Questioning celebrity intellectuals

Ardimas Sasdi, Jakarta

As this country goes through an historic democratic transition period, intellectuals are again at center stage, but this time in an unfavorable light. Critics accuse some of them of behaving like celebrities rather than scholars.

One particularly stiff jab was delivered by writer Radhar Panca Dahana this month during a launch of his new book, which discusses the role, character and behavior of Indonesian intellectuals and their struggle to maintain their quality and independence. There have been a lot of nods of agreement by senior intellectuals.

Dahana refers to a troubling trend among intellectuals, especially the new breed, who stray away from their areas of expertise to become politicians and commentators on current events, talk show hosts and models for advertisements, often at the expense of their teaching and research roles.

Senior researcher Mochtar Pabottinggi from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, after reading Dahana's book, admitted that this new breed of "intellectuals" were not as committed as their senior colleagues to their profession and that the amount of serious work they engaged in was very limited. He said intellectuals were more interested in writing op/ed pieces for newspapers rather than serious research reports in scientific journals as the latter simply paid less.

Philosophy professor at the University of Indonesia Toety Herati also agreed with Dahana's thesis and criticized the attitude of some intellectuals, who envied and felt less popular than celebrity figures, as a form of immaturity. She called on her colleagues to do some serious introspection and return to their path so they could remain a critical force for the development of society.

"Now it is time to criticize ourselves," Toety said.

Intellectuals have a responsibility to share knowledge with other people through teaching and research. The intelligentsia must remain committed to their "scholarly duties" depending on the areas and eras where they live.

Noted American intellectual, Noam Chomsky, wrote on The Responsibility of Intellectuals, wherein he posits that intellectuals have a "responsibility ... to speak the truth and to expose lies" and a duty "to see events in their historical perspective."

One example is a country like Cuba, which has suffered from political and economic sanctions imposed by its mighty neighbor and arch foe the U.S. According to Dr. James Petras from Binghamton University in New York, "the intellectuals have a responsibility to distinguish between the defensive measures taken by countries and the people under imperial attack and the offensive methods of imperial powers bent on conquest."

The special clout bestowed upon scholars to shape opinion, and the responsibility that comes with this status, have lost none of their relevance, though circumstances have changed. In a developing country like Indonesia, which is mired in a myriad of problems, they shoulder an even heavier moral and scholarly burden.

With their mandarin-like status, intellectuals are expected to play a key and constructive role in forming public opinion and proposing alternative, but workable solutions to help the country fix pressing problems like poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and security, all of which have the potential to tear this country apart.

So it is a real concern that a good portion of the local intelligentsia have lost their way, especially at this critical juncture. This breed of intellectuals is defined by their extravagant lifestyles and frequent appearances in public forums, which then creates envy among their peers. They are concentrated in big cities like Jakarta, where big companies, government agencies and the large media companies are located. Interestingly, these intellectual celebrities are products of the media business, which hypes and magnifies them by giving them space and airtime.

Depending on their real fields of expertise, these intellectuals moonlight as politicians, consultants for state and private companies, speakers in seminars, conferences, symposia, talkshow hosts and models. Most are readily available to give an instant opinion on any given subject, lest they risk a loss of quality as well as their own dignity.

The case of these wayward scholars is the tip of the iceberg in our scientific world. They usually get paid very little for education and research, have a sub-standard quality of education, are not pushed or motivated to achieve anything groundbreaking, lack a scientific tradition, are unable to speak or read English and have poor communication skills when among international scholars.

In the modern world, where educational institutions are intertwined with business, the phenomena of intellectuals drifting away from the path of art and literature, politics, economy and religion, and being thrust into the limelight, is not out of the ordinary.

Indonesia is no exception to this phenomena, especially as commercialization has penetrated almost all facets of our lives and salaries of civil servants are very low. Therefore, it is difficult to expect intellectuals not to moonlight. Monthly incomes for a university professor with 30 years of experience, for example, is a meager Rp 4 million (US$ 450) barely enough to feed, clothe and educate one's family.

To solve this problem, the government, where most of these intellectual celebrities now augment their incomes, cannot stand idly by, but must do something to raise salaries of intellectuals despite budget constraints. Non-salary incentives like greater academic authority to design budget and elect staff, sabbatical leave and paid-trips to attend seminars abroad for senior professors and researchers twice or thrice a year would certainly interest many scholars.

Strategic policy is necessary in order to persuade intellectuals not to moonlight and halt a continuing trend of a brain drain of the best talent. Many of them trained in the best universities abroad with government money or assistance from friendly governments.

Most of these people will likely listen if the government gives them a reason to return to serious research, especially if the appeal is sweetened by improved welfare packages. The money is a problem, but it would not be, if the bureaucrats were able to halt the trillions of rupiah in leakages from the government budget and allocate it for education.

The author is a staff writer for the Jakarta Post and can be contacted at ajambak@berkeley.edu.