Wed, 03 May 2000

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)