Unrest shows society is 'sick', minister says
JAKARTA (JP): The riots and rampages that have jolted the country these past months are symptoms of a sick society, Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo said yesterday.
"(Government) officials and the people are 'sick' because of lowered rationality and heightened emotional state. Unless we cure their sickness, the nation will disintegrate," Siswono was quoted by Antara as saying.
He was referring to the unrest that has rocked various parts of Indonesia, including the cities of Jakarta, Surabaya, Dili, Situbondo, Tasikmalaya, and Sanggau Ledo.
"Frankly, all this has made it difficult for me to sleep. Incidents like those could make this nation fall to pieces," he said.
He acknowledged development brings positive as well as negative impacts, and officials and people have their own agendas, a condition which sometimes triggers open conflict.
He regrets the unethical practices of some officials, such as corruption, collusion, and manipulation, while many people continue to face poverty, unemployment and suffer injustices.
These people could thus be easily provoked to take to the streets and damage public property, he said.
"This is a growing pain. Along with growth, social ills emerge," he said. "Old, established values have dissolved, while new values have yet to emerge."
To cure the sickness, Yudohusodo said, law and order must be obeyed, morality must be restored, and officials must become good role models.
Siswono is only one among many officials and observers who have contributed their opinions about the social and political tension that has beset Indonesia since last year. Unlike many before him, however, Siswono did not immediately pin the blame on unknown entities such as "a third party." In addition, he pointed the finger at officials for contributing to the situation.
Earlier this week, two religious scholars strove to explain why there had been so many cases of violence and why people were so easily provoked into attacking others.
Nurcholish Madjid said limited opportunity for people to express their feelings or let off steam about the widening social and economic disparities was one reason people rioted.
"The situation has become such that even a 'needle' could make people burst," Nurcholish told The Jakarta Post during a break in a seminar here Wednesday.
"This needle could take any form, even a petty row between individuals was sufficient to cause rioting."
Progress in education has given people a magnifying glass with which to read situations they deem unjust. He said two decades ago, poor people were usually poorly educated as well.
"The contemporary poor are richer than the paupers of the past, they are better educated, more critical and articulate. With poor communication channels, this really creates a problem," he said.
He called for better implementation of the fifth tenet of state-ideology Pancasila, namely social justice for all, and for greater respect for people's freedom of expression, and their right to assemble.
Chairman of the youth bureau of the Indonesian Communion of Churches Dicky Mozes Mailoa told the Post the bureau had found similarities in the Situbondo and Tasikmalaya riots, namely the involvement of outsiders in the violence.
"Most of the rioters were not locals," he said.
He said the bureau considered the recent riots to be "political in nature" and threatening to the country's long- fostered inter-religious co-existence.
The unrest in the East Java town of Situbondo and the West Java town of Tasikmalaya claimed five lives and four lives respectively. In each, a number of churches were attacked.
The most recent violence took place in Sanggau Ledo district, Sambas regency, West Kalimantan, where thousands of Dayak tribesmen became involved in a clash with migrants from Madura Island, East Java. Five people died in the violence. (08/swe)