Social scientists ask to be included in future planning

Social scientists ask to be included in future planning

By Dwi Atmanta

MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): Indonesian social scientists called
on the government to pay greater attention to social factors when
forming future development programs.

The scientists said Saturday they could help facilitate
development while minimizing social costs by carrying out social
cost analyses and environmental impact assessments for the
government.

Wrapping up their four-day congress and seminar, the social
scientists said that early warning methods needed to be devised
to detect potential social problems.

Azis Saleh, a member of the seminar's steering committee, told
The Jakarta Post that professionalism in social sciences requires
an ability to develop methods to predict and settle social
disturbances.

The Indonesian Association of Social Sciences Development
agreed at the conclusion of its congress to assign Azis, who is a
professor of sociology at Andalas University in Padang, West
Sumatra, and several colleagues to draw up detailed
recommendations. The other scientists were the association's new
chairman, Mulyanto Sumardi, and his predecessor, Alwi Dahlan,
Usman Pelly and Amru Nasution, both from Sumatra Utara University
here.

The recommendations will be submitted to the government and
other institutions before the Broad Guidelines of State Policies
are drafted by the People's Consultative Assembly in March next
year.

Azis admitted that the congress was to some extent responding
to President Soeharto's criticism of the scientists when he
opened the gathering on Tuesday. Soeharto accused social
scientists of issuing what he called unsubstantiated, hasty
analyses. They were also criticized for not coming up with
analyses that could help prevent social problems.

Azis accepted the rap, but said that social scientists had
prepared "anticipatory analyses which could be right but are not
yet scientifically complete enough to determine the roots of the
social problems."

"Many causes are behind social problems. Hence, we need an
interdisciplinary analysis," he said, citing a series of ethnic
and sectarian conflicts believed to be triggered by socioeconomic
disparities.

Azis believed that the riots were the consequences of
development overlooked by the government. "This is why it's
important to involve social scientists when making decisions for
development programs," he said.

He admitted, however, that Indonesia still lacked quality
social scientists willing to dedicate themselves to research. The
country only has between 80 and 100 senior social researchers
holding Ph.Ds.

"Not many of them have time to concentrate on social research
due to other organizational commitments and administrative jobs,"
he said.

Bureaucracy

The association also suggested that steps be taken to improve
the skills, ethics and morality of the country's civil servants.

"Professional bureaucrats should have a code of conduct," Azis
said.

Minister of Development Planning Ginandjar Kartasasmita
admitted here Friday that Indonesia's bureaucrats lack
professionalism, the right mentality and attitude to serve the
public.

Civil servants have also been criticized for being
inefficient, corrupt and partial to the dominant political group,
Golkar.

Azis said government bureaucrats should share the blame for
the recent riots because of their failure to deal with the public
appropriately.

"Instead of acting as public servants, many bureaucrats are
fond of using threats, which can offend the public," Azis said.

When people criticized them, the bureaucrats became easily
upset and forgot that it was their lack of leadership skills that
prompted the criticism in the first place, he said.