Social gaps: A ticking time bomb

Social gaps: A ticking time bomb

By A. Wisnuhardana

YOGYAKARTA (JP): World Bank President James Wolfensohn once
likened the rich and poor gap to a time bomb which can explode
any time unless a comprehensive solution is immediately
forthcoming (The Jakarta Post, Sept. 24, 1997).

In the last four decades, the world has been a witness to such
a gap among nations with the North assuming the central position
in the economic system and the South a milk cow to spur the
former's growth.

This north-south gap has been keenly observed by Martin Khor
Kok Peng, who has presented a hypothesis stating that the impact
of this gap could have its repercussions in political, social,
defense, ecological and other areas.

In the context of Indonesia, Wolfensohn's statement has proven
correct. The recent outbreak of rioting in Ujungpandang, in which
a reportedly insane man of ethnic Chinese descent killed a little
girl of Bugis descent, proved to be a sorrowful reality
reflecting the outburst of gap-related pent-up emotion.

The seeds of disappointment and psychological wounds stemming
from income and social gaps have resulted in ethnic Chinese
becoming the symbol of the rich and the occasional victims of the
poor's frustration and rage.

In a capitalist society, different levels of earnings are
justified by economic values placed on a worker's productivity
stemming from education, knowledge, skill and experience. It is
believed that these income differences are natural and that
salaries and adjustments must be left to the free market
mechanism.

On a global scale, however, this paradigm is actually an
irony. Why? It is a fact that this ideology is now the only
ideological mainstream in the world after the collapse of
socialism in Eastern Europe.

Ironically, natural and human resources are being exploited in
many places as capitalism finds its way to many countries. The
model of the world's capitalist system -- following the thought
of Immanuel Wallerstein -- has divided the world into central
capitalist states (advanced Western countries) and peripheral
capitalist states (developing countries).

Developing countries have fallen into the current of
capitalization created by Western countries, whether they are
aware of it or not.

With respect to gap-related problems, there are, according to
Wallerstein, two main characteristics with opposite trends. The
first is that capital always flows from peripheral capitalist
states to central capitalist states. This flow of capital takes
place in a very refined manner in various forms from business and
trade by multinational corporations to development and economic
aid which has actually hurt recipient countries.

The second is that technology and poverty flow from central
capitalist states to peripheral capitalist states. New technology
is exported from developed economies, which have more resources
for research and development, to less developed countries. As
soon as a new technology is absorbed by the consumers in
developing countries, a new and more sophisticated technology is
developed by central countries to replace it.

At the same time, these peripheral capitalist countries must
accept the process of impoverishment, either directly or
indirectly. The capitalization flow taking place in the
peripheral countries requires abundant natural resources and
cheap manpower in an effort to reap the greatest profits
possible. So large-scale exploitation of natural and human
resources is taking place in most peripheral capitalist
countries.

At this juncture, gaps are inevitable. At a global level, the
gaps are widening between central and peripheral capitalist
countries as developing countries deplete their national
resources and assets in an attempt to catch up to more advanced
Western countries.

At the local level in the peripheral capitalist countries,
gaps are found between a small group of economic elites -- the
extension of global capitalists -- and the larger part of the
population who have to swallow the bitter pill of exploitation.

In the Indonesian context, social and income gaps have become
increasingly focussed upon. These gaps and their impacts have
grown into problems which cannot be approached partially from the
economic point of view alone or simply from the political angle.

It is true that thanks to a number of government-sponsored
programs, absolute poverty has been significantly reduced. The
number of people living under the poverty line has decreased
considerably over the last few decades.

However, this reduction has not been coupled with a decrease
in relative poverty. Although less people are living in abject
poverty, there is a growing realization that the rich have become
far richer and the poor have only become less poor -- the gap has
thus continued to increase.

The income of a low-wage worker may be two hundred or three
hundred times smaller than the salary of a top executive in
Indonesia. In developed countries however, this difference is
below fifty fold.

Therefore, all the problems cited above cannot be solved only
through partial and charitable policies. One gets the impression
that the government greatly publicizes its success in reducing
absolute poverty but hides data regarding the large number of
people who are still relatively poor.

Worse still, policies on poverty-handling are colored with
bureaucratic involvement. Our bureaucracy, unfortunately, is
known as one of the world's dirtiest, while the country itself
has earned the label of being "most" corrupt.

Gap-related issues also have given birth to a host of other
potentially explosive problems in sectors not directly linked
with social gaps or poverty.

The case of the slain reporter of Bernas daily, Udin, who
wrote about irregularities in the distribution of funds allocated
for undeveloped villages, is one example.

The investigation, topsy-turvy and reflecting unbelievable
fabrications, has sown the seeds of potential ventings of anger
by groups who have been disgusted with the process but which may
not directly be connected with gap-related issues.

Perhaps what is described above has not even touched the
beginning of a solution to Indonesia's, or the world's, income
distribution and social problems. One thing is certain, however.
If a social gap is a time bomb, then do not let the time bomb go
off before society is ready to deal with all the consequences.

The writer is an observer of social affairs and a researcher
at the Forum for Social and Humanities Studies in Yogyakarta.