Sparking Contextual Awareness in Organising

The recent phenomenon of public conversations exhibiting recurring, similar patterns raises a significant question. Commotions emerge one after another, often concerning trivial matters that should not occupy timelines, news channels, or social media, yet they persistently do. Petty issues, or matters that could be resolved at a lower level, frequently dominate massive and often unruly public discourse. In reality, absurd conversations often snowball into further questions that do not lead towards any goal of understanding. This wildness may stem from an organisation’s failure to manage its administrators and members, or from a lack of awareness among them, caused by an acceptance of habits that have become a justification for routine organisational activities. Such conditions can occur in formal or non-formal organisations, non-profit or for-profit entities, and state or non-state bodies. Organisational dynamics can manifest consistently through various characters and models. We should appreciate dynamics such as leadership succession, target achievement activities, and programmes that benefit the surrounding environment. Conversely, counterproductive dynamics often ultimately lead to an organisation’s ruin. The dynamics that should be amplified are those that are controlled, growing, and developing in line with the organisation’s direction and policies, so its existence holds beneficial value. Reflecting on Indonesia, which currently has at least 636,000 community organisations according to data released by polkam.go.id on 17 November 2025, this number represents a potential that could provide benefits for the nation if managed well. Instead of bringing benefits, many organisations are enthusiastic at their founding but weak in their journey. This phenomenon is evident from the sheer number of organisations established in this country. If compared to Indonesia’s current population of over 280 million, there is roughly one organisation for every 400 residents, calculated linearly based on population alone. Moreover, if every organisation spread an awareness of goodness to participate in Indonesia’s development and progress, self-reliance and resilience could become inherent impacts. This is where deep reflection is needed so that organisations have a social responsibility to strengthen each other within their environmental awareness, regardless of their type or form, in accordance with applicable norms. The luxury of freedom in a borderless era is an abundance that often brings deep pressure due to a lack of awareness in every choice of idea and desire an individual possesses. The freedom provided by history causes the wildness of individual freedom to veer towards claims of truth, goodness, and beauty over other individuals. Simultaneously, new borders also emerge to accommodate the freedom enveloping them, so clashes of ideas and desires often find dangerous intersections that lead to conflict. If conflict occurs in the exchange and debate of ideas, it can still be managed, but if it escalates into social conflict, it becomes very dangerous. Therefore, the differences and freedom of ideas, notions, and desires of every individual must be managed well so that their release into the social sphere can be controlled. Ultimately, alienation becomes a logical consequence of possessing freedom that is not managed well, turning into a mirage. This happens because the exchange of ideas and desires actually comes from the outside (an absence of awareness) rather than from within (awareness), which evaporates. In the short term, forgiveness is a word close to this condition, but over a long period, the resulting alienation will change genuine awareness into a false one. This condition ultimately leads to a lack of foundation for true awareness of truth, goodness, and beauty, because every entity has the right to make claims of truth, goodness, or beauty over other entities. These claims need sufficient space allocation to achieve order in their interactions. An organisation, as a group of people coordinating consciously to achieve a common goal, is one way to find this order. Order is built from the heterogeneous articulations expressed and revealed by each member through assimilation and acculturation. Order is born from agreed-upon rules, whether in the form of commitments, provisions, procedures, or regulations made by state or government institutions. Rules are a set of boundaries that have been agreed upon or declared according to the organisation’s authority, serving as a reference for taking or not taking action. In social interaction, this is often referred to as a norm, which, according to Prof. Jimly Asshiddiqie (2020) in his book on the theory of legal norm hierarchy, is a principle that regulates, guides, and directs humans to behave and act ideally in communal life, and can be written, a code of ethics, or a religious norm. In line with agreements called commitments or social contracts, whether written or unwritten, these forms also need to be scrutinised.