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.