Paradox of civil society in a reinvestment world

Paradox of civil society in a reinvestment world

Demokrasi dan Civil Society (Democracy and Civil Society)
By Mohammad A.S. Hikam
LP3ES, Jakarta, 1996
xvi and 249 pages

JAKARTA (JP): For historical reasons, the middle class is
often assumed to be the pioneer and champion of sociopolitical
reform.

For some countries in Asia, including Indonesia, this
assumption does not necessarily hold true.

In Indonesia, the middle class often hinders the wheel of
democracy. Most members are apolitical, preferring to maintain
the status quo to protect their position, and business.

The development path taken by Indonesia's middle class is
different from the one which evolved in the West.

Industrialization grows in Indonesia because of the business
players' close proximity to the power elite. Indonesian
capitalists grow by protection, licenses and privileges, and are
never subjected to competitive forces.

Mohammad A.S. Hikam defines one paradox of the middle class:
it cannot solve its cultural problems. The middle class is
divided into native and non-native, Moslem and non-Moslem, and
Javanese and non-Javanese.

These divisions sow primordialism, which is hardly conducive
to the development of a civil society. Primordialistic forces
also prevent the middle class from breaking dependence on the
power elite.

Hikam highlights another civil society paradox in the growth
of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The number of NGOs has
undoubtedly proliferated. But instead of turning their potency to
the growth of civil society, many NGOS acted more as development
consultants.

What about the intellectual community?

Hikam says intellectual life in Indonesia is experiencing a
very long summer. It is almost devoid of alternative thoughts.
Most intellectuals also feel safe if they are close to the power
centers. In short, they are becoming bureaucratic intellectuals.

They hide behind the pretext that social transformation is
more effective if they work through the inner circle. This is
tragic if compared to intellectuals during the former era of
Soewardy Soeryaningrat, Tjipto Mangoenkoesoemo, Moh. Hatta, Sutan
Sjahrir and Sukarno.

What about the press? Civil society is founded upon a free
public capacity, and the press has a major role to play. The
press industry in Indonesia has grown immensely under the New
Order, but it still faces a paradoxical and complex situation.
The press licensing requirement is a constraint to its role.

Hikam defines civil society as voluntary and highly
independent organized social movements. In Indonesia, civil
society functions as a pressure group and aggregate group.

Unfortunately, the close knit political system provides little
opportunity for pressure groups to operate effectively.

It is a zero-sum game in which civil society is powerless in
the face of an omnipotent government. It is also a game in which
the bureaucracy controls the national development and keeps
public participation to the minimum, except for mobilization to
give legitimacy to those in power.

Such a system relies on forces that can mobilize the masses to
support national development. It does not need pressure groups to
help articulate and compile society's needs.

Hikam's book is pessimistic but it should not dampen our
spirit. There are still democratic forces at work in Indonesia.

The banning of Tempo, Editor, and Detik magazines led to the
alternative press like the publications by the Alliance of
Independent Journalists, the Institute of the Study of
Information Flow, and Tempo Interaktif.

The removal of former Indonesian Democratic Party leader
Megawati Sukarnoputri as a symbol of grass-root politics has also
awakened a more lasting undercurrent opposition forces.

There is also the establishment of new groups like PRD, PUDI,
MARI, and KIPP to challenge the current political system.

Thus, the symptoms that Hikam talks about are not totally
negative. They may turn out to be useful investments for the
future democracy. Without these incidents, the democratization
process in Indonesia would have remained static.

Going by the adage "power tends to corrupt and absolute power
tends to corrupt absolutely" is good for the political education
of the people.

This book contains 11 articles about grass-root politics,
government hegemony and the democratization process. It takes the
writer further from his doctoral thesis, The State, Grass-roots
Politics, and Civil Society: A Study of Social Movement under
Indonesia's New Order in the Political Department of the
University of Hawaii.

It shows Hikam is not a one-work wonder, and has not fallen
into the trap of bureaucratic intellectualism.

-- Ag. Prih Adiartanto

Ag. Prih Adiartanto, a graduate of Sanata Dharma University,
now teaches at De Britto College, Yogyakarta.