Observer blames riots on local conditions
JAKARTA (JP): The root cause of the recent riots that rocked Java and Kalimantan cannot be found in the cultures of those involved, a sociologist said yesterday.
"The causes of the incidents are not to be found within the Islamic, Chinese, Christian or Buddhist cultures. We should rather examine the current political and economic situation, which is the product of government policy," said Alexander Irwan, an American-educated sociologist who works at PT Jurnalindo Aksara Grafika, the publisher of Bisnis Indonesia daily.
Speaking at a discussion here on a newly published book by a French professor, Alexander asked "What kind of political and economic development is it that obstructs the formation of a peaceful multicultural society and continues to encourage hateful sectarianism," Alexander said.
Hundreds of people attended the discussion of Nusa Jawa: Silang Budaya, (Java: Cross Culture) by Denys Lombard, a lecturer on the history of Southeast Asia at Ecole Francaise d'Extreme- Orient in Paris. The three-volume book is published by Gramedia.
Referring to Lombard's book, Alexander said that the multicultural society originated from Indian Ocean trade before the advent of colonialism.
"No single party had the power to dictate trade activities at that time," he said.
Alexander also said that the political and economic system created by the Dutch colonial authorities succeeded in integrating religious and ethnic elements but also bred hateful sectarianism.
"When the ethnic Chinese followed their western masters and developed a tendency to embrace Christianity, the Dutch created an economic and a political system which placed the Chinese face to face with the indigenous people," he added.
Alexander also said that in writing the book Lombard was not trapped in the "culturalism" that gives certain characteristics to each culture.
"Historical facts show that the successful merchants who controlled business networks originated from foreign minorities," he said,
"It's their status as a minority group and the latent threat from the majority, not the culture, which forced them to act carefully and develop mutually cooperative business networks."
According to Alexander the context of the cross culturalism still exists today under the New Order government.
"We can see that before western powers set up their colonial empires here democratic values had already existed and created a peaceful multicultural society," he said.
"Based on these facts it is illogical to say that democracy is an imported culture and not suitable for Indonesia," he said. (05)