by : David Jr. M.Well, actually this is my essay writing task from Introduction to politic's subject....
Introduction
Indonesia has a long
political history. Starting from the pre-independence era, in the bankruptcy of
the VOC, the Dutch royal government applies ethical politics in Indonesia, a
political reciprocation initiated by Pieter Brooshooft and CTH. Van Deventer
who made the natives to go to school and get an education. The result was the
emergence of ethical politics of indigenous intellectual’s assembly and
association in political organizations such as Budi Oetomo early independence
(1908) and Sarekat Dagang Islam (1905).
Post-independence
period was also marked by various political parties with famous politicians,
such as the PNI and Sukarno with a nationalist ideology and Muso from PKI with
Communist ideology. Pre and Post – independence period is the time when
Indonesia is filled with idealistic politicians who are ready to devote
themself for the benefit of the nation.
Indonesia entered the
authoritarian era when Suharto came to power where there are only 3 political
parties namely Golkar, PPP and PDI, but because of the authoritarian of
Suharto, Suharto used Golkar Party as a means of making power and the two other
parties only became a puppet. This is the darkest moment in the history of
politics in Indonesia; the political function as the builders of the nation has
strayed into a tool of authoritarian rule.
When the reign of
Suharto (the new order) is over, it was the time for a period of reformation in
Indonesia, where the people has a right to assemble, organize and engage in
politics freely, and Reformation is the right time to restore politics to its
original function, namely as a vehicle for building nation for the better, as
ideally envisioned by politicians in the pre independence. But Still, in the
reform era, many deviations occur, even worse than the pre-independence era,
what are the differences in political behavior in Indonesia during the
pre-independence and the reformation?
Politicians during the
pre and post-independence used politics and political parties to fight their
ideology that they think will make the nation better, for example Sukarno forms
PNI as the party of nationalist ideology worshiper to serve the nation, but in
the era of reformation, we really often find a pragmatic politician who put
their personal interests rather than political idealism and even political
parties have also not concerned with the political ideology of Party itself,
one example is permit the cadres from different political parties with
different ideology to move to their
party even arbitrarily positioned the cadres in party chairman position.
Political
Behavior and Idealism in the Pre and Post independence’s Era
According to the
behavioralism Theory, behavior in politics is something that’s important to
observe a political problem (Ellen Grigsby, 2012). In Indonesia, there was a
change in the political behavior of politicians and political parties
themselves. We can find so many politicians and political parties with
different ideology in the pre-and post-independence period. Here is an example
of a political ideology that emerged in the pre and post-independence :
1.
Nationalism
:
Nationalism is an understanding that creates and
maintains the sovereignty of a country ( nation) to realize the concept of a
common identity for a group of people. The nationalists regard the state is
based on some "political legitimacy" (wikipedia.com, 2012).
2.
Communism :
Ideology which states that every citizen has the same
degree. The term is often mixed with Marxist communism. Communism is an
ideology that is used by all over the world communist party, like PKI (
Indonesian Communist Party ) in Indonesia in the pre and post-independence
period (Anarchopedia , 2012)
3.
Islamic
Ideology :
An ideology that is based on Sharia law and Islamic
law. A political party in the post-independence that carries the ideology of
Islam is Masyumi.
In the period of pre
and post-independence, the third ideology is the ideology of the majority
political parties in Indonesia. The similarity of political behavior of
politicians from all three political ideologies in the pre and post-independence
period is upholding idealistic attitude that promotes the ideology of their
party in politics and equally as serving people with ideological viewpoint that
they profess to give something that is best for the people of Indonesia. This
proved from the struggles of the politicians like Sukarno (Nationalist), Tan
Malaka (Socialist) and Kartosuwiryo (Islamic Ideology) to achieve independence
for the people of Indonesia from the invaders, although with a different
ideology. Independence of Indonesia is the proved of the achievement of
"serving people" behavior from the pre-independence politicians.
New
Order
When the period of old
order was over, there was a time for the reign of Suharto (The Reign of New Order).
The dark period of Indonesian’s political resume, not because of foreign invasion,
but because of the authoritarian behavior of Suharto. Authoritarianism is a
government with political power concentrated in a certain individuals (Baskara
T. Wardaya, 2007). Political power is held completely
by the Suharto made the political rights of the
people to be depressed. This is the darkest chapter in the history of politics
in Indonesia
Reformation
and Political Behavior’s Deviation
The end of the
authoritarian Suharto regime makes the right of the peoples to engage in
politics was recovered. No more centralization of power in a particular
individual as the new order era, but ironically, the freedom in the era of
reformation made a deviation in the political
behavior in Indonesia. Reformation era should be equated
with the post-independence era, when Indonesia was free from the Dutch Colonial.
Despite having the same conditions, but the political behavior in the
reformation era was very different in the pre and post-independence era. Not
the idealistic politicians with the spirit of serve the nation that emerged,
but rather a pragmatic politician with selfish behavior. Pragmatic
attitude appears on the politicians who use politics as a tool to reach their
self-profit, for instance like a politicians who are also entrepreneurs
entering the political parties and run for local office or the legislature only
to perpetuate its business through regulations or policy that made for benefit of its
business. Another example is we can find so many “jumped-fleas
politicians” (politisi kutu loncat) in the reformation era. Jumped-flies
politicians is a term used to describe the behavior of
politicians who often move one party to another party to achieve their personal
goals, when
their personal interests are not realized in the party, it will immediately
made a jumped-fleas politician moved to another parties. The absence of
idealism in a jumped-fleas politician shown by their behavior that moves to the
party that had a different ideology from the previous party.
Bad
Impacts of Pragmatic Behavior
Pragmatism is a
philosophy which says that the right is anything that proves it to be true by
looking at the consequences or results that are useful in practice. Thus, the
practical utility of knowledge to individuals is more important than the objective
truth of knowledge (Harun Hadiwijono, 1980). So, pragmatism in politics made politicians or political
parties do everything just to achieve the require goals, don’t care whether is
that good or bad. Pragmatism behavior in Indonesia is very detrimental to the
nation, because the nation’s and people’s interest is always being ignored for
the sake of personal interests of politicians and political parties. Pragmatic behavior is also often became a major
cause of corruption because of strong desire to gain personal goals.
Conclusion
The changes of
political behavior in Indonesia are real and evident. An idealistic attitude
that politicians in the pre and post-independence upheld was replaced by
pragmatism in this reformation era. Even political
attitudes in the new order are far more idealistic than the present, because in
the past it was rare to find a politician who moved to a different party with
different ideology. Pragmatic behavior should be
fought by the present’s younger generation. Political education should also be
inculcated from an early age to prevent future generations to continue this bad
attitude
References
Abdul
Mukhti Fadjar. (2008), Partai Politik dalam
Perkembangan Sistem Ketatanegaraan di Indonesia, Jakarta : Institute for
Strenghtening Transition Society Studies.
Baskara
T. Wardaya. (2007). Menelusuri
Akar Otoritarianisme di Indonesia, Jakarta : Lembaga Studi dan Advokasi
Masyarakat.
Ellen
Grigsby. (2012), “Analyzing Politics”, Belmont
: Cengage learning.
Harun
Hadiwijono. (1980), Sari Sejarah Filsafat
Barat 2, Yogyakarta: Kanisius.
Baldwin,
James Mark (ed.,
1901–1905), Dictionary
of Philosophy and Psychology, New York : 3
volumes in 4
Rescher, N. (1977), Methodological
Pragmatism, Oxford: Blackwell, 1977.
