Shedding a militaristic culture

Shedding a militaristic culture

Mohamad Surya
Chairman
Central Board
Indonesian Teachers' Association
(PGRI)
Jakarta

Paramilitary groups are nonmilitary groups set up by particular
individuals, organizations, institutions or groups that adopt
patterns resembling military behavior in all their activities to
pursue certain needs and goals. Although they are nonmilitary,
their activities are, more often than not, based on military
patterns, finally developing into what could be called a
militaristic culture.

A militaristic culture is a manifestation of behavior by
nonmilitary groups based on a way of thinking, action, attitude
and feelings that resembles military behavior. Paramilitary
groups with a militaristic culture identify themselves with
patterns related to military procedures in all activities, which
at times gives the impression that they are more militaristic in
character than the real security forces.

In this context, everything is manifested in various forms and
patterns such as the organizational structure (command, troops,
units, corps, strategies, logistics, equipment, etc.), military
symbols (uniforms, ranks, medals of merit, symbols, auxiliary
instruments, etc.), attitude and actions such as speech,
appearance and personal relationships as well as thinking
patterns.

The development of paramilitary groups has been driven by the
need of society for behavioral patterns that are characteristic
of the military such as discipline, obedience, aggressiveness and
alertness. These groups adopt patterns of military behavior, for
example security guards, people's defense, task-force units and
troops complete with military-like symbols and equipment.

As long as these groups adhere to the prevailing laws and
function effectively in compliance with current regulations,
their activities will be favorable and constructive in value, in
a complementary, supplementary and substitutive manner, to
efforts to establish security and order. What often happens,
however, is that it takes the wrong form or becomes out of
control resulting in various problems, constraints and
disturbances.

The patterns of behavior of paramilitary groups and their
militaristic culture constitute a certain psychological phenomena
called identification and imitation; the military being the
source to fulfill certain psychological drives. Identification is
a process of putting the self or a group in a particular, desired
situation while imitation is a type of fraud. In identification
and imitation, there will be an internalization of the various
aspects of military behavior in individuals or the group
concerned. Later these individuals and groups make this behavior
part of themselves until this militaristic behavior is a part of
their persona. In general, youngsters are interested in
identifying themselves with, or imitating military behavior.

Militaristic behavior represents one way to channel the urge
to find and discover one's identity through a military image that
creates the impression of someone being heroic, charismatic,
strong, ready to fight, courageous and so forth.

One of the most prominent military characteristics adopted by
the paramilitary groups is aggressiveness, which is manifested by
attacking others for a particular purpose either physically or
verbally, directly or indirectly, individually or in groups,
reactively or proactively and actively or passively.

In terms of the goals, there are two kinds of aggressive
behavior: Hostile aggressiveness and instrumental aggressiveness.
In hostile aggressiveness, the purpose of aggressive behavior is
to damage or cause loss to the party under attack. Usually this
behavior will surface when there is an action that offends the
dignity and respect of an individual or a group. In instrumental
aggressiveness, aggressive behavior is intended, among other
things, to gain attention and to show superiority. These two
kinds of aggressive behavior may produce adverse results but can
also generate a favorable outcome in certain conditions.

Paramilitary behavior and a militaristic culture are formed
through interaction with the environment, whether it be within
families or in schools as well as in the greater community. Some
things that may give rise to aggressive behavior are: 1. An
experience of frustration or disappointment due to a failure to
achieve a certain goal, for example education, occupation,
position and recognition. 2. A particular position or condition
that will make someone assume paramilitary aggressive behavior
with a certain method and goal. 3. Behavior in the home toward
children that sets a bad example such as violence, rigidity,
indifference, harassment, neglect or a poor religious foundation.
4. Negative influence from peers. 5. Unfavorable physical and
nonphysical conditions such as slums, overcrowding, lack of
hygiene, lack of food and certain medicines and other physical
constraints. 6. Lack of role models such as politicians, leaders,
parents, teachers and so forth presented through the mass media
that should otherwise provide a good example. 7. Insufficient
control over the laws and the implication of this control in the
use of certain military symbols.

The fundamental thing is how to control paramilitary behavior
and militaristic culture in a legal manner and in a way that is
acceptable to society and complies with prevailing norms. All
this must be attempted to prevent the negative impact and to take
advantage of the positive aspects of paramilitary behavior. In
this context, a psychological and pedagogic approach should be
used, coupled with improvement in the socio-economic order in
efforts that involve all concerned -- symbiotically, systemically
and synergistically.

Some efforts which may be made in this context are: (a)
improvement in social and economic life, including the creation
of job opportunities so that the unemployment rate can be reduced
and the labor force can be channeled productively; (b) the
development of patterns of education that are broad and holistic;
(c) enhancement of the quality of religiosity and surrender to
God through quality religious education; (d) channeling of
aggressive behavior into useful activities (e) consistent law
enforcement, coupled with role-modeling from all parties in a
social environment that is orderly, disciplined and clean (f) to
present more selective and educational news and other information
through the mass media.

The writer also lectures at the University of Indonesian
Education (UPI), Bandung in West Java.