thoughts on a modern civil society: the indonesian case

7/31/2019 Thoughts on a Modern Civil Society: The Indonesian Case

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ThoughtsonamodernCivilSociety:

TheIndonesianCase1

BacharuddinJusufHabibie2

TherearesomecommonbasicprinciplesforanymodernSocietythatmust

befulfilledsuchas:

Freedom Independence Pluralism HumanRightsbalancedwithHumanResponsibilities Values JusticeandProsperity

Thequestionis,howtoachievethistodayinaWell-informedGlobalSociety

thatis:

LowCostandLowRisk, HighQualityand Constitutional.

WhetherasocietyliveswithinaKingdom,RepublicoraCommonMarket

likeEurope,ASEANoranyotherformofStatedependsonvariouscultural,

historical,politicalandpragmaticconsiderations.

As enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, it is the interest of

peaceamongpeopleandnations,nottointerfereintheInternalAffairsof

anyothernations/society.Withtheaccumulatedexperienceofmorethan6

decadesinafastchangingworld,theUnitedNationsanditsnetworkshould

givemore attention to adjusting its systemwith the GlobalizedWorld of

today.

IntheworkoftheUN,concernsaboutHumanRightsmustbebalancedwith

Human Responsibilities. The impact of global changes and the need for

appropriate adjustments must be given special attention. The UNs

organizationalmechanismdeservesspecialattentiontoo.

1

DeutscheWelleGlobalMediaForum:CULTURE,EDUCATION,MEDIAshapingasustainableworld,INTERNATIONALCONFERENCE,2527June2012Bonn,Germany.2Prof.Dr.-Ing.Dr.Sc.h.c.mult.,FormerPresidentoftheRepublicofIndonesia(1998,1999)


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Theworldanditsproblemstodayistotallydifferenttothetimewhenthe

UnitedNationsanditsnetworkwerefounded.

Currently states and societieshave theirownsystemsormechanismsfor

developing, adjusting and improving their respective Constitutions for abetterandhigherQualityofLife,accordingthewilloftheirownpeople.

The people create and it isalsothe same people that have tosolvetheir

ownproblemsandmake the flowofobjectiveand subjective-appropriate

Informationforgettinghighqualitydecisions,asfastaspossible.

WhereandhowtogettherightInformationattherighttime,fastandwith

highquality?

FreedomofthePressmightbethesolution.Thelocal,aswellasdomestic

andinternationalnewsthroughE-Paper,E-NewsorotherSocialNetworks

like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook etc. are Information Networks available

through the high quality hard- and software of Smart Phones, Smart

Pad,SmartNotebookandotherSmartelectronicequipmentatlowcost.

The technology innovation and development will exceed the power well

beyondnanotechnologies.

How canweguarantythe quality and objectivityof incomingInformation?

Howcanwe rely on them?Will freedomof thepress, free competitionand

transparencyhelp?HowcanweavoidmanipulationofInformation?Howcan

wepreventMoneypoliticsmisusingthefreedomofthePress?

Therearemanymorequestionstobeanswered.Anexchangeandtransfer

ofexperienceamongsocietiescouldcontributetoincreasingthequalityof

Information.

AnInterculturalDialoguewilltriggerandcouldgivemoreinformationand

understanding about Cultural Values like Morals and Ethos. Tolerance

betweenpeopleandsocietiesisbetterforsupportingawin-winsustainable

cooperation in science, technology and economic development

interdependency and productivity to increase competitiveness in sharing

and creating jobs needed for a sustainable equity distribution of income

and wealth. Because of that, political stability and economic growth will

increaseHumanSecurity needed to sustainprogress towards justice and

prosperity.


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CivilSocietyplaysaveryimportantroleindevelopingamodernsocietyas

it becomes more transparent and predictable. Economics, educational,

scienceandtechnologicalinfrastructuredevelopmentwill

systematically increase the productivity and competivenessof the people

andsocietyandsoon

TopreparethepeopleoftheCivilSociety,eachfamilyhastobeinformed

andre-educated,sothattheyhaveaccesstohealthydrinkingwater,food

andabetterunderstandingforanupbringingprocesscompatibletotheir

cultureandreligion.

Please allow me to tell you about the implementation of the above-

mentionedthoughts duringmyPresidency between21May1998and21

October 1999. More detailed report and data are available in my bookDecisiveMomentor517Tagen,theEnglishandGermantranslationsof

the original book in the Indonesian language, Detik-Detik yang

Menentukan,publishedin2006.

InMarch1998ThePeopleAssemblyoftheRepublicofIndonesiare-elected

PresidentSuharto.IwaselectedadayaftertheelectionofthePresidentas

VicePresident.

Twomonthafterwardonthe21ofMay1998,PresidentSuhartoresigned.ConstitutionallyIbecamethethirdPresidentofIndonesiaandhadtheduty

toconveneaSpecialPeoplesAssembly forelectinganewPresidentand

VicePresident.

Instead I organized a Special Peoples Assembly to revise the Peoples

AssemblydecreefromMarch1998,comprisinginteraliaofthedecisionsto:

Tobringforwardthenextgeneralelectionfrom2003to1999. Open participation in the next election to any political party as

long as it meets the criteria for becoming a political party andadheretotheexistingConstitution

HoldthePeoplesAssemblyoftheRepublicofIndonesia3monthsafter the election inOctober 1999 to elect a newPresident and

VicePresident

To make other necessary new social-political and social-economicalPeoplesAssemblydecreesasthebasesandstartofthe

Reformation.

Whatwasthesecretandreasonthatinspiteofthehighpoliticalinstabilitymarkedbydailydemonstrationsinalmostallbigcities;thefreefalloffthe

Indonesian currency, the rupiah; high inflation rate; high unemployment


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rate; and chaotic conditions - the Reformation went mostly according to

planinasystematicmanner?

IdeallyinthemodernhistoryofIndonesiathethreebranchesofPower,

1. LegislativePower(PeopleAssemblyandParliament)2. ExecutivePower(RepresentbythePresidentandVicePresident)3. JudicativePower,

wouldnevercontrolledbyoneMan.

DuringtheNewOrderperiodofPresidentSuharto

1. InthePeopleAssemblytheGOLKARFraction,TheProvinceDelegateFraction and the Armand Forces Fraction for the last 30 years

priorto1998formedacoalition,representingmorethan60%of

theVotes in theParliament aswell as in thePeoplesAssembly.This coalition was coordinated and chaired by a Chairman and

severalalternatingchairmans.

2. Becauseofthe resignationofPresidentSuharto,constitutionallytheVicePresidentbecamethePresident

3. In the53yearsof authoritarian Leadership, PresidentSukarno andPresident Suharto had made the judiciary subordinated to the

President.

ThreemonthsbeforeIwaselectedastheVicePresident,IbecametheonlyChairman without any alternating Chairman of the traditional Coalition

withmorethan80%votesintheParliamentandinthePeopleAssembly.

ImmediatelyaftertheresignationofPresidentSuharto,onemansuddenly

controlled the Executive and Legislative branches. The influence of the

samemanintheJudiciarywasalsoveryhigh.

Iwasverymuchawarethatthisdevelopmentwasunhealthyandagainst

the principles of Trias Politika of Montesquieu and could trigger arevolution, chaosand anarchy! If thishappened, the victimwill be many

innocentpeople.IndonesiacoulddissolveintomanyNewStates!Theworld

willhaveanadditionalunstableregion,SouthEastAsia!

TriasPolitikaintroducebyMontesquieuin1748wasapplied250years

later in May 1998 by adding another dimension of Power to become

QuadraPolitika:

1. LegislativePower2.

ExecutivePower3. JudicativePower

4. MediaPower


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NevertobecontrolledbyoneMan.

Thesituationatthetimewashighlyunpredictableandhadaverynegative

influenceonthedailylifeandpoliticalstability.

Many confusing so called top-secret reports from the Intelligence of the

Armed Forces, Foreign Minister, Ministry of Internal Affairs and others

addedtotheuncertainty.

CouldItrustthem?Whomtobetrusted?SomeReportswerecontradictory

Theproblemsstartedtobecomemoreunpredictableanddangerous.There

weremany concernsexpressed by internationalobservers that Indonesia

might suffer disintegration like the former Soviet Union and Yugoslaviaduringtheirdifficultpoliticaltransitions.

Basedon factsand analysis, I recognised thePeoples Powerexpressed

throughdemonstrationsandthroughaFreePressshouldformthefourth

pillarthatcanassistinchangingunpredictabilitytobecomepredictable!

Thatwastheonlyreasonwhy inthefirstdayafterthe resignationof the

PresidentIofficialallowedthepeopletodemonstrate,discussetc.Aslong

astheydidnotcommitcriminalacts!Inspiteofmanycontraryadvices,Ideclared the freedom of Press and freedom to speak and freedom to

demonstrate.Iinstructedthereleaseofallpoliticalprisonersexceptthose

whoactedagainsttheConstitution.

All the People of Indonesia contributed directlyand indirectly toprevent

theworstchaosandanarchyfromhappening!

In517DaysofmyPresidencywemadeeverydayanaverageof1,3new

Law,newPresidentialDecreeetc.thatbecamethebasesofourreformationforabetterfuture.

PleaseallowmetogiveyouallthefollowingInformation.

ThePopulationdistributionofIndonesiabasedoninhabitedislandsareas

follows: 58%inJava, 20%diSumatra, 7%inSulawesi,6%inKalimantan, 6%inBali&NusaTenggara 3%inMaluku&Papua.


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ThetotallandterritoryoftheRepublicofIndonesiais1.910.931km 2with

anaveragepopulationdensityof124people/km 2,wherethemostdensely

populatedprovincebeingDKIJakarta(14.440people/km2)andtheleast

denselypopulatedbeingWestPapua(8people/km2

).

Basedonthe2010NationalCensus,Indonesia'spopulationis237,556,363,

with119,507,580(50.31%)maleand118.048.783(49.69%)female

Based on the 2010 National Census, the citizens of Unitary State of the

RepublicofIndonesiacanbecategorizedbasedontheirethnicgroups,as

follows: 41,7%ethnicJavanese, 15,4%ethnicSundanese,and 42,9%otherethnicgroups.

ProfileofIndonesianPopulation

Ethnic (%)

Java 41,7

Sunda 15,4

Others 42,9

Total(%) 100

41.7

%

15.4

%

42.9

%

42.9

%

Ethnic Rank

%

(absolute)

%

(relative)

China 1 3,7 8,62

Malay 2 3,4 7,92

Madura 3 3,3 7,69

Batak 4 3 6,99

Minangkabau 5 2,7 6,29

Betawi 6 2,5 5,83

Bugis 7 2,5 5,83

Arab 8 2,4 5,59

Others 9 19,4 45,22

Total(%) (42,9%) (100%)

Ethnic Chinese at 3.7% are the 3rd largest after Javanese (41.7%) and

Sundanese(15,4%).

Between300to500ethniccommunitiesexistwithintheUnitaryRepublic

of Indonesia (NKRI) including those who orinally came from China, the

MiddleEast,India,andEuropeandhavelivedhereforcenturiesandhave


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assimilated to become part of the community of theUnitary State of the

RepublicofIndonesia.

Almostallmigrantswhocameweremotivatedbytheirdesiretoimprove

theirquality of life with their skills, technology and hard workwith lowcost. Theywerehardworkers andwerewilling towork inany field they

couldfindjobs.

Immigrants with this type of hard-working culture were then taken

advantage of by the colonials as "brokers" who were productive and

apoliticaltoestablishatrustworthyandreliablemiddleclass.

According to theOverseasChinese CultureCenter of 2012,oftheTop20

ethnic Chinese in the world (36,965,938), a majority live inmulti-ethnicIndonesia,7,566,200 (20.47%).Those living inSingaporerank fifthwith

2,684,900 (7.26%) and those living in The Netherlands with 144,928

(0.39%)ranklast.Rankingin2nd,3rd,and4thliveinThailand(19.08%),

Malaysia(16.74%)danUSA(9.13%)respectively.

COUNTRY (%) RANK

Indonesia 20.47 1

Thailand 19.08 2

Malaysia 16.74 3

U SA 9.13 4

Singapore 7.26 5

Canada 4.36 6

Peru 3.52 7

Vietnam 3.42 8

Philippines 3.1 9

Myanmar 2.98 10

COUNTRY (%) RANK

Russia 2.7 11

Australia 1.66 12

Japan 1.41 13

Kampuchea 0.93 14

UK 0.8 15

France 0.62 16

India 0.51 17

Laos 0.5 18

Brazil 0.42 19

Netherlands 0.39 20

Overseas Chinese Population in 20 Rank Countries

(Overseas Chinese Culture Center, 2012)

The2011WorldFactbookrecordsthatoftheoverseasIndianpopulationthat

live in ASEAN, the highest are found in Malaysia (82.54%), Singapore

(13.55%) and Indonesia (3.91%) from an overall total in ASEAN of2,784,458ethnicIndians.


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COUNTRY (%) RANK

Malaysia 82.54 1

Singapore 13.55 2

Indonesia 3.91 3

Overseas Indian Population in ASEAN Countries

(Worl Factbook, 2011)

The 2011World Factbook 2011 also records that with the overseasArab

populationthatliveinASEAN,thehighestarefoundinIndonesia(82,21%),

The Philippines (9.4%), Malaysia (4.7%) and Singapore (3.69%) from a

totalof298.000ethnicArabslivinginASEAN.

COUNTRY (%) RANK

Indonesia 82.21 1

Philippines 9.4 2

Malaysia 4.7 3

Singapore 3.69 4

Overseas Arabian Population in ASEAN Countries

(Worl Factbook, 2011)

ThefirstwaveofethnicChinesethatcametoIndonesiacamearoundthe

16thCentury,thesecondwave(thebiggest)cameduringthe19thCentury.

MostlefttheChinesemainlandbecauseofeconomicpressureswherethey

werenotabletodevelop.DifferenttotheethnicChinese,theethnicIndian


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and Arabs specifically came to Indonesia to trade and to spread their

religions(HindudanIslam).

Although 41.7% of Indonesians are of Javanese descent, pragmatic

reasoningwasusedtodeterminethatthelinguafranca,BahasaIndonesia,bebasedontheMalaylanguage(despiteethnicMalaysonlybeing3.4%of

thepopulation).Thisisoneofthereflectionsofhightolerancevaluesofa

pluralisticcommunity.

Ifwe study the developmentof human resources in the United States of

America and go as far back to when Christopher Columbus discovered

America in1492 (520 yearsago),we can see thatmotivatedby political,

economicandreligiousproblemsintheirhomecountry, immigrantsfrom

differentethnicitiescamefromtheeastandthewestandtheirpopulationincreased. Indigenous peoples slowly became a minority and became

insignificant. Only after 284 years since the discovery of America, the

people of The United States declared their Independence from the the

BritishandtheFrenchcolonialistpowers.

Now,theUShastransformedintoadevelopedpluralisticandfreesociety

whichisgovernedbyamoderndemocraticsystem.

However,throughtheirupsanddowns,democracyandhumanrightsintheUShasdevelopedviamanysacrifices:civilwar,terroristattacksandsoon.

What becomes interesting is that after 233 years of independence, the

people of the United States of America elected Barack Obama, a man of

AfricandescentasPresidentforthefirsttime.

TheUnitaryStateoftheRepublicofIndonesiahasalwaysbeenapluralistic

State.Migrants coming in fromothernations and States have assimilated

withthepluralisticIndonesia.

InthefightforourNation'sindependenceandfreedom,itwasnotjustthe

ethnic groups of Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Papua, Maluku and so on that

foughtandsacrificedthemselves.TheethnicChinese,ArabsandEuropeans

alsogavetheircontributions.

Itisthereforejustandwisethatafterseveralgenerations,thesemigrants

arenow treatedlikenatives. Somuch sothatwemention themasethnic

Arabs, ethnicEuropeans,ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indians alongsideour

ethnicBugis,ethnicJavaneseandsoon.OrinotherwordswesimplyknowthemasIndonesiancitizens.


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TheIndonesianNationhastorelyforitsfutureonthisRenewableHuman

Resources which finance its level of productivity from the income of its

NaturalResourcesandRenewableNaturalResources.

The ability of human resources to develop science and technology as aprocess that canproduce highquality, built onscheduleandat lowcosts

value-added products, as demanded by the market, will be largely

determinedbytheskillsandproductivityofthehumanresources.

The upbringing process is very much determined by culture, religion or

belief and influences the behaviour and character of human resources.

Understanding themechanismofscience and technologycan beachieved

throughagoodeducationsystem.

Apositivesynergyofculture,religion,scienceandtechnologywillincrease

theproductivityandcompetivenessofthehumanrecourses.Infrastructure

ofUpbringing and Education Network Systems has to be developed and

givenhighpriority!

BeingawareofthefastdevelopmentofGlobalSocialNetworktechnology

andthepossibilityofbringingotherculturalvalues intotheprivatelifeof

any family, I took the initiative to take measures by increasing Cultural

ResiliencebygivingFreedomtotheProvincestoensureregionalautonomyandempoweringlocalCulturalResilience.Thiswillalsocontributetotheir

productivityincrease.

Theprocessofupbringingbecomespredominantlyrootedandestablished

withinthefamily,theclanandthecommunity.Localculturesandreligions

haveamajorinfluence.

TheprocessofEducationtakesplaceatschoolsandtheworkplace.Where

schoolsdonotexistforhumanresources,itisimpossiblethattheywillbeadequatelyskilled.

Evenifhumanresourcesarealreadyskilled,butdonothavejobs,thenitis

impossibleforthemtoincreasetheircompetitiveness.

Onlyaskilledandproductivehumanresourcescanrespondtochallengesand

resolveproblems.

Only skilled andproductive human resources are able tomake superiorproducts that can harness the "benefits" and control the "threats" of

IndonesiasnaturalassetssuchasIndonesiasMaritimeContinent.


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Throughouttheworldpopulation,whosenumbershavereachedmorethan

6.8billionpeople,andiscontinuingtogrow,thereareneedsfor:

1. Food,protein,carbohydratesandcellulose2. Drinkingwater,industrialandagro-industrialwater3. Medicationsandvitaminsforhealth4. Renewableandnonrenewableenergy5. Transportandcommunications.

IntheMaritimeContinentofIndonesiathereisalotofinformationabout

thelifeandenvironment,datathatcanbeutilizedforthedevelopmentof

points1,2,3and4asmentionedabove.

For example, proteins from fish farming either from freshwater and

seawaterwhere thewater temperature andoxygen content inwaterhasnotbeencontaminated.Tunafarmingincertainbaysisverypossibleand

shouldbedevelopedfurther.

For example,rainfall insome areasof theIndonesianmaritimecontinent

suchasin Java andPapuashouldnotbe returnedto the seas, but should

insteadberecycled.

RiverwatersliketheoneinBrantasthatflowsintotheseacanberouted

throughalargepipetotheislandofMaduraforirrigationandsoon.

In the area of Memberano, the water from the river Memberano can

generate electrical energy for energy intensive industries like aluminum

and industrial metals and manufacturing industries. Also it can provide

irrigationwaterforagroindustriesgrowingintheregionofMemberano.

DNA and chromosomal information from all the lives and environments

found in Indonesia'smaritimecontinentcan provide dataand innovation

forthemanufactureofnewdrugs.

Specialelectricalenergyandrenewableenergyfuelscanbedevelopedand

utilized for transportation and communications industries. Electricity

industryoflow-temperaturegeothermalpotential ishighenoughtodrive

anelectricrailtransportnetworksinJava,SumatraandSulawesi.Electricity

from thewind (wind energy), ocean currents between the islands in the

straits of the Lesser Sunda islands should also be used to increase the

generationofrenewableelectricity.

Biofuels like bio-ethanol, biogas from animal waste at farms and

slaughterhousescanhelpaddresstheneedsofthelocalelectricalenergy.


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Thefutureofindonesiaclearlyreliesonthestrengthofthepowerofhuman

resources, with a population structure that is pluralistic, democratic,

upholdinghumanrightsandhumanobligations,cultured,independent,free

andresponsibleisbright.

This can only be achieved if the processes of upbringing and education

continuetorunsmoothlyandassuredly.Forthat,therearerequirementsto

bemet,namely:

Familiesthatareprosperous,peacefulandcultured Equitableandaffordableeducationforallaccordingtotheirtalents Equal employment opportunities available to improve productivity

andcompetitiveness.

IncreasetheInterculturaldialogamongthemanyethnicgroups Developadvantagesfromtheculturaldiversitytobecomeexcellentinmakinginnovationandworkmanship.

Makeasustainableprogresstowardsjusticeandprosperitythroughanintensivewin-wincoopertationwithothersocietiesandcountries

thoughts on a modern civil society: the indonesian case

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