On concept of society

Is there a Bahasa Indonesia word to express the concept of society? This question arose in Sungai Penuh recently when a small team convened to devise the methodology for a zonation plan for the Kerinci-Seblat National Park. We conceived "society" as the sum of the people plus the government apparatus, institutions etc. plus culture plus the interactions between these elements. The concept of "society" is fundamentally holistic. National parks are a management entity that reflects and builds values in society concerning the human-nature relationship.

Masyarakat, the normal translation for "society", is clearly lacking because when asked if masyarakat can include pemerintah (government), Indonesians invariably answer with an unequivocal, No! In general usage, masyarakat means "the people". Bangsa (nationality) is similarly lacking because it has close connotations with individual identity and operates at a fixed scale.

Suku (tribe) lacks the important government/institutional component inherent in "society". The director of the park, Wandojo Siswanto, said that in presentations he uses Masyarakat dalam arti luas (society in its broad meaning) to try to capture the concept, but we all agreed that this phrase still misses the inter-relationships between elements that is central to the concept of "society". Kemasyarakatan seems to be the closest and is beginning to be used for "civil society" (Kemasyarakatan civil). However, this word is used rarely and may be closer in meaning to "public".

If these observations are correct, I suggest they open three important areas of discussion. 1) If the word is missing (or rarely used) does it follow that the concept of society is absent in contemporary Indonesia? 2) If the concept of "society" is absent, or poorly developed, does it not follow that a fundamental dualism exists between "the people" and government? 3) Can current initiatives in the areas of justice and democracy succeed without a widespread public understanding of the concept of "society"? As an entry point to such a discussion I would answer, Yes, Yes, No to these three questions. This is because I would argue that development is about working toward something of which you are a part, yet only a part; and about working jointly toward some greater unifying whole that delivers more than the sum of its stakeholders. In my view this something, this whole, is "society".

PAUL JEPSON

School of Geography

University of Oxford

UK