Politische Kultur in Indonesien
Politische Kultur in Indonesien
Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world, while comprimising a strong ethnic diversity. Understanding Javanese and Muslim concepts is crucial to cope with Indonesian politics and its projection in the international realm.
von Zizheng Zhang
1. Definition of Political Culture
The term political culture is deeply coined by Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba who define political culture as “the pattern of orientations to political objects, for example parties, courts, constitutions, and history of a state. Orientations are predispositions to political action and determined by such factors as tradition, historical memories, motives, mores, emotions and symbols; the culture therefore represents a set of propensities. These orientations may be broken down into: cognitive orientations (knowledge and awareness of the political objects), affective orientations (emotions and feelings about the objects), and evaluative orientations (judgment about them)”.
According to Dirk Berg- Schlosser, political culture is related to different levels of political consciousness, mentalities and way of thinking and behaviors that can be seen as typical for certain groups or for the whole society. Political culture consists of all individual personality features of political relevance and predispositions. These predispositions are divided into beliefs, attitudes and values.
Political culture is also defined as the influence of the concrete political structure and the political institutions on attitudes, values, performances and demands of the population, affected by these political institutions. The political institutions, on the other hand, are determined by the participation of the population, for example in form of voting.
Following the concepts and the definitions above, political culture in Indonesia is inseparable linked with Indonesian traditions and culture as they determine the attitude of the Indonesian people towards political institutions and the political system as a whole. Furthermore, in the case of Indonesia, “cultural factors are typically brought in as a sort of dues ex machine when the combination of social, economic and historical variables seems not completely to account for particular forms of political behavior.” However, due to the fact that Indonesia is a multi- ethnical society, an Indonesian culture has never existed as such. Although the ethnic group of the Javanese is the dominant ethnic group in Indonesia with about 40% of the total Indonesian population, there are other important ethnic groups in Indonesia like the Sudanese (15%), the Chinese (5%) or the Indians (5%) with their own traditions and cultures. Analyzing Indonesian political culture another distinction has to be made, namely the religious distinction. With regard to religious groups and their political participation, the Moslems are the major and most important group in Indonesia with 86, 1% of the population. In regard of the aspects mentioned above, analyzing the political culture of Indonesia has to deal with the culture and the attitudes of different ethnical and religious groups. Due to the fact that dealing with all groups would exceed the frame of this essay, the essay will only handle the Javanese ethnical group and the Islamic group.
2. Islamic political culture
2.1 Islamic interests
According to Professor Dr. Masykuri Abdillah, interests of Muslims in Indonesia, especially the interests of Muslim intellectuals, can be divided into two groups, namely the structural and the cultural approach. While the cultural approach deals with change in social behavior, the structural approach puts emphasize on the “transformation in social and political institutions”. Thus supporters of the structural approach are favoring the introduction of an Islamic system in Indonesia , making Islam the most important aspect in the Indonesian political system, “or even as the sole factor that fulfills and colors the Pancasila ideology”. Furthermore supporters of the structural approach demand the implementation of Islamic law in Indonesian society and require an integration of Islamic principles into existing national law. This integration is “perfectly possible because Islam is embraced by the majority of Indonesians” . Supporters of the cultural approach strive to make Islam “a source of social ethics and morality”. Islam from their point of view is a complementary factor for the existing Indonesian political system that provides inspiration and motivation for the society and should not be seen as an alternative one. Regarding Islamic law, supporters of the cultural approach favor a moral injunction. Therefore they are not willing to support a formal legal injunction of the Islamic law. However the majority of Muslims supporting the cultural approach agree with the integration of Islamic law into national law. A major component of the cultural approach is the aspect that Islam should be a political force, expressed through Islamist political parties, and should not be a political ideology. Therefore the vital core of the concept of the cultural approach is the acceptance of the Pancasila state theory by Muslims and the recognition of the supremacy of the Indonesian Constitution and national law.
In general, the majority of the Muslim leaders support democracy and the five principle of Pancasila Democracy. Their aim is to achieve full political participation in order to establish a strong and democratic Indonesia. Regarding the future of Indonesia, Islam should function as “an integrative power in society and politics”. Further they put emphasize on the aspect that “Muslims’ demand must be articulated in legal, constitutional and not violent ways”.
2.2 Islamic political activities
In Indonesia about 86% of the population consider themselves as Muslims. Therefore “one might expect elite political culture in Indonesia to be not only heavily Javanese, which it is, but piously Muslim too”. However, this is not the case. In the period between 1945 and the 1980s there have been several attempts to advocate “Islam as the foundation of state” . However, they were all unsuccessful. In the mid-1980s the position of Muslim leaders changed as they started to accept the Pancasila as state philosophy , for the first principle of the Pancasila, namely belief in one God, is interpreted as neutral and tolerant regarding religion. Furthermore all five principles of the Pancasila state philosophy are seen as compatible with Islam by the majority of Muslim leaders . Islamic political culture in Indonesia can be analyzed through the development of Islamic political activities, namely the development of Islamic political parties in Indonesia. Nahdatul Ulama (NU) can be seen as the most important Islamic political party in Indonesia until 1971. Until the general election in 1971, NU politicians constantly held ministries and thus had an important influence on the political decisions of that time. However after 1971 the political position of the NU began to weaken due to the “government’s policies toward Islam, namely the depolitization of Islam and the deideologization of political parties while giving an opportunity to the secular and non- Muslim technocrats to improve their political position”. In 1973 the government introduced an action to simplify political organizations leading to the stabilization of three major political parties: Golangan Karya (Golkar), the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and Partai Persatuan Pembangunam (PPP). The PPP was created out of the “fusion of four Islamic political parties, namely the NU, Parmusi, PSII and Perti”. The PPP therefore became the only Islamic party in Indonesia. From the hour of its creation, the PPP with the objective “to create a just and prosperous society materially and spiritually” has accepted the Pancasila as the state philosophy. With the acceptance of the Pancasila as the only basis for all political and mass organizations in Indonesia, the PPP turned from government critical party towards a government accommodative party. Thus the acceptance of the Pancasila by the Islamic Party has reduced tension between the Muslim population and the government. In the early 1990s the PPP leadership replaced “some of the Islamic flavor in the PPP’s statute, such as ‘Allah subhanah wa ta’ala’ and ’ukhuwwa Islamiyya’ by ‘the God Almighty’ and ‘creating a sense of brotherhood’”. After these changes have been made, the PPP was no longer seen as an Islamic party.
In conclusion one can say that regarding the percentage of Muslims in Indonesia, the Islamic parties have never gained an absolute majority of vote. Rather, the support for Islamic political parties declined from 43% in 1955 to 27% in 1971. In 1977 the PPP, though the only Islamic party, was only able to obtain 29, 3% of the votes. This decline of support for the PPP also marked the 1980s and the 1990s when the PPP only managed to obtain 16% and 17, 1% in the general elections of 1987 and 1992. In the general elections of 2004, the PPP only obtained 8%. Analyzing the development of the Islamic parties and later the PPP, one can say that religion has only less influence for the voters. Traditional Muslims may still support the PPP but the majority of the Muslims, especially the younger generations and people with lower income, are focusing more on the political programs of the parties than on religion.
3. Javanese political culture
3.1 Concept of Power
In order to analyze the attitude of the Javanese towards the political system, the political institutions and the political leaders, it is of essential importance to understand the concept of power in traditional Javanese thinking because power is the “central premise of Javanese thought” . In the European thinking tradition, power is abstract for power describes situations in social interaction. For Javanese people “power is that intangible, mysterious and divine energy which animates the universe” . Thus power is concrete and always exists. In contrary to the western idea of power that distinguishes different sources of power , the Javanese concept states that all kinds of power have the same origin. Further in the Javanese point of view the amount of power, existing in the universe, remains constant. The amount of power neither increases nor does it decrease, thus only the distribution of power varies. Regarding the political concept of the Javanese, the constant amount of power means that “the concentration of power in one place or in one person requires a proportional diminution elsewhere”. However, in western traditional thinking, the accumulation of power and therefore the amount is not limited because power is only an abstract term that is used to describe relationship between humans. Another vital aspect of the Javanese concept of power is the assumption that power is neither good nor evil. Therefore the question of moral correctness of power is not important for Javanese political thinking, while generations of western philosophers and state analysts have been and are still dealing with this question.
3.2 Political culture and Javanese ethics
Javanese culture elements strongly influence the political culture of Indonesia not only because of the Javanese being the biggest ethnic group but they played, “to a degree beyond their population ratio, the most important roles in government” . The Javanese elite or ruling class (priyayi) is dominated by the idea of being halus, that means “subtle, refined, sensitive, polite and civilized”. The term halus also consists of the idea of smoothness that is divided into smoothness of spirit (self- control), smoothness of appearance (beauty, elegance) and smoothness of behavior (politeness, sensitivity). The opposite of being halus is being kasar that means to be “rough, crude, vulgar, coarse, insensitive, impolite and uncivilized” . Being kasar is the natural state of man where everyone’s thoughts and behaviors are uncontrolled. “Halusness” on the other hand can only be achieved by constant effort to control human emotions and ambitiousness. Thus restraint of emotion is a common phenomenon in the Javanese ruling class. According to Professor Dr. Masykuri Abdillah from the University of Jakarta, the term kasar describes the act to offend other people, commonly seen as an act of impoliteness. “Polite (halus) behavior manifests itself in two concepts which are linked to each other, namely ‘malu’ (discomfort or a feeling of being insulted) and ‘segan’ (a combination of discomfort and respect)”. Therefore, according to the concept of being halus, it is of vital importance for a person to behave politely, even if he feels offended. This concept of being halus helps to explain “why the Javanese behave in a less transparent or open manner”. Another concept well established in the behavior of the Javanese elite is the tradition of perintah halus. According to this tradition, the Javanese elite are obliged to give orders only using polite and indirect language. Perintah halus derives from the Javanese traditional thinking that a man of power does not need to raise his voice and to give order directly because “the halusness of his command is the external expression of his authority”. This is why the Javanese style of administration is “marked by the attempt, wherever possible, to give an impression of minimum effort”.
Closely linked with the concept of “halusness” is the idea of pamrih (concealed personal motive). The concept of pamrih is expressed by the phrase “sepi ing pamrih, rame ing gawe” , meaning that Javanese administrators and officials should “refrain from indulging personal motives, while working hard for the good of the state”. According to traditional Javanese thinking, pamrih is especially expressed through “personal acquisitiveness like sexual indulgence and political ambition”. The concept of pamrih explains why fighting corruption is of great importance for the Javanese people. In Javanese political tradition, corruption is a sign for personal pamrih, because striving for personal wealth opposes the Javanese assumption that wealth follows power and not power wealth. Furthermore, personal pamrih of a high politician may be “interpreted as a sign of a regime’s decay”. Therefore Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of Indonesia, put strong efforts in fighting corruption. To prevent personal pamrih of his government members and thus to prevent possible signs of his government’s decay , “one of the first actions taken by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was to require all his cabinet members and other top government officials to sign anti-graft pacts upon assuming office”. Nearly 60% of the Indonesian population thinks that the anti-graft pacts will help to reduce corruption in Indonesia. Therefore the steps against corruption that have been made so far by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono have helped to increase the satisfaction with the current government.
3.3 The concept of the center
In the Indonesian political system, the position of the president as chief of the executive and head of state is very strong. This fact can be explained with the traditional Javanese patrimonial and hierarchical society. Throughout history, Javanese society has “centered on an elite-mass dichotomy, symbolized by the words ‘pemimpin’ and ‘rakyat’”. The term pemimpin describes officials, politicians and generals. Standing at the top of the social hierarchy, they are the groups ruling over the rakyat (the common people) which stands at the bottom of the political system. The ruling class stands in the center of the political system. In traditional Javanese thinking, the well- being of the community depends on the power of the center, thus the ruler. The ruler is also the personification of the unity of Indonesian society. According to traditional Javanese thinking, unity and thus oneness “is in itself a central symbol of power”. Nationalism is closely related to this concept of unity because for Javanese people, nationalism “is an attempt to reconquer a primordial oneness”. Due to traditional Javanese thinking, the President as the ruler and thus the personification of the Indonesian unity is therefore also a symbol for Indonesian nationalism. From the Javanese point of view, it is of essential importance to have a president who is capable of power because an “external sign of a decline of that power is the decay or disruption of the community”.
In 2005, the majority (57%) of the Indonesians was satisfied with the performance of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Besides the measures in fighting corruption, as mentioned above, and the focus on law and security, it is his “firmness in leading the country” that makes President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono popular among the Indonesian population. Further, according to public surveys “the most attractive quality attributed to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was his leadership and personality”.
In conclusion, one can say that the personality of the president and his ability to deal with power are of major importance for traditional Javanese people because the president as the ruler “must behave properly or his power will ebb and vanish, and with it the good ordering and smoothness of the social system”. Following the same argumentation of the essential role of the center, it is also important for traditional Javanese to have other capable political leaders. In 2005, Vice President Jusuf Kalla had the second highest popularity (72%) in the Indonesian population after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who enjoyed a popularity rate of 89%.
4. Awareness and attitudes towards the political system
4.1. State bodies
Analyzing the awareness of the Indonesian population regarding important state institutions, an increase in awareness can be seen for the period 2003-2005. In 2005, 66% of the Indonesians were aware of the Corruption Eradication Commission, while in 2003 only 43% knew about it. The awareness of both the Audit Board (63%) and the Human Rights Commission (70%) has also increased around 20% since 2003. In 2003 62 of 100 Indonesians were aware of the Supreme Court. This number has increased to 76% till 2005. Only the awareness of the People's Consultative Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat - MPR) has not increased significantly. However the number of people aware of the MPR, was already relatively high in 2003 (89%). Closely linked with the increase of awareness for the national- level political institutions mentioned above is the increase of the satisfaction level in the Indonesian population. The significant increase in both the awareness and the satisfaction of the Corruption Eradication Commission and the Audit Board can be derived from the effective measures fighting corruption introduced by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono after having taken office in 2004. Among the political institutions that have been analyzed in the Public Opinion Survey in 2005, the Corruption Eradication Commission received the highest satisfaction level of 65% within the Indonesian population. It is also the institution with the highest increase of satisfaction during the period 2003-2005, namely an increase of 35%. In general the attitude of the Indonesian people has changed with the new government. In 2003 the majority of the people were dissatisfied with the political institutions on the national level. In 2005, few months after the general elections in 2004, the dissatisfaction of the majority has mostly turned into satisfaction or at lease turned into an increase in the satisfaction level.
4.2 Political parties
Awareness of political parties can be seen as high among the Indonesian population because in 2005 “three-quarters of Indonesians (75%) can name five or more parties, up significantly from 51% in the 2003 survey”. The political parties most known by Indonesians are Golkar (92%), PDIP (90%), PD (79%), PPP (67%), PAN (64%), PKB (61%) and PKS (48%). Compared to the survey from 2003, the most essential difference is the emergence of the Party Democrat (PD), a political party basically unknown in 2003. The rapid rising of the PD derives from its most important politician, namely President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Generally, an increase of awareness of political parties has been taken place since 2003 as in 2003 Golkar, the political party that is most known, enjoyed an awareness of 88%.
Regarding the trust of the Indonesian population in political parties, a decrease was noticed in 2002. This decline of trust in all major political parties, except for Golkar, can be related to the “increased dissatisfaction with political institutions, leaders, and policy implementation” of that time. After the election of the new government under the leadership of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, an increase in people’s trust in political parties was ascertained. PD and the PKS, both newcomer parties, gained the highest levels of trust with about 87% and 82%. A reason that may explain the high popularity of these two political parties is the aspect that both “tend to garner higher trust from younger Indonesians (under 35) than their older counterparts (45 and older). This is the opposite of the pattern for PDIP and Golkar who tend to elicit higher trust in older respondents than in younger respondents”.
Regarding membership of political parties, the vast majority (93%) of the Indonesian population state not to be an active member of political parties and almost the same percentage of people have never attended meetings of the political parties. In 2003 the total percentage of Indonesians who are active members of political parties was estimated at 2%. The majority of the 2% were members of Golka and PDI-P.
4.3 General elections
In recent years the voter turnout of general elections has been very high in Indonesia. In 1999 general elections turnout was over 90%. Regarding the 2004 parliamentary and presidential elections, nearly 94% of Indonesians with the right to vote registered themselves to vote. Dealing with considerations regarding individual vote decisions, policies and programs of a political party or of a candidate were one of the most important subjects of consideration made by 19% of the voters. Another 19% of the voters has taken past records of the candidate or of the party into consideration. Besides political aspects like a party’s program, 18% of the registered voters state that they will most likely vote according to opinions of others. Regarding fairness of the election, before the 2004 election nearly 65% of the registered voters thought that the election “will definitely or probably be fair and honest”. After the 2004 elections 89% of the voters thought that the elections were well-organized and 91% stated that the elections were mostly fair and honest. Satisfaction with the parliamentary and presidential elections held in 2004 derives also from the approval of the electoral bodies KPU and PANWAS.
In conclusion, the high number of satisfaction with the organization and the process of the elections can be interpreted as a general satisfaction of the Indonesian population with its electoral system. This statement can also be underlined by the high voter turnouts in recent elections.
4.4 Conclusion
The figures mentioned above shows that the Indonesian people today are generally well informed about their political system. Due to the popularity of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the satisfaction level and thus the awareness regarding the political system among the Indonesian population has increased in recent years. After the election of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2004, “nearly two in three Indonesians (64%) believe that Indonesia is headed in the right direction, while only 12% think it is headed in the wrong direction” . In comparison to other neighbouring countries, the satisfaction level of the Indonesians with their government is relatively high. In Malaysia for example, 72% of the population feel that Malaysia is heading in the wrong direction . Recently the satisfaction level of the Malaysian Prime Minister has only reached 42% while an Indonesian survey states that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is likely to win the next elections in April 2009 with 32% of vote . According to the survey, his major competitor, former President Megawati Sukarnoputri, will only reach 24% of vote .
The figures mentioned above can also be interpreted as a general tendency towards political participation of the Indonesian population, based on superficial knowledge of the components of their political system. Analyzing high voter turnouts in past elections, it is obvious that the majority of Indonesians did not vote because of a candidate’s political program but according to his past records. This tendency shows, together with the fact that 18% of the voters will vote according to opinion of others that the majority of the Indonesian voters are likely to be influenced by the media and by their social environment. Taking into concern that almost 93% of the Indonesian population state not to be an active member of political parties, one can conclude that the programs of parties and thus the political direction of Indonesia, are made by a small elite group of people with influence and power. Further, the Indonesians tend to combine their awareness of the political system with their level of satisfaction with the administration. This statement can be underlined by the fact that in 2003, when the majority of the Indonesians were dissatisfied with the government of President Megawati Sukanoputri, the awareness of political bodies was relatively low. In 2005, few months after the election of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the awareness of the political institutions has increased among the population because of their satisfaction with the new administration.
5. Attitude towards the United Nations
Nowadays there are 26 United Nations agencies, programs and funds operating in Indonesia . Regarding the attitude of the population towards the United Nations, Indonesia is the country with highest support for the United Nations in the population. Nearly 78% of the total Indonesian population state that they are in favor of the United Nations. This high percentage of supporters can be explained with the fact that the United Nations have played an essential role after the Tsunami in Indonesia with effective humanitarian aid. Referring to the Tsunami that had devastated parts of Aceh and Sumatra, 83% of the Indonesian population is satisfied with the rescue and recovery measures of the government . Approximately 84% of the Indonesians also approves of the administration’s action to accept international aid provided from the United Nations .
References
Abdillah, Masykuri: Responses of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals to the Concept of Democracy (1966-1993), Abera Verl. Meyer & Co.KG, Hamburg 1997
Alatas, Syed Farid: Democracy and authoritarianism in Indonesia and Malaysia: the rise of the post-colonial state, Macmillan Press LTD, Great Britain 1997
Anderson, Benedict: Language and Power- Exploring Political Culture in Indonesia, Cornell University Press, New York, 1990
Barton, Greg: The Prospects for Islam, published in: Indonesia today: challenges of history, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 2001
Emmerson, Donald K.: Indonesia’s elite: political Culture and Culture Politics, Cornell University Press, New York 1976
Ricklefs, M.C.: Indonesian Views of the Future, published in: Indonesia today: challenges of history, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 2001
Schiller, Jim/Martin-Schiller, Barbara (Edit.): Imaging Indonesia: Cultural Politics and Political Culture, Center for International Studies, Ohio University, USA 1997
Schubert, Klaus/ Klein, Martina: Das Politiklexikon. 4., aktual. Aufl. Bonn: Dietz 2006
Suryadinata, Leo: Interpreting Indonesian politics, Times Acad. Press, Singapore 1999
Suryadinata, Leo: Elections and politics in Indonesia, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 2002
Internet sources
http://www.ifes.org/
http://pewresearch.org/
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/id.html
http://www.un.or.id/
http://www.aseanaffairs.com/