Soeharto blasts hasty analyses

By Dwi Atmanta

MEDAN (JP): President Soeharto criticized Indonesian social scientists yesterday for issuing what he called unsubstantiated analyses of the unrest that rocked the country in recent months.

"It is rare to find analyses which help clarify and settle a problem. Many of them are quick analyses and even speculation with no strong base and not supported by strong facts," Soeharto said.

Addressing the 700 participants at the seventh congress and four-day seminar of the Indonesian Association for the Development of Social Sciences in this capital of North Sumatra, Soeharto said the basis for many analyses was borrowed from other nations and was not applicable to Indonesia.

"Analyses such as these cannot fully help the decision makers and could possibly even make the atmosphere cloudier because of overexposure in the mass media," Soeharto said.

"Although I'm not a scientist, much less a social scientist, I often observe those social observers, and my observations have often caused me to wonder about their professionalism," he said.

Accompanied by Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono and North Sumatra Governor Raja Inal Siregar, Soeharto called on the gathering to discuss how social scientists could become more professional, by developing a set of standards and formulating a set of ethics.

Over recent months Indonesia has been rocked by ethnic and religiously motivated violence that has led to scores of deaths and much serious damage.

"I pay great attention to analyses on those incidents because I would like to learn what really happened, what caused them, and more importantly, what the government could do to prevent them from reoccurring.

"More than the observers, perhaps, I'm deeply concerned because the unrest resulted in many casualties and harmed many people. All that we have achieved through sacrifice and hard work could disappear because of something that took place in such a short time," he said.

Soeharto said the country needed analyses that would help prevent further social problems and not just analyze past incidents.

In the latest violence, a mob of hundreds of people attacked a government office, homes, shops and public transport terminals in Praya, Central Lombok, on Saturday, causing damage but no casualties.

On the same day in the West Kalimantan capital of Pontianak, representatives of the indigenous Dayak and the migrant Madurese community signed a peace treaty intended to end weeks of violent conflict. Although an official death toll has yet to be released, the army said at one stage about 300 had been killed in the ethnic violence.

Analysts have said the Dayak people have long been frustrated by marginalization caused by the large influx of migrants and damage to the area's rainforests.

Other violence since October included unrest in a number of cities on Java and in the province of East Timor, leading to a number of deaths, scores of shops and businesses as well as places of worship being burned or vandalized.

Also yesterday, Soeharto presented the Association's lifetime achievement award to anthropologist Koentjaraningrat in recognition of his efforts to promote social studies both in Indonesia and aboard.

Association chairman M. Alwi Dahlan described Koentjaraningrat as "the father of the Indonesian anthropology," citing that the latter had written at least 22 books which had been translated into English, Dutch and French.

The association has honored three Indonesian prominent social scientists with similar awards: sociologists Selo Soemardjan and Soedjatmoko and historian Sartono Kartodirdjo.

Moerdiono also addressed the seminar. He said Indonesian people's sense of nationalism would not be easily diverted if they realized the importance of staying united as a nation.

He named the state ideology and the people's outlook as two factors that determined the survival of the nation. "Many other countries have crumbled because they had no ideology which formed the basis for common action," he said.

"This is why, in many Western countries, there are discussions on possible future ideologies," he said.