The mystification of the unitary state of Indonesia

The mystification of the unitary state of Indonesia

Riwanto Tirtosudarmo, Jakarta

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono attended the commemoration
of "Pancasila Sanctity" Day on Oct. 1, a practice that was
scrapped by former president Abdurrahman Wahid. The purpose of
the celebration, however, has changed to not only remember the
(non-communist) victims of the alleged coup attempt by the now
defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), but to reaffirm the
country's commitment to the concept of the Unitary State of
Indonesia, known by its Indonesian acronym "NKRI".

NKRI until now is still regarded as having a sacred and
mystical status that stands above and beyond all other interests.

Indonesia, in contrast with the neighboring state of Malaysia,
was born as a nation with a strong sentiment of civic
nationalism. The Javanese, although demographically the dominant
ethnic group, accepted non-ethnic based nationalism.

On Oct. 28, 1928, leaders of various youth organizations
gathered in Batavia (now Jakarta) and declared the Youth Pledge
-- One Nation, One Nationality, and One Language.

"Indonesia", an obscure Greek word first coined by G.W. Earl
and J.R. Logan in their articles written in 1850, was
subsequently used by a progressive student organization in the
Netherlands and became an important symbol of nationalism and a
rallying slogan for nationalist leaders in the struggle for
independence.

When our founding fathers declared the nation's independence
on Aug. 17, 1945, secular ideologies (nationalism, communism and
socialism) apart from Islam became the basis for party politics
after independence.

Political life in the fifties and early sixties shows the
continuation of trans-ethnic based parties and the importance of
civil society in Indonesia. After the Sept. 30 tragedy, and the
ouster of the country's first president Sukarno, only the
military and the weak nationalist and Islamic parties still
existed in the Indonesian political landscape.

The military under Gen. Soeharto, who became Indonesia's
second president in 1968, slowly transformed itself into a
powerful organization that comprehensively infiltrated national
politics and civilian government. The Indonesian political
terrain was depoliticized under the new quasi ideology of
developmentalism. The government, supported by the U.S. and the
West generally, focused national development strategy on economic
growth.

Furthermore, under Soeharto political parties were
marginalized and the regions become peripheralized. In this
period, decentralization was conducted within the contexts of
over-centralization and the deepening process of mystification of
Indonesia as a conclusive and final unitary state.

In the New Order's period a narrow version of Indonesian
nationalism was entrenched and became a source of intimidation
and persecution for the government's critics and any groups that
were perceived as a threat to national integration and the
political stability of the ruling elites.

With the fall of Soeharto from power in 1998 political parties
flourished again. The 1945 Constitution was amended, and general
elections were far more democratic. The over-centralization was
loosening up.

It is within this changing climate of decentralizing politics
that ethnicity emerged as a strong mobilizing cultural movement
in the post-Soeharto political landscape. The emergence of ethnic
politics in the current decentralizing era could have detrimental
impacts on Indonesia's nation-building process.

The strengthening of ethnocentrism -- mostly reflected by non
Javanese -- that developed in conjunction with the implementation
of new decentralization policies could be seen as a process of
disintegration from within. From the perspective of ethnic
relations in Indonesia it also interesting to see whether the
current emergence of ethnic politics also reflects the long
suppressed anti-Javanese sentiment.

Relations between the centre and regions have always been an
important political agenda item and are constantly being
negotiated throughout the life of the republic.

However, the mystification of NKRI under Soeharto is regaining
momentum again now. The military's strong perception of the
nation as essentially constituting a spatial entity with a clear
geographic boundaries that should be jealously guarded from
external threats has become the underlying factor in mystifying
NKRI as a sacred cow with all its taboos.

From this narrow nationalistic view point the possible
implementation local autonomy in Aceh and Papua, or federalism as
a logical political alternative for a future Indonesia, has
always been resisted by the ruling elites.

Yet, on the contrary, Indonesia has been experiencing a
process of disintegration from within under the sacredness of
NKRI. A celebration of national symbols is indeed crucial in
strengthen people's feeling of nationhood, however it should not
obliterate it.

The writer is a researcher at the Research Center for Society
and Culture, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).