'Nations needs new development paradigm'

A riot reminiscent of those in Situbondo broke out in the West Java town of Tasikmalaya Thursday. Sociologist Loekman Soetrisno analyzes it from a wider perspective.

Question: People seem to be easily provoked nowadays. A single issue can drive them to violence, as we saw in Tasikmalaya. What do you think?

Answer: There are several possibilities which may cause violence like this. First of all, members of the society may find no other channel to vent their frustration. They see that there is something wrong with their society but find they can do nothing about it.

Secondly, the professionalism of government officials -- especially those in the Armed Forces and the police force -- is declining. They talk too much about politics and forget their role as security officers. Professionalism is not given their full attention, and violence becomes commonplace. The riot in Tasikmalaya occurred because police beat teachers of a pesantren (an Islamic boarding school).

Third, there are fundamentalist movements within each religious grouping. These movements usually take action when they feel they are losing in competition to others. This is called "a cultural war".

In Indonesia those who are ready for competition happen to be ethnic Chinese, while the Indonesian majority are not. The Chinese are then deemed a Christian society. The fact that most churches also receive donations from abroad -- mostly from western countries with western cultures -- makes it easier for Christian society to win the competition, thus increasing other groups' jealousy.

In this case, the American sociologist Samuel Huntington's prediction on the clash of civilizations is right. If we are not careful in handling such a problem our society will degenerate into an East versus West competition, in which the Eastern side represents Islam and the Western Christianity. Although many do not like this concept it has often proven right.

Q: What about the Christian fundamentalist movements? Do they have anything to do with the phenomenon?

A: Sure. The so-called Pentecost movements, for example, that go door-to-door converting people or distributing brochures; they make problems. Sometimes I just think that no one seems to give serious thought to this country. This worries me.

Actually, what happened in Tasikmalaya is not the first outbreak of such violence. It's understandable, however, as there are many strong Moslem fundamentalist movements in Tasikmalaya.

Q: What should we do about that?

A: Now is the time for us to make serious reflections on the whole issue: high professionalism, nepotism, etcetera. We have to create an atmosphere in which competition can exist openly and fairly.

In this case, as I've been suggesting, we need economic pribumisasi development (turning enterprises over to indigenous people) as well as political non-pribumisasi (turning politics over to nonindigenous people) development. By so doing, the indigenous society will have the chance to play a more important economic role while the nonindigenous society will have the chance to participate politically.

What we have to do is find a new paradigm. If not, the same thing will reoccur in the future. The competition between societal groups goes on despite the unevenness of the competition. Only the Chinese in Indonesia have the capacity to compete.

The existing paradigm no longer suits the present situation. The Tasikmalaya case, and many others, have proven it. The government must give more attention to the weak, as the Malaysian government has done.

What we are experiencing at present doesn't seem to have that quality. Projects worth billions of rupiah, for example, always go to a particular group; this is not fair and will render the whole nation uncompetitive globally.

Q: Apart from the three there may be another reason that contributes to the explosive nature of our society?

A: It's probably the involvement of many kyai (Moslem preachers) in practical politics. Their involvement undermines their influence over their society.

Q: A great effort from all elements in the society seems to be imperative ...

A: That's right. That's why we need to change the whole paradigm. People are getting more and more critical. We cannot treat them the way we did some 20 to 30 years ago. We keep forgetting this.

Something we should never fail to include in the new paradigm is that "the government can do wrong". The perception that it can do no wrong is old-fashioned. By changing this perception, everyone in the country can take part effectively in the development process.

Actually, inequality of power and prosperity doesn't only occur in Indonesia. It happens in other countries as well. So, the question is: "Why does inequality have the capability of turning people to violence here?". This is the problem.

It again proves that our development is a Pandora's box. There are many previously invisible problems that are coming to the surface one by one. (swa)

Loekman Soetrisno is a lecturer in sociology at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta.