Our middle class
Our middle class
It is probably not too far off the mark to say that the
findings of an ongoing study being made on this country's middle
class only affirms what many Indonesians have always known, or at
least have guessed. In a nutshell, the study -- which is being
conducted by the Jakarta-based newspaper Kompas, in cooperation
with sociologists from the Academia Sinica in Taipei, Seoul
National University and the University of Hawaii in the context
of a wider study on Southeast Asian middle classes -- reveals
that the Indonesian middle class, at least in Jakarta, desires
certain changes, but shuns risks.
To the question of what is the most important goal to achieve
for the country in the next 10 years, for example, most chose
maintaining economic growth and stability as their answer as
opposed to more idealistic objectives, such as encouraging people
to be more critical either in the workplace or in the community.
Although 66 percent of the new middle class approved the
establishment of an independent committee to monitor next year's
general elections, 71 percent of respondents believed that "the
government knows best" as to what is good for society and for the
nation and that political organizations which threatened
stability should be muzzled. In short, Indonesia's middle class
cares more about economic growth than political freedom.
As some analysts have observed, it seems overly optimistic in
light of these findings to expect Indonesia's middle class to act
as an agent of democratic change in the near future, which is
what has happened in most Western countries. In the words of
researcher Bestian Nainggolan, "many people of the middle class
want less state intervention ... but they don't want to be
involved in risks". Which is hardly surprising, considering that
many of them owe their fortunes to the economic progress that has
been scored under the present New Order administration.
Nevertheless, anticipated as most of the findings may have
been, the study -- which is the first of its kind to be made in
this country -- is important precisely because of the need for
all of us to acknowledge that orderly change is needed in a world
in which competition and interdependency are becoming more and
more inescapable facts of life. One may also in passing note that
this is the first time that the existence of a middle class (and
thus, by association, also an upper and a lower class) has been
acknowledged.
It has been pointed out by sociologists and economists that a
certain relationship exists between economic progress and social
and political change. Economic development brings social changes,
and with it comes the need for corrections and adjustments in the
system. As Muhammad Hikam of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences
notes, the need for independence vis-a-vis the state and for the
empowerment of a civil society as a groundwork for economic and
political democracy is being more and more realized in segments
of the Indonesian middle class, such as among students and other
pro-democracy societal groups. One can foresee that these groups
will grow in numbers as society progresses further.
According to political scientist Juwono Sudarsono as quoted by
Kompas, Indonesia's middle class at present accounts for only a
fraction of the country's total population of close to 200
million. Within the next 10 years, however, it may make up 30
percent of the population and thus become a class to be reckoned
with. But the middle class, Juwono warns, must realize that for
the sake of its own survival, it must care for those in the lower
class because it will not be able to survive in a condition where
instability and uncertainly threatens to undermine it from below.
We believe it is a warning well worth heeding.