Social conflict stems from poor education, say experts

Social conflict stems from poor education, say experts

JAKARTA (JP): Social conflict recently wracking the country
reflects the failure of the national education system to
encourage respect for differences and pluralism, experts
concluded on Tuesday.

Franz Magnis-Suseno of Driyarkara Institute of Philosophy and
former education and culture minister Fuad Hasan were of the
opinion that the government's education policy could not live up
to the country's multicultural characteristics. The education
system instead has prompted people to feel superior to those with
different opinions or backgrounds.

The present education system, Franz added, has forced students
to accept unity by eliminating differences. Such a view then
drives people to overlook others, according to the professor.

"From the recent situation we can see how people tend to judge
each other using criteria that they never apply to themselves,"
Franz told a seminar held in conjunction with National Education
Day.

He said the ongoing sectarian clashes in Maluku were a prime
example of his thesis.

"Our education system fails to develop an attitude so that we
never really accept people with differences," Franz remarked.

He said that for more than three decades people had to comply
with the desires of the rulers who prevented people from
expressing their own opinions.

"Such frustration is now erupting in the form of brutality,
sectarian and group clashes across the country," he added.

Fuad shared Franz' idea that the education system helped
produce unstable social conditions.

"All of the social problems emerge because of education,
instead of heredity," Fuad said.

However, he was optimistic that the younger generation would
respect others as human beings regardless of their race, color or
religion. "It is everybody's hope, although it will not happen
overnight. It takes time," he said.

Fuad further said the country needed education that involved
character building and not a system that stressed only the
importance of becoming an intellectual.

"We need to educate people as human beings, not only as
workers," he said.

Franz suggested that people should be taught to develop
tolerance and fairness.

Elites

In a separate seminar, sociologist Sardjono Jatiman blamed
political elites for the nation's vulnerability to conflict.

He speculated that the elites, both at central and local
levels, played a dominant role behind the recent clashes in
numerous regions for their own interests.

"Almost all social conflicts in regions across the country
have many things to do with the conflicting interests between the
central government and the political elites," Sardjono, from the
University of Indonesia, said in a workshop on social conflict
here.

He said he was skeptical that the violence in Aceh, Irian
Jaya, Maluku and other provinces originated from conflicts
between people who had maintained their traditional and religious
values.

"It seems to me that many conflicts have been engineered," he
said.

He admitted that from the sociological point of view, the
country was quite prone to conflict because of the many different
ethnics backgrounds, social groups and religions. But conflict
only erupted because of the poor management of conflict during
the 32 years of the New Order regime.

"The violence in Aceh, West Kalimantan and Maluku stemmed from
prolonged hostility between indigenous locals and other ethnic
groups who migrated to the provinces. The old regime, however,
resorted to taking repressive measures to deal with the
conflicts," he said.

Sardjono, who has conducted many studies on tribes across the
country, said most tribes and ethnic groups did not intend to
clash because of their respect for social diversity, including
traditional and religious values.

He criticized the way printed and electronic media covered
social conflicts and violence, saying they had contributed to the
deterioration of the situation. (dja/rms)