Middle Class and Socio-Political Dynamics in Indonesia

Middle class is a phenomenon both in developed and developing countries. The influence of this social entity is not only economical as consumer of any products, but also social and political. Even though it is relatively small in number, middle class cannot be neglected as socio-political driver in many countries, including in Indonesia as a democratizing country. In the case of Indonesia, I argue that middle class has vital role during reform process in 1998 and still has significant role in socio-political dynamics after regime changes.


By definition, middle class is the layer of people who socially situated intermediate between higher and lower class who has average condition of income, education, status and taste (Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, 2006). More economical, The Economist (2009, cited in Abjorensen 2010) made a definition of middle class as “having a reasonable amount of discretionary income, so that they do not live from hand to mouth as the poor do, and defined it as beginner at the point where people have roughly a third of their income left for discretionary spending after paying for basic food and shelter”.

Eid al-Fitr Festival 2010 di Canberra

Thursday, 07 October 2010 08:16 Jalan-Jalan.


Hidayatullah.com--Awal musim semi lalu, saat suhu udara Canberra mulai hangat dan bunga Sakura di berbagai sudut kota bermekaran, diselenggarakan festival Eid al-Fitr. Acara ini adalah sebentuk silaturahmi kaum muslim terhadap warga ibukota Australia. Memang, di negara seperti Australia, salah satu cara terfavorit untuk memperkenalkan keberadaan sebuah komunitas adalah dengan mengadakan festival. Selain untuk mendapatkan pengakuan, festival juga ditujukan untuk mempersatukan berbagai kelompok agar bisa membaur dan akhirnya diterima oleh lingkungan yang lebih luas.

The Impact of Globalization on Political Institution in Indonesia

Introduction


Globalization process in the last three decades changes configuration of the world’s economy, social, culture and politics in unprecedented way in our history. The process toward borderless world challenges every nation state in the globe in the effort to get something from the ongoing process that can make better off or worst off. The continuing of changing process of the world needs adjustment in nation state institution. In the more competitive situation, the failure in respond to globalization could lead to disastrous condition for nation state, as proofed by the fall of Berlin Wall, and the collapsed of Sovyet Union and former Yugoslavia.

Institutional adjustment is needed in respond to this process, to maintain the competition to reach efficiency and effectiveness of the government. Moreover, the pressure of changes toward more globalize government because of effects of globalize economy, should be supported by political institution adjustment. This essay will elaborate adjustment on political institutional in Indonesia in respond to many impacts of globalization process. Since analyzing globalization impacts on political structure is a complex effort, it needs deep understanding and familiarity of the country object. Indeed, focusing in one country (Indonesia within and post-Soeharto era) that in the process of democratizing is an effort to get comprehensive analyses.

Deciding Public Interest

In many democratic countries, the issues of public interest are becoming more relevance related to the debate on agreement and disagreement that has political, economic and social implication. The debate is commonly happened in parliament as the ultimate decision maker on policy related to public interest and unavoidably transmitted through mass media to become public concern. To make a policy decision-making, politician and government official should do a concept elaboration and judgment in terms of public interest however in some cases they indicated involve their individual or sectional interest into the debate.


It is important to clearly distinguish between public interest and individual/sectional interest in relation to privatization of state own enterprises, clean air or water, public broadcast, taxation policy, public infrastructure, and other recent issues. Academically, Mulgan (2000, pp. 3-4) explained that public interest has similar concept with “the common good” or “the public benefit”, while the public in this context refers to inclusively all members of a community constraint by territorial boundaries and constitution or common system of government. Indeed, conceptually the public interest must cover all members of political community without exception.

Impacts of Globalization for Indonesia

Globalization or global village becomes a popular public policy term in the late 80’s. Literally globalization is defined as a process of being interdependence and interconnected among countries in the world. This process originally boosted by free trade and advancement of information technology especially the internet revolution. Capital, news, currencies exchange and investment could flow freely around the world in the measurement of second. Many countries were joining transnational free trade agreement such as APEC and AFTA, while, in the same time, there were many business entities operating trans-nationally.


In recent days, globalization is not the matter of when will happened, but how globalization shapes and effects community which could be appear on export-import, exchange of culture, globalized food and lifestyle and in the negative side transnational crime and internationally organized terrorism. Globalization as inevitably process had bad and good impacts on all community around the globe. For the purpose of this essay, community refers to country, local community and surrounding as the writer experiencing as a member.

Globalization has been a common phrase of Indonesian leader in the 1990’s, since the New Order regime promoted it as unavoidable process. The popular sentence of former President Soeharto was, “we cannot avoid globalization process, but we need benefiting from it”. Since then, many local leaders was echoing globalization as popular term in their official speeches, sometimes exactly with not clear meaning or context.

Problems of Bureaucracy in Developing Countries

According to Huges (2003), bureaucracy in developing countries could be characterized organizationally, culturally and structurally. Organizationally, it has strict hierarchies’ norm as continuation of colonial government practices. Moreover, the post-colonial government in developing countries tends to be heavy bureaucracy and slow-moving. Culturally, government employee recruited in lifetime basis as a prestigious and “well-paid” career. Structurally, some of bureaucracies were influenced by socialism or Marxism model, that in their economic model many developing countries adopting strong state sector.


However, Weber (in Huges, 2003) stated that principles of traditional bureaucracy as; first, fixed jurisdictional areas that set by regulation, second, principle of hierarchical office, third, management by the written rules, fourth, expertise to operate office management, fifth, demands for full professionalism to operate official activity and sixth, management follows some basic rules. These principles adopted by many post-independence countries in the world after World War II with varying degree of consistency.

Even though some developing countries have long history of their own administration before colonization, however in post-independence they have many weaknesses aspect in their government. Bureaucracy in developing countries, especially in post-colonial era, tends to only continue the system of colonial government without considering the philosophy inside it. Furthermore, many local governments failed to creatively adjust to the new concepts of public management.

Semarak Ramadhan Muslim Indonesia di Canberra

Dimuat di Eramuslim.com, Kamis, 19/08/2010 08:28 WIB


Menunaikan puasa Ramadhan di negeri orang adalah sebuah tantangan keimanan tersendiri. Kaum muslim harus siap tidak mendengar kumandang azan atau penanda waktu imsak/berbuka, absennya spanduk ucapan Ramadhan, tanpa acara TV islami ataupun juga komersialisasi Ramadhan lainnya seperti di Tanah Air. Kebanyakan orang “Barat” memang tidak berpuasa dan kehidupan mereka berjalan sebagaimana biasa.

Yang menyejukkan perasaan, tidak ada perbedaan awal puasa Ramadhan di Canberra seperti yang sering terjadi di Tanah Air. Pengumuman awal Ramadhan dari Canberra mosque, satu dari dua masjid di seluruh Australian Capital Territory (ACT), disampaikan melalui sms dan secara cepat menjalar melalui milis-milis komunitas muslim. Selebaran kalender jadwal puasa diberikan secara gratis oleh beberapa sponsor dari kalangan pengusaha muslim di Canberra seperti penjual kebab dan grill ataupun chemist.

Puasa Ramadhan kali ini bertepatan dengan musim dingin di “kota terdingin” di Australia ini. Imsak yang jatuh pada pukul 5: 10 am waktu ACT diliputi suhu sampai minus 4 derajat celsius yang menghadirkan morning frost di pagi hari. Untungnya, kami tidak terlalu merasakan lapar dan dahaga dalam menjalani puasa sampai waktu maghrib menghampiri sekitar pukul 5:32 pm yang biasanya berkisar pada suhu 8 derajat celsius.

Kisah dari Dunia Karpet

Hidayatullah.com Monday, 26 July 2010 10:21 JALAN-JALAN
Karpet adalah seiris produk budaya yang masih tersisa. Kaum Muslim memilikinya sebagai ”tempat terhormat” untuk ibadah

HARI itu aku menurunkan gulungan karpet dari container. Membuka serta menatanya serapi mungkin di lantai pameran. Karpet dan rug (permadani) dari Iran, India, Afrika utara, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Kashmir dan Turki dengan berbagai ukuran, motif, corak, kehalusan dan harga kami hampar bertumpuk-tumpuk. Beberapa lainnya ditempel atau dijajarkan di dinding untuk memperindah tampilan pameran yang digelar rutin di Canberra setiap empat bulan ini.

Liburan semester kali ini aku gunakan untuk mengumpulkan dollar dengan bekerja di sebuah pameran karpet. Bekerja di Albert Hall kali ini benar-benar kerja casual dalam sebuah sistem yang sangat efisien, menggunakan time check log bahkan untuk sekedar istirahat 15 menit.

Maklum, sebagai kapitalis modern, penjual karpet yang telah berkeliling Australia sejak 1952 ini rupanya tidak mau rugi dengan kelebihan menggaji 10 orang, termasuk kami para mahasiswa ini.

Selain motif-motif baru atau motif modern, motif lama yang direpro ulang turut memperkaya motif-motif karpet yang ada saat ini. Karpet dan permadani buatan tangan dengan berbagai kehalusan dan keindahan corak tersebut terbuat dari wol atau sutera dan berharga mulai ratusan sampai puluhan ribu dollar.

Yang termahal dibanderol 45.000 atau setara dengan harga 45 mobil bekas atau dua mobil sport baru di Australia.

Tapi apa yang bisa diceritakan dari sepotong karpet selain permadani terbang dalam kisah “Negeri 1001 Malam?”

Gayuskah ide Negara Kesejahteraan?

Kunjungan kenegaraan SBY ke Australia beberapa bulan yang lalu efektif menghentikan beberapa hari “percekcokan abadi” di Parlemen Australia. Perdana menteri Kevin Rudd dan pemimpin oposisi Tony Abbot “terpaksa” jeda dari saling serang berbulan-bulan lamanya, terkait rancangan kebijakan layanan kesehatan dan kegagalan program pemasangan insulasi rumah demi menghormati kunjungan sang pemimpin negeri tetangga di utara.
Belum lama berselang pula, Barack Hussein Obama dua kali menunda rencana kunjungan kenegaraannya ke Tanah Air, karena harus memastikan rancangan undang-undang tentang reformasi jaminan kesehatan untuk 32 juta rakyat miskin seperti yang dijanjikannya berhasil digolkan. Kehadiran presiden pertama keturunan Afro-Amerika di parlemen disertai testimoni beberapa “korban” buruknya sistem layanan kesehatan yang sekarang, efektif memberi semangat tempur “kaum Demokrat” yang akhirnya memenangkan voting.
Negara kesejahteraan
Di kedua negara maju diatas, perdebatan mengenai tema-tema negara kesejahteraan menjadi menu utama urusan pemerintahan. Sebenarnya pemikiran tentang negara kesejahteraan bersemayam pula di benak para founding fathers kita. Jejaknya masih jelas bisa kita baca di dalam konstitusi di pasal 34 yang berbunyi, “Fakir miskin dan anak-anak terlantar dipelihara oleh negara”. Empat kali amandemen UUD 1945 tidak menghapus cita-cita “keramat” bangsa yang dahulu berhasil mengobarkan semangat perlawanan bersenjata rakyat yang terjajah.

Does Democracy Prerequisite for Development?

Introduction
Western countries which are commonly developed country for many decades practicing democracy in their government. Even though, the term of democracy itself has multi-facets of interpretation, however influencing expert such as Huntington, simplify it (in Bartley, et. al., 1993, p. 28) to become “a means of constituting authority in which the ruled choose the ruler”. Substantive democracy constitutes the adult populations which are eligible to vote their representatives in fair, hones and periodic elections as the real ruled. For the purpose of this essay, democracy will be defined as substantive democracy in which going to election only one indicator to measure the essential implementation of democracy.
Furthermore, many factors basically as nature of democracy such as political freedom, freedom of expression and free press. These principles are reflected in all citizens’ right that are being equal before the law and having equal access to power and liberties which are commonly protected by a state constitution. However, many countries in Asia substantively are not democratic country but could be identified through their advanced achievement in development. This essay will argue that democracy is not a precondition for, but necessarily needed by the mature developed country.