Politics is art of unspoken communication, scholar says
Politics is art of unspoken communication, scholar says
JAKARTA (JP): Politics in Indonesia is an art of unspoken
communication in which the nuance of signals and symbols often
count more than words, according to a mass communication expert
from the University of Indonesia.
Indonesia, like most Asian countries, has a "high context
culture" where people tend to express themselves in an implicit
manner and expect others to understand them without having to
spell things out, M. Budyatna, the dean of the university's
School of Social and Political Sciences said yesterday.
"People with this attitude tend to beat around the bush before
they get to their point," Budyatna told The Jakarta Post in his
office at the UI campus in nearby Depok.
Explaining the widely accepted theory on mass communication,
Budyatna said that Indonesia contrasts with the "low context
culture" which prevails among Americans and Europeans.
People with a low context culture prefer an explicit verbal,
or written, approach in communicating with others, said Budyatna,
who was inaugurated as dean last June.
A person within a high context culture, for example, would
spend what they would consider a "reasonable" amount of time
beating around the bush before they finally say that they want to
borrow money from a friend.
"A person within a low context culture would come up straight
away saying they need the money," Budyatna said.
Another example he cited is the reaction towards a person who
is causing a public disturbance.
"The most Indonesians would do in that situation is grumble
and swear under their breath. Americans, in contrast, would go
straight up to the person to say he was causing disturbance," he
said. Those with a high context culture would find this attitude
impolite and even offensive, he added.
However, Budyatna pointed out that differences exist not only
between the Western and Asian cultures. In Indonesia alone, the
country's numerous ethnic groups are not free of conflicts.
The Central Javanese, especially those of Solo and Yogyakartan
origins, have a higher degree of the high context culture while
Indonesians from Sumatra and most other islands have a lower high
context culture, he said.
"To ask a guest to leave, a Javanese would `politely' ask
where he was going after the visit," he said giving an
illustration.
Miscommunication
Budyatna said that misunderstandings or misinterpretations
between different Indonesian cultural standards could result in
fatal errors. A good example of this kind of miscommunication, he
said, was the banning of the Sinar Harapan daily in the 1980's.
Most of the daily's editorial staff, who were of Sulawesi and
Batak (Sumatra) origins, failed to understand and interpret
correctly the "signals" given by the mostly Javanese rulers, he
said.
In contrast, the Kompas daily, whose editorial staff are
mostly Javanese, caught these signs and succeeded, perhaps just
in time, in saving themselves. "(The banning) is all really a
matter of culture and correct, or incorrect, interpretation," he
said bluntly.
Budyatna admitted that there was little chance of changing
such an attitude because "it is simply how people are (here.)"
He also doubted whether Indonesia, via globalization, would
ever become a low context culture.
"All Indonesian communities are likely to stay within the
limits of the high context culture, within various parameters,"
he said.(pwn)