No common vision

No common vision

One popular theme of National Awakening Day (May 20) and the
reform commemorations has been that Indonesians lack a shared
vision. At the moment the only shared vision seems to be that
someone else is causing the problems.

If we have wealth and privileges to protect, the troublemakers
are those rowdy demonstrators who stir fights and prevent the
economy from running smoothly. If we are poor, the problem is the
corruptors who plunder the land and skim the people for their own
profit.

If our lives are boring and repressed, the villains are those
naughty people who wear skimpy clothes and put satanic things in
their mouths. If our lives are rather hedonist and materialist,
the villains are those arrogant extremists who think they know
the will of God when they do not even know how to choose matching
boots and tunics.

If we are smart but powerless, there are too many foolish
politicians who cannot construct a logical sentence, let alone
two in a row. If we are powerful but dim, there are too many
intellectuals who criticize constantly without appreciating the
burden of responsibility.

In this landscape, hoping to discover a common vision invites
disappointment because there may not be one. It is perhaps better
to see reform as a negotiation in which no one gets everything
but everyone gets something. Disputes are inevitable and a
satisfactory outcome for the participants depends on several
questions.

Are they sincere, professing their goals and motives honestly?
Are they realistic, basing their aims on a coherent concept of
human nature and Indonesian and global society? Are they
pragmatic, ready to overlook trivial differences in pursuit of a
larger objective? If the answer to questions like these is yes,
then reform should eventually bring rewards for most Indonesians.

JOHN HARGREAVES

Jakarta