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.