Sam Ratulangi, RI's first futurologist, says expert
Sam Ratulangi, RI's first futurologist, says expert
By Santi WE Soekanto
MANADO, North Sulawesi (JP): Long before John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene became famous for their sharply-defined predictions about future social, political and economic developments, Indonesia already had Dr. Sam Ratulangi.
"Sam Ratulangi should be declared Indonesia's first 'futurologist'," said Dr. Andi Hakim Nasoetion yesterday. Nasoetion is a prominent statistician at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture.
During a seminar yesterday Nasoetion and several other prominent scholars discussed the life and work of Sam Ratulangi, who came from the small town of Tondano, North Sulawesi, and became a model for Indonesian leaders.
The seminar investigated the significance of Ratulangi thought for present-day Indonesia.
Held by The Jakarta Post in cooperation with the Manado-based University of Sam Ratulangi, and opened by North Sulawesi Governor C.J. Rantung, the seminar was one among a number of activities conducted to mark annual National Press Day.
The government has recognized Ratulangi's great contribution to both the national struggle for independence and to the national press. Born in 1890, Ratulangi was the first man to use the name "Indonesia" to refer to the thousands of islands and ethnic groups in the archipelago.
Moderated by Indonesian Ambassador to Australia, Sabam Siagian, the seminar heard from Dr. Mochtar Buchori, Dr. Lucky W. Sondakh, and Dr. Daniel Dhakidae.
Sondakh said Ratulangi's predictions were recorded in his book Indonesia in den Pacific: Kernproblemen van den Asiatischen (1937), written during the four months for which he was imprisoned by the Dutch colonial administration for his resistance activities.
A mathematician by training, Ratulangi published the Nationale Commentaren newspaper. He predicted the dramatic economic growth that took place after World War I, which was driven the growth of the Japanese and United States economies.
Ratulangi foresaw the potential for war in the region as a result of the "shift in world trade and economic centers from the Atlantic region, prior to World War I, to the Pacific, after the war," Sondakh said.
Ratulangi also predicted the emergence of "regionalization" of the strong economic forces of the globe. "This is exactly what we are observing now in the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)," Sondakh said.
"AFTA and APEC came into being in the 1990s and will come into full effect in the year 2010, but Sam Ratulangi predicted them as far back as in 1928, in his speech before the Volksraad (people's council)," according to Sondakh, who is a professor of economics at the Sam Ratulangi University.
Mochtar Buchori, rector of the Muhammadiyah Jakarta Teachers' Institute, focused on Ratulangi's "intellectual leadership" which, he said, contemporary leaders would do well to emulate.
Mochtar challenged contemporary politicians to be intellectual as well as political leaders, as Ratulangi was.
He pointed out that those leaders would soon have to explain to the people the global trends that will squeeze Indonesia from various directions.
"Will our politicians be able to act as intellectual leaders as well as political leaders? Will they able to improve our society's intelligence?" he asked.
"Will they be able to explain what will happen to the country when the APEC agreement comes into effect?"
Daniel Dhakidae, from the Kompas daily's research center, discussed Ratulangi's role in the national press and also his "predictions" concerning domestic political developments, including the revival of Islam.