Owning Our Country’s Problems
Tommy Tjiptadjaja

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Indonesia is a very peculiar place. While almost everyone agrees that the country is currently not doing well, each has a widely differing opinion on the urgencies, priorities, and even more what to do about them. It is obvious that without some level of consensus about what the problems and priorities are, there will be no substantial and effective efforts. This article reflects on the facts about Indonesia before us to offer a certain angle on the situation so we can understand the urgency of the matter and ask what our role should be in light of it. Unless we take ownership of the real problems facing Indonesia, we can never be an effective Indonesian citizens and Indonesian Christians.

The first picture about Indonesia comes from a recent Reuters article warning that Indonesia’s poverty level and high unemployment rate have created high level of frustration and desperation, causing Indonesians to accept ideas and solutions that were unacceptable before . An Indonesian expert Jeffrey Winters even goes further, saying “Indonesia has a suffering and frustrated population plus extremist movements eager to organize the people's anger into a force that can fundamentally change the kind of country (it) has been since independence. ” As history has shown in the case of Iran and Afghanistan, it does not take a majority to change the course of a country. It just needs an ideology, organized efforts, cadres, and fragile status quo to do so; all of which already exist in Indonesia. We may need to take heed of these warnings as they are opinions of highly qualified analysts based on extensive research and surveys, with the hard facts to back it up.

Predictably, statistics has been consistent with the picture as we are on the verge of bankruptcy with public debt level of 49.9% GDP. Social stability is in dire situation as unemployment rate rises steadily from 8.1% in 2001 to 10.3% in 2005 (this may be a conservative number as CIA World Fact book shows 11.8%) and 16.7% population below poverty line. And do not expect this to get better anytime soon either , as the important indicators for doing businesses that leads to good economic development do not look well:

• Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2005 ranked Indonesia 137 out of 159 countries, the same group as Ethiopia, Liberia, and even the war-torn Iraq!

• IFC’s Ease of Doing Business 2005 indicator places Indonesia at 135 out of 175 countries, far below most of its ASEAN neighbors (Singapore = 1, Thailand = 18, Malaysia = 25, Philippines = 126, even Vietnam = 104!).

• UN’s 2005 Human Development Index as indicator of human well-being and quality (literacy, education, etc.) again places Indonesia at 110 out of 177 countries (Singapore = , Thailand = 73, Malaysia = 61, Philippines = 84).

The second picture comes more from my personal experience and qualitative anecdotes of working, observing and conversing with people in Jakarta. I gathered that while most people tend to agree that Indonesia is “economically challenged”, few understand how deep the trouble is and its implications to the socio-political and religious stabilities, and even to the very foundation of Indonesia existence itself. This is compounded by the fact that Jakarta is “a unique case, a real but virtual place, and by no means a representative picture of Indonesia.”. If you speak with Jakarta middle class, they do not know much or care about things outside Jakarta. With the lifestyle of Jakarta, they certainly are remote from issues of poverty, radicalization, unemployment, low education, etc. Even sometime I hear people simplifying the problems, on the verge of denying them, or easily pushing things under the rug with sayings like “It will be better soon”, “It’s not as bad as you think”, “Don’t focus on the negatives, but on the positives about Indonesia.”, “Life will go on.”, etc.

The second picture/perception on Indonesia is however not surprising as Jakarta is an extremely busy city with its 43 big shopping centers including the latest Senayan City (I am sure the number will grow soon). These big shopping centers are sustainable only through consumer demand of middle-upper class who mainly reside in Jakarta and other big cities. Seeing Jakarta and its shopping malls, restaurants, theatres, sometimes I wonder whether Indonesia is in crisis at all. Jakarta is truly designed to be the “heaven, sanctuary” for middle-upper class (confirmed by Vice President Jusuf Kalla in a Kompas interview ); the place where they can work hard to earn more so they can spend more and forget about the bigger national problems. It is a truly debilitating lifestyle for the middle class people, the class of people traditionally empowered to bring changes due to their relative independence and high educational/skills background. Nobody can really deny the huge gap between Jakarta and the rest of Indonesia as one only needs to walk a short distance outside Jakarta to see the underdevelopments of the country (low access to clean water, electricity, high quality goods, etc.). Maybe Jakarta people simply do not care until those problems start creeping into the city through crime, dirty beggars, unemployment, terrorism, religious violence, etc. I am primarily addressing the perception of middle class in Jakarta as they are the ones I can relate, converse and identify with. Further examination needs to be done with other big cities in Indonesia, although my suspicion is we will encounter similar picture with slightly less pronounced as Jakarta is the most developed by far.

What we can see now is that there is a real perception gap between the first and second pictures on Indonesia, and the gap is caused by the fact that most middle class are not equipped to see Indonesia with a holistic lens (understanding of socio-cultural and political, not only economic lens). This is especially true with middle-upper class in Jakarta, a city conveniently designed for them, separating them from reality. They are also too busy to survive the fast-paced and pressure of big cities. Jakarta is truly “up there” while the rest of Indonesia is “down here”. This is the issue that we confront as Indonesian Christians. We have an example from Jesus Christ of how to live life as He lived :

1. He acknowledged the problems of His people and humanity as a whole (refusal of God and hopelessness as they are living in sins separated from God).

2. He took ownership of the problems in obedience to His Father.

3. He left His comfortable, safe, all-sufficient Throne above, to go down to the midst of the problems, below.

4. He lived in the midst of the problem, fulfilling His purpose to die.

This parallel example truly is before us now:

1. Do we acknowledge the problem of our people, of our nation; the problem of injustice, of unequal opportunity for all, of religious and racial tensions/violence, of nonexistent social capital and trust, of poverty, of poor educational, health, and economic access?

2. Do we take ownership of those, or we only take ownership of our “middle-class” problems, e.g., better job opportunities, better cars, better homes, better restaurants, better clothing, better entertainment, etc.?

3. Are we ready to leave for God’s calling from our “up there” to wherever “down there” that needs Christ’s presence through us, or are we prefer to be “up there” and just simply send things to “down there”?

4. Are we up to fulfill His purpose in our lives in this specific time in Indonesia?

This by no means is saying that everyone needs to go to rural Indonesia, although I believe there are a lot of opportunities for Indonesian Christians to really impacts Indonesia outside of its big cities, especially in the era of regional autonomy where each region tries to attract all kinds of able people for its development. This is also not to say that we all should die, but some of us may need to if God willing (being a martyr should be the greatest privilege for a Christian, to really live Christ’s life). Rather, this is to say that God has a purpose for us in living in the midst of Indonesia’s problems; for us to adopt those problems as ours and be Salt and Light.

Once we really adopted our country’s problems, really prayed and repented like Nehemiah did, God will start to change our outlook in seeing our jobs, opportunities before us, and how we treat people. He will ignite our imagination. For example: Let the entrepreneurs devote their energies on new products, services that can help alleviate poverty and low level of education and health, instead of just focusing on one dimensional factor, profit. Let the business owner thinks about how he/she can improve transparent business practices through various associations as well as how they can treat their employees, customers, with trust and non-discriminatory attitudes. Let the weekends being spent on less eating out, shopping and watching movies but more on building friendships and exchanging ideas with people from different religions, beliefs, etc., to strengthen common understanding and social capital. Let the church build real relationship with people of other beliefs, tackling common issues such as poverty, injustice, religious violence, low educational and health access, etc. Let people be content with what they have and seek to advance the bigger group instead of their own families only. Let people be more active in their Kelurahan, RT, RW, etc. as manifestation of citizenship. And for those who really feel called, they can go outside big cities and start builds the ‘real’ Indonesia.

As you can see, the consequence of our true faith in Christ requires us all to repent and see the world we are living in differently; to be more sensitive and identify with the real problems of Indonesia such as poverty, education, health, injustice, corruption; to structure our lives differently: how we live, how we work, how we fill our time, how we make friends, how we relate, and how we spend. You can also see with honesty that there is no middle ground in an environment like Indonesia; it is impossible to live separately and “neutrally” (that is also not what our God wants). It is either you are being salt and light or you are becoming like the environment.

Imagine if we all finally take ownership of Indonesia’s problems before its too late. Imagine if we incorporate those problems as ours and change our lifestyle and priorities accordingly. I believe it will not be too late for Indonesia and its 220 million people. Ambitious? Maybe. But then again, God’s plan is always to do the impossible through His people. You and me.

Tommy Tjiptadjaja is currently pursuing his MBA in Strategic Management, Marketing, and Economics in the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

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