Revolution was political above all, scholars say

JAKARTA (JP): Prominent scholars discussed the Indonesian revolutionary wars yesterday and concluded that the struggle for independence here was more political than social in nature.

Sociologist Ignas Kleden and American historian William Frederick asserted that the Indonesian revolution was more marked by the struggle to win power from colonialists.

As such, the revolution was more political in nature and failed to entail drastic social changes, Kleden said.

"It is more similar to what happened in England or the United States," he said, adding that in those countries, too, social changes only occurred gradually following political struggle.

In contrast, revolutions in France, Russia and China can be categorized as "social revolutions" because they were followed by major social changes, he said.

"Political or national revolutions tend to transform the state structure without necessarily causing a transformation in social structures," he said.

Restructuring social institutions is still the task faced by the new society following the transfer of authority accomplished in the revolution, he said.

Kleden and Frederick were the last speakers yesterday at the international conference on national revolution at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

"(The Indonesian revolution) is political in the sense that it effectuated the transfer of power and authority," Kleden said.

Comparing the situation to Vietnam, Frederick said the revolution here "failed socially" at the time because it did not involve social restructuring.

Some layers in the early years of the republic actually wished for such major social changes, including the Indonesian Socialist Party, he said.

The wish, however, was then "thwarted by a Republic that (was) bourgeois, reactionary, or worse," Frederick said in his prepared paper.

He added that this failure was among the reasons why the Indonesian revolution received less than adequate recognition abroad and was not often mentioned in international literature on comparative revolutions.

He pointed out that some leading figures in the history of the Indonesian revolution were willing to turn villages into battle grounds or bases for mobilization of power, but not as a venue to introduce social changes.

"Therefore, there was little chance for a genuine social revolution to occur," Frederick said. "What took place, instead, was only a temporary social upheaval."

He added the "failed revolution" view is found among both Indonesian and outside observers.

"Some people have grumbled that there perhaps wasn't a revolution at all..there's a vague feeling that the revolution was something one cannot be entirely proud of," he said.

He quoted political scientist Burhan Magenda who said in 1978 that the Republic's unity "was achieved at the expense of social transformation."

In comparison, since its independence, Vietnam has been more able in resolving problems such as social and economic inequality, he said.

However, Frederick stressed that the shared 50th anniversary of the independence of Vietnam and Indonesia provides opportunity to appreciate "the full meaning and value of the Indonesian Revolution." (anr)