Nationalism faces different challenges
Nationalism faces different challenges
JAKARTA (JP): Nationalism never changes in its shape but will
always need a different spirit due to various challenges the
nation faces, a minister and a political scientist said
yesterday.
Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo said nationalism
has always remained the same.
"It (nationalism) always owes its origin to people's love of
the nation and state through which people gain a will to boost
national pride and dignity," he said after attending a seminar to
mark the second Technology Day held by the Institute of
Indonesian Engineers.
Separately, a researcher from the National Institute of
Science, Indria Samego, shared Siswono's view, saying that, since
the beginning, the nationalistic ideology has inferred devotion
towards national interests instead of personal gains.
The two made their comments under the backdrop of the
controversial sale of 50.1 percent of shares of noodle company PT
Indofood Sukses Makmur to QAF Ltd. of Singapore recently.
PT Indofood is owned by Indonesian tycoon Sudono Salim. But
Sudono, through three other companies he owns here, also holds a
majority of stakes in QAF.
Following the sale, there has been wide-scale debate if the
sale of Indofood's shares to Singapore represents a nationalistic
move or not.
Debates on nationalism keep rolling on despite explanations by
some top government officials, including Minister/State Secretary
Moerdiono who described Sudono's move as a new form of
nationalism.
"If Pak Moerdiono calls it a new form of Indonesian
nationalism, I'd rather call it the new spirit of Indonesian
nationalism," said Siswono, a former chairman of the influential
youth association, Indonesian Nationalist Student Movement.
According to Siswono, during the early days of independence in
1945, the spirit of nationalism was always evident in the way
people greeted each other with the legendary salute of "Merdeka
atau Mati" (Freedom or Death).
"Nowadays, the spirit should be implemented through a will to
fight for the improvement of people's welfare ... (and) it could
be done by investing abroad," Siswono said.
"The manifestation of the new spirit can be seen if the
Singaporean company later imports large quantities of Indonesian
agricultural products," he added.
Defensive
Indria, however, said the debate over Sudono's move had pushed
the government to take a defensive position.
"The concept of new nationalism is somewhat rhetorical, simply
because there has been no agreement about what it really means,"
Indria remarked.
He said nationalism should take the form of boosting economic
equity instead of a mere market orientation.
"From a business point of view, there's nothing wrong with
capital expansion overseas.
"But for the sake of economic equity, it would otherwise be
better for large companies to cause a trickle down effect by
increasing investment to the eastern part of the country," Indria
said.
He hailed government efforts to involve conglomerates in the
poverty alleviation program, but said that it should be based on
a charity scheme rather than some sort of levy.
Early this year President Soeharto issued a decree ordering
firms and individuals with annual after-tax earnings of more than
Rp 100 million (US$42,000) to contribute an extra 2 percent of
their incomes as a donation to the campaign against poverty.
Indria said large companies should take over the government's
role in various socioeconomic functions in exchange for benefits
they enjoyed in the past.
"We need more rules to maintain the social commitment of the
business community, including one that obliges private banks to
help poor people finance businesses," he said. (aan/amd)