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)