What learning is emerging from the election?

What learning is emerging from the election?

Simon Marcus Gower
Executive Principal
High/Scope Indonesia School
Jakarta

The elections in Indonesia would probably reasonably be
heralded around the world as another step in the right direction
for democracy. Such an analysis is, though, not really very deep
in considering what has been going on here during the election
campaigning and what the prospective candidates have been laying
out as their agenda for the voting public.

The election campaign has quite consistently been taking on
the nature of a carnival or a popularity contest which has only
incidentally explored real and substantive issues in a way that
would more closely represent and generate democratic development.

With the consistent parading of celebrities, it is very
apparent that Indonesia's political parties have been looking to
generate support and gather influence through using quite base
and populist tactics.

Not only are a variety of television celebrities enrolled to
occasionally speak but more often just be seen, but concerts have
been presented on the back of political rallies. It is probably
more accurate to state that the rallies have become rather more
of a sideshow attached to the concerts.

Typically, with dangdut singers doing their hip-gyrating thing
on a stage with blasting electronically pumped music, crowds of
mostly young men have been seen literally becoming hysterically
involved in the moment. It is very difficult to see how these
kinds of activities represent progress towards democracy and it
is literally impossible to see how any discourse over the future
of the nation is taking place. Issues are left far behind in a
hedonistic love of the moment.

Often, too, we have seen appeals to people's senses of
nationalism used to engender support for parties here. Likewise,
candidates have been quick and willing to both metaphorically and
literally wrap themselves in the red and white flag of Indonesia
to promote themselves as patriots and capitalize on some
patriotic fervor that might accumulate more votes for them.

So where does this leave the democratic hopes for the election
and the legitimate hopes for good policy development and
political growth for the nation in the future? Sadly, the
indicators from this election campaign do not suggest that much
political debate and development has accrued and inevitably this
means that divergent and beneficial policy-making looks unlikely
to emerge.

In fact, the whole election campaign could be viewed
negatively as a facile exercise of duping the people and doing
very little to develop the nation. In monetary terms alone the
campaigning may be seen as costly and this is pitiful given the
monetary needs of the nation.

The manner in which candidates have appealed to voters' senses
of nationalism and patriotism is almost rendered cynical. True
patriotism surely lies in bringing forward plans and proposals
for the future benefit of the nation but in the election
campaigning these seem to have been in short supply.

The needs for investment in the nation's future are abundant
and painful and there can be no greater constituent element of a
nation's future than its education system. But this too seems not
to have been sufficiently thought of throughout this campaign.
The issue of education should be in the minds of voters as they
go to cast their votes rather that the gyrating of a singer or
shallow appeals to their patriotism.

Education is what is needed more than anything else in this
country, or any country, to offer up any hope of a brighter
future. This, then, is where the hearts and minds of candidates
and voters should be. Indonesia's needs in terms of education are
considerable and consequently this election should have
significantly been about education for this nation.

The facts are all too powerful and compelling to be ignored.
Tens of thousands of schools throughout Indonesia are literally
in desperate need of physical repair. School children attending
school in dilapidated buildings should surely pain and grieve us
all. Likewise the fact, as reported by UNESCO, that more than
twenty-five million children are left with no choice but to
withdraw from schooling before they have even completed the
Elementary level of schooling is simultaneously shocking,
disturbing and, ought to be, shaming legislators into action.

But is there evidence that the grave needs and concerns for
education here are "shaming" people into action? Regrettably
there are consistent reports that any sense of shame stimulating
positive action is in short supply. In fact, to quite the
contrary, reports consistently suggest that officials charged
with responsibility for schools and schooling will often have no
sense of shame.

It has often been reported that monies set aside for schools
and education projects are prone to getting lost in that sickness
which still plagues too many people of collusion and corruption.
Even the most basic of needs, it has been reported, for school
buildings has been the subject of abuse. Contracts for repair
works being awarded in a collusive manner is always going to run
the risk of substandard procedures and workmanship being applied.

As a consequence of these kinds of practices costs are
increased and monies wasted. The recent severe rainy season that
seemed to cloud Jakarta's skies for weeks on end saw numerous
schools suffer leaking and collapsing ceilings and sometimes this
was happening at schools that had only recently been "renovated".
Inevitably, the quality of repair works at such schools is drawn
into doubt.

Also, there are reports of less than wholesome practices being
applied to the supply of materials for schools; such as textbooks
that are forced upon schools with monopolistic control. Forcing
schools to buy books that, in all probability, are not hugely
beneficial to the development of the schools and education
generally is a practice that is painfully counter-productive.

These are issues that should be at the forefront of political
debate and election discourse. Of course, they are not
necessarily issues that are comfortable for political leaders to
address but the connections between education and future growth
are incontrovertible and so demand the attention of "would-be"
political leaders.

In this election it is easy to be reminded of the adage
"politicians are people that think about the next election --
statesmen are people that think about the next generation."
Education, and the nation, needs statesmen. Learning for the
benefit of the nation will not accrue from a popularity contest
but must necessarily arise from facing hard issues and the
application of true statesmanship.

The opinions expressed above are personal.