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