The Change of Indonesian Political Behavior ( Pre Independence - Now )

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.