Youth Pledge Day and its meaning

By Amir Sidharta

JAKARTA (JP): We Indonesians have been boasting about our vast cultural diversity. Our national motto, Bhineka Tunggal Ika, means, in essence, Unity in Diversity.

There are 580 dialects spoken by various peoples living in this vast archipelago of 17,508 islands. It is perhaps the most diverse nation in the world.

Last Wednesday, we commemorated the 70th anniversary of Youth Pledge Day. On Oct. 28, 1928, youth organizations representing various ethnic groups declared: Bertanah air satu, Tanah Air Indonesia; berbangsa satu, bangsa Indonesia; berbahasa satu, bahasa Indonesia. (One country, one nation, one language, Indonesia).

While the pledge can be considered as a nationalist elan, perhaps this year, it is more appropriate to consider the pledge from the standpoint of cultural diversity.

Instead of capitalizing on the vast diversity we have been boasting, the New Order government tended to take it for granted. Instead of dealing with the "diversity" aspect of the nation, it instead overemphasized the "unity" aspect.

This is clear every time we watch the evening news on the state television station TVRI; they show their motto, Menjalin Persatuan dan Kesatuan (To Establish Unification and Unity).

Persatuan and Kesatuan in this case, mean the same thing, so it is not clear why this motto includes such a redundancy.

The New Order government certainly endorsed the notion of Indonesia as a melting pot into which cultures must merge into one. The government's standards for development were modeled after development at the center, or in other words, development in Java.

Their approach in addressing the problems of food in Irian Jaya, for example, was to introduce rice cultivation on the island, while the people of Irian Jaya preferred sweet potatoes as their staple.

Government officials tried to encourage the men of Dani, who have traditionally dress themselves with pride in penis sheaths, to start wearing shirts and trousers.

Now, many of the Dani who wear western clothing have skin diseases. Apparently, the Dani consider the rivers as a source of life; so, traditionally they would not use the river for washing. For this reason, they are not able to wash their clothes regularly.

To ensure development in this remote region, the government has tried to replace the wood and thatch huts -- round in plan -- in which the Dani have traditionally dwelled, with brick houses -- square in plan -- which appear closer to what people live in on Java.

The politics of centralism clearly derives from a notion of ethnocentricity, in which one considers his own ethnic group as superior to others.

While development on Java is the model for social and economic development, the model for the progress in tourism seems to be Bali.

There were reports that some Balinese have been transmigrated to the islands of Belitung to ensure a culturally rich development of tourism on the South Sumatran island.

It is clear from the few examples above, that the New Order government has done little to address the issue of diversity. Diversity is, instead, used to compartmentalize people into categories predetermined by the New Order regime.

The New Order government encouraged stereotyping, as can be seen in the portrayal of ethnic groups in the mass media, particularly on television. There are also reports that the most recent high school tests include some problems that further enhance stereotyping.

The regime used its power to control its grip on society by placing limits on the spectrum of diversity to allow. For example, there are only five recognized religions, and Confucianism is not recognized as an official belief, making it extremely difficult for Confucianists to wed officially.

In terms of politics, every mass organization was required to adopt Pancasila as its sole principle. There were only two parties plus the Golongan Karya functional group that were allowed to be politically active and take part in general elections.

It was common for the government to only recognize the professional organizations they endorsed. The Indonesian Journalists' Association was the only recognized association of journalists, while the Alliance of Independent Journalists was banned.

Throughout the New Order period, Indonesia was exercising "limited diversity", even though it has always boasted the nation's vast cultural diversity.

This is certainly a far cry from Britain. As a country in which minorities comprise only 5.5 percent of the total population, it has placed serious attention on the issue of cultural diversity. The Arts Council of England has prepared a Cultural Diversity Action Plan. Perhaps it would be useful to review this plan.

The key principle of diversity in this plan applies more widely than the issues of ethnicity. It refers to the right to cultural self-definition and the value given to the individual voice, as endorsed in Unesco's Our Creative Diversity, which states, "cultural freedom, by protecting alternative ways of living, encourages experimentation, diversity, imagination and creativity.

"Cultural freedom leaves us free to meet one of the most basic needs, the need to define our own basic needs."

Unesco's document addresses the issue of equal accessibility. The Action Plan of the Arts Council of England states that "the issue at stake here is not one of problematic marginalized groups but of structures and institutions that have a tendency -- whether from ignorance, hostility or apathy -- to marginalize groups and individuals.

Barriers to access are historical and attitudinal, deeply buried in the thinking and structure of organizations, they will need continual revisiting as well as phased and targeted action.

The plan calls for the institution of full implementation of equal opportunities, which can ensure the creation of "an inclusive environment in which the creativity of all (whether artists, audiences or managers) can flourish".

Today, it seems more and more appropriate to view Indonesia's Youth Pledge Day in the context of cultural diversity, particularly as the issues of federalism have started to be reintroduced and discussed. More importantly, the issues of equal opportunities need to be addressed immediately.

Some groups that have faced ethnic discrimination, sometimes as a response marginalized groups themselves, inflict similar measures of discrimination -- by which they themselves have been discriminated -- toward other groups.

As a result, they become perceived as an exclusive group, which further buries them within the stereotyped compartments.

Instead of resonating the idea of racial discrimination, marginalized groups should, instead, spearhead a drive toward the implementation of equal opportunities, which aims to abolish the limitation of, or access to, or participation in, education, employment, social, cultural or other activities on the basis of age, color, disability, gender, marital status, national origin, political persuasion, race, religion, sexual orientation or veteran status.

The sooner the principles of equal opportunities are adopted, the sooner people will realize how individuals of diverse cultural backgrounds can contribute positively toward broader and much more comprehensive insight into matters of concern, as well as the flourishing of creativity.

That is what the Youth Pledge Day of 1928 may signify in the future.