The Making of Indonesia - Research Paper Example

The Making of Indonesia The facts and myths about Indonesia, a Southeast Asian country, make it a highly complex matter with its incomprehensibly varied and dynamic history, politics and social structure. Its international image, however, to a certain extent has been defined by Oriental theories that partially represent its true political, social, historical, religious and national aspects. The President of the United States articulated his views, while addressing the students of the University of Indonesia: “The nations of Southeast Asia must have the right to determine their own destiny, and the United States will strongly support that right.  But the people of Southeast Asia must have the right to determine their own destiny as well.” (Obama 2010) The concepts of ‘Orientalism’ and ‘othering’ could not have been explained in better words. The region of Southeast Asia is supposed to have common issues; and this kind of geographical cartography represents the mindset of the Western nations. The phrase, ‘the right to determine their own destiny’ has profound repercussions of centuries of colonialism and imperialism of Southeast Asian countries. This historical fact has so arendered the concept of Orientalism to a great extent. As the heritage of Indonesia is diverse and magnanimous; therefore, it was natural to ignore certain facts about Indonesia while studying and analyzing its existing political, religious and social structures. Islam, being the dominant religion in this country raises concerns in the West that desire it to become a secular country, in its own interest. The territories that became Indonesia produced lengthy, bloody dynastic struggles, savage pirates, and bitter resistance to colonial conquest, but the existing cultural conditions were so deeply embedded that even the arrival of Islam turned few into crusaders for the faith.... Indonesia has become something of a bell-weather country, in which the world will see what modern Islam can make of itself, but, for now, the most impressive thing about this “Muslim” state is how secular it remains. ( Peters, 208-209) In the wake of the wave of terrorism that has affected almost all countries of the world, the West looks up to Indonesia to handle and manage religious extremism at least on its own soil, and not let the Al-Qaeda to use it for its heinous agendas and crimes. The West is aware of the power of the Muslim clerics in Indonesia and hence urge for secular democracy, so that it may suit its fight against terrorism that is believed to be funded by the Muslim jihadists. The strategic position of Indonesia is highly important and critical. Despite the fact that it is facing huge economic crisis, and the corruption level in the country also alarmingly high; yet, the United States has its stakes in the country. According to a study conducted by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, there are certain issues in Indonesia that need to be addressed directly. Indeed, the Indonesian political system has undergone significant change since Indonesia’s independence, but it is incorrect to argue that there was only change without continuity. The authoritarian system has indeed been replaced by a democratic system but primordial sentiments and traditional outlooks have not been completely eradicated. The division of the Indonesian political culture, secular nationalism and Islamic nationalism, may have continued as reflected in Indonesian political parties. (123) However, the youth of Indonesia seems promising enough to promote religious tolerance and curb religious extremism to fulfil the dreams of Modern-Indonesia. Though the ‘primordial sentiments and traditional outlooks’ seem to threat the emerging democratic environment and economic development in Indonesia; however, it cannot be denied that it would remain an integral part of the political and social scene of indonesia. Broadly speaking, the entire Southeast Asian region breeds a culture of primordial sentiments and traditional outlooks- something that is almost alien to the Western mentality. This is one of the ways how Oriental people are viewed collectively: to have preserved their ancient traditions and amalgamate it in their political and social cultures. Yet, the efforts to uplift its existing state of industry and commerce are not ignored by the West. It is well aware of the efforts of the government of Indonesia to update its aviation industry, according to the international standards. The Oxford Business Group published a report in 2008 that: ...the Indonesian government is seeking help from Australia... The Australian government will provide training in air traffic management... transport safety and crash investigation... transfer of technical knowledge and expertise to search and rescue teams, ferry operators and marine transport inspectors. (105) It is pretty obvious from this report, that Indonesia is not self sufficient in managing its aviation industry. This report also highlights the fact that Indonesia is willing to gain technical knowledge and expertise from developed countries, in order to advance its economic progress. Thus, it attracts foreign investors with its aspirations, unlike many Muslim countries that are opposed to this idea. Apparently, the global views regarding Indonesia’s democratic situation changed altogether, after the elections of 2004. “The emergence of autonomous voters is a healthy development in Indonesia’s journey towards becoming a well-functioning, modern democracy.” (Aspinall and Mietzner, 71) During the Suharto rule, Indonesia was an altogether different story. Democracy opened new avenues not only for the local people but for foreigners as well, who saw numerous opportunities in the business, industrial, and banking sector. The President Obama’s speech itself is an example of what the West feels and thinks about Indonesia. In the case of Indonesia, the perspective of the West is critical and dependent upon the performance of the elected government from whom the West expects a lot. Indonesia is represented by the West as an emerging picture of modern Islamic country, that doesn’t breed or support terrorist activities but believes in religious freedom. In this way, the West is trying to secularize Indonesia’s government by portraying it as a picture of modern Islam and emerging democracy; fighting terrorism; maintaining secularism in the government etc. In this regard, this emerging democracy has been saddled with immense responsibilities by the West, as a protector of its values; while the president of the United States also referred to “shared values” with Indonesia in his speech1. It is not just about Orientalism that can be noticed in his speech; as his speech is also about strengthening strategic partnership in this region that would serve the interests of the West. By extending its cooperation in various fields, the fact is highlighted that Indonesia needs support by the West, in order to run its political and social institutions and to strengthen its democracy. The West expects it to represent the modern face of Islam and to curb all sort of extremism from its grounds, so that the rest of the Muslim world can look up to it as an example. One of the greatest challenges of the West is to fight terrorism and religious extremism, which are attributed to most Oriental countries. Therefore, it is on their agendas to work together with their Oriental partners in their fight against terrorism and to eradicate religious extremism. The president talked about preserving Indonesia’s natural resources and helping it develop clean energy technologies to power the industries2. He stressed upon mutual cooperation between the two countries in various fields and encouraged collaboration between scientists and researchers to foster entrepreneurship. Clean energy technologies and advancement in research and scientific development are possessed by the Western powers, so far; while most Oriental countries have not achieved that level of scientific advancement. Thus the concept of Orientalism is illustrated in a vivid manner in this speech. The president’s stress upon the establishment of democracy spoke volumes about the underlying issues related to it. It is a fact that the post-colonial era has witnessed the evolution of political and social structure of Indonesia; yet it has a long way to go. The President pointed towards some very important areas like: access to open markets, free press, free judiciary, accountability, open society, active and equal citizens etc.3 These are in fact, inherent oriental issues, as viewed and believed by the West. It has defined such perspectives by comparing the pace of development and political and social structures of oriental countries with themselves. Indonesia, like many other Oriental countries have varied domestic issues to handle like: poverty, unemployment, lack of opportunities, human trafficking, ethnic violence, etc. The West, particularly the US, is not ignorant of the staggering statistics of poverty, unemployment, ethnic violence and human trafficking but constantly monitors the performance of the government regarding this issue. The Indonesian Government was placed in Tier 2 in the 2007 U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report for not fully complying with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but making significant efforts to do so.  There are reports of military members, police, soldiers and some government officials who are complicit in trafficking. (human trafficking.org) Indonesia has not always been represented in a true manner. Myopic studies of Indonesian culture have partially ignored the theological, political, traditional and cultural aspects which are so diverse that they cannot be analyzed when grouped together. Each aspect needs to be studied within its own context, as the geography of Indonesia is so diverse that the inherent historical, political realities, demographics and other statistics are altogether different from each other. “...the persistence of Orientalist themes in Euro-American Indonesian Studies is due in large measure to the influence Clifford Geertz, whose renown for theoretical contributions to anthropology and other human sciences is well known and well deserved. Geertz theoretical acumen was, unfortunately, combined with a simplistic and inaccurate understanding of Islam and its role in the lives of Javanese and other Indonesians.” (Woodward, 64) Therefore, it is not plausible to solely rely on studies of Indonesia from a certain source. Unfortunately, there is limited material available on the history of cultures in Indonesia; consequently, the West has to rely on typical Oriental details and assumptions while representing Indonesia to the rest of the world. Thus, Indonesia, like many other Southeast Asian countries is defined within the parameters of Orientalism. The President’s speech is a manifestation of how the West compares and contrasts the political, social, traditional, religious and other aspects of Oriental countries. Obama’s speech focussed on three main areas: Democracy, development and religious faith. These are actually the core issues where the world thinks Indonesia must concentrate on. The most crucial challenges where the government of Indonesia, according to Obama’s speech are: anti-corruption, transparency and accountability. In this regard, it is clear that corruption, political instability and religious extremism are some of the most important attributes associated with Oriental countries like Indonesia. This is the concept of ‘othering’ enunciated by the West about typical Oriental issues. Work Cited Ananta, Aris, Arifin, Evi and Leo Suryadinata. Emerging Democracy in Indonesia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies 2005. Print. Aspinall, Edward and Marcus Mietzner. Problems of Democratisation in Indonesia: Elections, Institutions and Society. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2010. Print. Barack Obama. Address to Students at the University of Indonesia delivered 10 November 2010, Depok, Indonesia Human Traficking.Org: A web resource for combating human trafficking. 2006. Web. 24 November 2011. The Report: Indonesia 2008. Oxford business Group, 2008. Print. Peters, Ralph. Lines of Fire: A Renegade Writes on Strategy, Intelligence, and Security. Mechanicsburg: Stack Pole Books, 2011. Print. Woodward, Mark. Java, Indonesia and Islam. USA: Springer, 2011. Print. Read More