New development ethics needed

By Mochtar Buchori

SEOUL (JP): "Truly, to govern is to educate, not to please -- to convince and not to conquer." These are the words of Oscar Arias Sanchez at a recent conference here organized by the World Bank and the Korean government on democracy, the market economy and development.

What should the people be educated about? It is primarily an awareness that in entering the new millennium, a new ethics of development is required, according to Sanchez, Nobel laureate and former president of Costa Rica.

New ethics claim that the main challenge of development lies in the sphere of values.

To emphasize his point, Sanchez related a moving story. The tale tells of a slave with one hand only -- the result of a sugarcane mill accident -- and another whose leg was cut off by his master to prevent him escaping, When the former met with Candide, he said, "This is the true price of the sugar you eat in Europe". This story is taken from Candide, "an unsurpassed masterpiece of flippant satire", written by Voltaire in 1759.

Viewed within the global context, the ultimate goal of development is, according to Sanchez, to " build rational, compassionate and just societies that will afford every human being his or her dignified place".

To achieve this goal, he cited three crucial areas that must be addressed: strengthening democracy throughout the world, combating corruption at all levels of government and altering the worldwide focus on military spending.

He added that genuine peace can only be achieved if "we build our global community upon a solid respect for human dignity and attentiveness to people's right to self-determination".

Do we share this view and if we do, how should we govern our country, so that future citizens may lead a dignified life, whatever their position within society?

This is a very important question, especially for the young generation of political leaders who will have to take over the governance of this country from the current leaders.

It is heartening for me, in this respect, to learn that the Montawa branch of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals Association (ICMI) -- I assumed that it must be an acronym for Montreal- Ottawa -- will conduct a virtual and a face-to-face conference titled Good Governance in Indonesia: A Workable Solution.

Conference organizers stated that their definition of governance was the manner in which power is exercised by the government in the management of the country's social and economic resources. Good governance is "effective, honest, equitable, transparent and accountable".

Four themes will be discussed during the forum. They are (1) Lessons learnt from previous governments; (2) The approach of the current government; (3) Future activities: A workable solution; and (4) The contribution of religious groups.

I think this is an excellent initiative. The real problem faced by this country is to develop a new culture of governance, a new ethics of governance.

How shall we educate our citizens to know that good governance needs five pillars: a strong participatory civil society, open and predictable policy making, an accountable executive, a professional bureaucracy and the rule of law?

This is a huge national agenda. Our nation, like many other nations, is currently at a crossroads. Viewed within the context of the new development paradigm, we are now divided into two camps. First there are those who are ready to accept and implement the idea that democracy and economic development should not be separated from one another. Second there are those who want to defend the old notion that economic growth constitutes the only measure of success in development.

At the Seoul conference Prof. Amartya Sen, the 1998 Nobel laureate for welfare economics, reminded us that the market mechanism is not "on its own a solution to many problems". "(It is) an instrument that can be used in different ways -- with or without vision, with or without social responsibility," he said.

Governing our country wisely during the current situation is not easy. Educating our people to think more rationally and less emotionally about the problems we are facing is a political art that those aspiring to be in future governments must learn quickly. It is in this context that I praise the ICMI Montawa initiative to engage young people in a serious exercise about creating good future governance.

At the same time, I also wonder why this kind of exercise is not widespread within the country. Or am I mistaken? Could it be that without excessive fanfare there are groups quietly conducting studies in how to run our country more wisely?

I hope the latter is indeed the case. There are groups, I think, that deliberate and form projects in governance without using the word 'governance'.

There is hope as long as we still shout and talk to each other and not silently kill each other. As long as we still reflect on how to end the present chaos without becoming chaotic ourselves, I think we engage in a kind of exercise about governance. We may be still at the lower levels of this exercise, but we must and can gradually move forward in an effort to build national capability for governance.

I have experienced moments of despair and moments of hope in our current situation. Fortunately I have found consolation in an anonymous quote which continues to provide encouragement.

"Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance towards the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point. Climb slowly, steadily, enjoying each passing moment, and the view from the summit will prove to be astonishing."

The writer is an observer of social and cultural affairs.