subsequently slaughtered; the abduction of political activists earlier this year, and mass rioting last May 13 to May 15 when business facilities were looted and women were raped.
How can cultural elements process such traumatic experiences if the politics of violence is always resorted to in the move to force the political wills of individuals or groups upon others?
Indonesians can solve problems related to such traumatic experiences if they admit with magnanimity that sadism has been part of their culture and then reconcile with each other by developing cultural creativity which is free from murder, abductions and rapes.
Such a cultural assertion must be expressed not only in the language of morality but also in the structure of politics, laws, society and economy, which can carry out the mission of "No more again violence and dehumanization to our brothers and sisters".
The next step is that anyone responsible for the killing, rioting and rape must be legally processed and brought to court without any discrimination.
Innocent detainees/convicts must be released without any discrimination as well.
The authorities responsible for the security of the citizens must also admit honestly their mistakes and expose the processing of these traumatic experiences, including the July 27, 1996, tragedy linked to the Indonesian Democratic Party, as transparently as possible so that the government may regain trust and credibility.
To meet people's demand for total reform, which has been victoriously penned by university students, the government must take concrete steps to eradicate corrupt, collusive and nepotistic (KKN) practices, especially those among bureaucratic officials. Otherwise, reconciliation will remain a dream.
The people should also be allowed to regain sovereignty with respect to their pluralism and their equal rights for legal certainty, democratic life and freedom of expression.
Considering the necessity to further develop cultural creativity in this era of cultural reform, Indonesians need a fresh atmosphere for the development of their potential to achieve the goal of the founding fathers of this nation -- the establishment of a humanistic, open, pluralistic and civilized society.
In facing the present threat of disintegration, they need to process historical traumatic experiences under a spirit of cultural reconciliation and reject the use of violence in politics.
This is only possible if they restore mutual trust in the restructuring of civilization with respect to the dignity of each individual, without any discrimination related to ethnicity, religion and social grouping.
The writer is a lecturer at the Driyarkara School of Philosophy in Jakarta.