What the 2004 elections tell young generation

What the 2004 elections tell young generation

Thomas Hidya Tjaya, Lecturer, Driyarkara School of Philosophy, Jakarta

Many Indonesians, if not all, observe the upcoming general
election with much apprehension. Logistical arrangements,
including the preparation of ballot boxes, seem far from
complete. People fear the election campaigns under way may easily
turn into chaotic clashes to nobody's benefit.

Supporters of all election participants are fighting (often
literally) for comfortable seats in legislative and government
bodies. What are the seats for? To serve better the people of
this country? I'm afraid not. More realistic answers, as many
critics have pointed out, would be for the power, position and
money that go with them.

As this political drama plays itself out, with its failings
laughed at with some considerable concern, one may forget that
the younger generation in this country is also watching. Both
students and children who are forced from school to meet daily
ends are observing their older brothers and sisters vie, often
harshly and without morality, for political power. They are
learning some practical lessons for thriving in the political
arena, a crash course one may call "Indonesian Politics 101."

First, they will learn that if they want to accumulate plenty
of wealth easily, they had better become legislators or
government officials. Of course, they could get rich by becoming
entrepreneurs. But economic uncertainty and volatility always
loom large and might ultimately bring them to bankruptcy.

Thus, a much more assuring way to rise up the ladder of the
most well-off in this country is to join the ruling elite. They
will even get paid for issuing permits to those entrepreneurs who
are desperate for their new projects to unfold.

Second, they will learn that they do not need knowledge about
governance and other skills to be candidates. As long as they
have enough money for formal registration and various gratuitous
fees, they should be fine. Government buildings have long looked
no different from chambers of commerce.

Of course, it would be helpful if the young generation were
celebrities of some sort, for party officials would come to them
and ask whether they would be willing to represent the party.

Third, they will soon find out that not even good moral
standing is necessary for public office. As long as they have
good political connections, sufficient blindness not to see their
own faults and, of course, sufficient obstinacy to disregard what
people say about them and carry on regardless, they will pave the
way toward those glorious seats.

Is this to say that morality and conscience taught in class
have died in their country? Hush, that's not the issue. It may be
a little deceptive, but what is important is that people will
still call them "representatives of the people".

Fourth, they will come to an understanding that they must
fight fiercely for their ideology, their party and its leaders.
Election campaigns often turn into battlefields, and they must be
ready for the (physical) struggle. What is supposed to be a
"feast of democracy" is often experienced as a period of chaos.

In class they may learn that democratic government is built on
people's trust to hand over some of their rights to the elite for
the well-being of all citizens. They may also have been taught
that winning the hearts of the people requires rational debate
about political and economic programs for the country.

But they may ultimately learn the lessons most from street
politics in which fists and stones work more effectively to beat
their opponents. Forget being rational animals. When it comes to
real politics, people often somehow turn into mere animals in
street violence and lose their rationality.

The list of lessons that the young generation learns about
this election could be much longer. There are surely things they
learn without even our knowing.

Now, what should teachers and other educators do? How are they
to teach their students that power is meant to serve others and
not to be abused for one's own interests? They will find it hard
to teach the young generation, as Cicero the Roman politician
proposed, that we human beings are born not for ourselves alone,
but rather for the sake of humanity, so that we may be able to
help one another, using our talents and learning.

It will be equally hard to encourage students to engage in
rigorous study for their future and that of their country. The
entire political scene seems to give them the impression that the
pursuit of academic excellence has hardly any worth in this
country. If it is money that they are after, they surely know
where to go for it.

Educators may easily lose the battle against political
revelers who embody the route to fame and wealth and continue to
entertain the dreams of the young generation. Perhaps they can
only hope that the younger generation will ultimately find wisdom
in Edmund Burke's words: "If we command our wealth, we shall be
rich and free; if our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed."

Political education is indeed a formidable task, particularly
when the current political wind goes against these ideals.
Everybody in this country bears immense responsibility for the
younger generation. Politicians should always be mindful of the
roles they play and the examples they set. What young minds watch
on TV and see in the streets may speak more loudly and remain
more deeply embedded than what they receive in class.