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.