Intellectuals: Decision, Responsibility, Identity
Eden Steven

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The ideas presented in this writing have not been proven empirically thus is very subjective, mostly based on experience, observation and personal opinion of the author. The hypothesis of this writing is that Indonesia needs intellectuals who are individuals with these three qualities:

1. Consider intellectual as his/her identity not only status
2. Provide clear information to public about issues in society
3. Breakdown complicated matter into series of simple matters to reach or equip the masses

The Intellectual that are concerned in this writing includes high school graduates, university graduates, and professional workers; those who have obtained the exhaustive experience in higher education. An interesting fact is that while the author and the reader are all indeed intellectuals, they are at the same time confused of what it really means to be an intellectual. In part, they do not know for sure what to do with their skills and experience. Another part, they are not even sure they are qualified as intellectuals. Perhaps, mainly, they feel that being an intellectual has no meaning and thus of no importance. To these concerns, the author would talk first about the biblical motivation of why it is important to consider the issue of intellectual, second, a major misconception in being an intellectual, third, the intellectual that Indonesia needs.

Biblical Foundation

Christians believe that they are all created by God. And that God created them not out of boredom or out of any other needs but out of love. As His creation, they believe that God has designed them with specific purpose or function in which it is written on Genesis 1:28 where it says, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” In the book of Genesis chapter 1, 2, 4 and 5, it is clear that Genesis 1:28 is talking about human’s function to nourish culture and cultivate His creations in the way that is good. This is evident especially in Gen 2:5 (where it is mentioned that men are to work the ground), Gen 2:19-20 (where Adam exercised his role as a cultural being as he named each living creatures), Gen 4:1 (where Adam and Eve exercised their role as social beings by giving birth to Cain and Abel), and in Gen 4:2 (where now not only Adam and Eve, but also Cain and Abel worked the ground). The following verses show explicitly what it means to work the ground and to rule over the other creatures:

Gen 4:2-4: “…Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock…”
Gen 4:19-22: “…Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute. Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron…”

In the same way as human, the other creations are also created with specific functions. The ground if worked is supposed to produce fruit. However, because of the fall of man, not only human’s function is thwarted, but the world is also fallen because of man, as evident in Gen 3:17. However, note that the function of human and other creations are still the same before and after the fall. The difference is that the way they function after the fall includes pain and suffering.

God originally created human with the function of being a social and cultural being. Being a social and cultural being is possible only if there is a medium compatible with the way human functions. That medium is the world that God created before human. This medium is designed to be compatible with human to be worked, cultivated and nourished by human. With the fall of man, the world is also fallen. The fallen world creates suffering for humans and the fall of man cursed the world.

As God came to the world through Jesus Christ, and as God the Father sacrificed His one and only Son, His love provides redemption to human and the world. From His loving redemptive act, it is evident that God wants to bring back His original design for people and the world. He wants to eliminate pain and suffering of the world by paying those pains and suffering Himself on the cross. Just like when God first created the world and let/guide human work and cultivate it, so God first established the way of transformation and let/guide human to work and cultivate the transformation.

The transformation that He had established was done not for the sake of the world, however, but for the sake of His love for people and the world.

The consequence of believing these is that, the suffering of the world (the crooked authorities, injustice, oppression, hunger, oppression, killings, terror) are not acceptable and must be fought courageously and lovingly. To do this, for an Indonesian Christian Intellectuals, it is then crucial to realize that transformation must be done not only to nature, but also to the social system (social structure[1], cultural structure[2], and personality structure[3]).

Misconception: Intellectual Status = Intellectual Identity

Intellectual as a status is earned by surviving through an institution, mostly academic institution. It follows that intellectual status is dependent on the prestige of the (academic) institution. The more prestigious the institution they have gone through, the higher their intellectual status. It is also dependent on one’s performance in the institution which is measured through some sort of grading system. The higher the score they earn, the higher their intellectual status. The requirement for obtaining intellectual status involve not only the intellectual him/her self, but also others. To formally earn it, one needs recognition from others. Intellectual status is thus a component of culture, defined by them and others simultaneously. The definition (line between intellectual and non-intellectual) thus differs from one context to another although not entirely because of the more uniform standard of academic institutions. One can think of intellectual status as an award; an award that is earned by overcoming a set of criteria defined by the society.

Intellectual as an identity can not be earned by just surviving through an institution. It can be earned mainly by choice. Intellectual status can evolve into becoming an identity only when a decision or commitment is made. People become grown men/women not without a decision. Society may see a person as an adult after the age of 21 (for most culture), but it does not necessarily mean that the person sees him/herself is an adult until the decision to become an adult is made. People may obtain the status as an intellectual but without a decision, it is not a part of them. Because intellectual identity deals with decision and commitment, intellectual identity thus assumes responsibility. Every decision made, whether big or small, will eventually have consequences following that decision. Fundamentally, decision will come with responsibility of at least trying to fulfill whatever being decided. Decision of having intellectual as identity assumes certain fundamental consequence. Having an intellectual identity, as mentioned previously, is like becoming a grown man/woman. In the same perspective, becoming a grown man/woman, people are faced with a new kind of responsibility. This new kind of responsibility does not only deal with the kind of responsibility expected from the society, which is an external responsibility, but also with the kind of responsibility distinguished as internal responsibility. Borrowing the definition of external responsibility by Tamas, one of the experts in the study of intellectuals,

“Responsibility is usually held to be something you may find yourself mixed up in when under some sort of acknowledged contractual obligation. The exercise of many trades involves responsibility, frequently modeled on the idea of promise; the timely supply of goods, the observance of the advertised parameters and the like.”[4]

It is evident that external responsibility will work if there exist at least one other party agreeing on the standard on which the agreement is made. In the daily life, things like coming to a place on time, paying bills, returning something borrowed, etc, revolves around a standard defined by society. The easiest way to check is to see if anybody is offended when people did not comply with those standards.

Now, it is incomplete to say that external responsibility is all there is for the following reason. It can be shown simply by some familiar examples. One knows that the responsibility he / she faces as an adult does not concern only with what others expect but with him / herself. Grown people feel the responsibility for their health, their mind, and their loved ones. All these experiences do not come from a mutual agreement with any other party. It does not offend any body when they do not fulfill those. Yet they feel and own them, independent from what other expects. This kind of responsibility, which can not be explained by idea of external responsibility alone, can be thought of as the consequence of the way human being, function. It is a result (by product) of having the ability to feel (thus people experience pleasure and suffering), reason (thus people think and solve), and transform (thus people act). The standard on which people set their responsibility is intrinsic, just like how they walk, smile, cry and laugh is intrinsic in every human being. In the similar perspective, the intrinsic responsibility is based on predefined (fundamental) function. And it is simply logical that having human being as identity, people function accordingly.

Having intellectual as an identity is perceived in the same way as having human-being and adult as identity. Intellectual as an identity is about intrinsic function. Intellectual is thus the base which defines people’s functioning. For this reason, it deals with intrinsic responsibility. Intellectual as status deals only with external responsibility because it occurs under some sort of contractual agreement set by the society. Because it is dependent on external factor, as mentioned before, in academic institution with some sort of grading standard defined by the society or culture, intellectual status is not a fundamental / intrinsic property. Thus intellectual status provides no functional necessities. The consequence, then, it does not demand intrinsic responsibility, contrasted with intellectual as identity. Now, what concrete responsibilities that intellectuals should fulfill? Particularly, what kind of intellectuals Indonesia needs?

The Intellectual Indonesia Needs

Indonesia is full of complicated matters. For example, one of the most challenging urgencies in Indonesia deals with “premanisme”. Premanisme is when an individual or organization uses physical threats in achieving their objectives. This is made more complicated with the fact that government does little or nothing about it. In some cases, in fact, there seem to be supports from some groups inside the government. Moreover, the court has no power in upholding justice due to pressures and corruption. Perhaps, this is a matter of economic or race. Although the author have not seen wide-ranging empirical researches on this topic, plenty of evidences are visible everywhere. In a nutshell, there is no authority that the society can trust to process injustice. If there are no authorities to give punishment to the wrong, proofing the crime makes no difference. If law can not be trusted, there are no more standards of arguing in society. This is a very complicated matter and the only obvious and naive way to get this right is to somehow get the government clear itself from corrupt rulers.

The other way in solving this problem is to have transformation in every area such as economic, technology, education, public news, etc. Each transformation in an area will improve either the social, cultural or personality structures of the nation. For example, if the technology of the nation is improving, then perhaps there will be more international investment to the country which potentially enhances the economy (social structures). At the same time, Indonesia also needs journalists to provide truthful and clear information to the people which can potentially increase social awareness (personality structures) of ongoing issues (for example, corruption) which also increase social pressures toward corruptors. At the same time, Indonesia also needs teachers to invest their lives to the children of the nation; to teach them science, mathematics, morality and etc (cultural structures).

In my opinion, generally, people would tend to think that these kinds of transformation can be done only by those who has special skills (intellectual) which may be true or not. However, nationwide transformation done only by intellectuals will never be enough. Indonesia needs more people for transformation, not just intellectuals but also those who are being oppressed themselves. If the disadvantaged and oppressed can participate further in solving this problem, it would have tremendous effects. And to do this, Indonesia needs intellectuals who can provide simple opportunities to the people. For example, perhaps the intellectuals who work in media can provide a place where the disadvantaged can perform weekly survey and then share them to the public. Perhaps, the intellectuals who work in academics can find time and resources to design appropriate lesson for the parents of the poor so that the parents can teach their children. The main thing is that while the intellectual tackle issues using their specialized skills directly, they also open opportunities for others to participate by breaking down the complex matter into several simpler matters.

Thus, the intellectual Indonesia needs must have at least these two responsibilities: 1) provides clear information to public about the real problem, 2) breakdown complicated matter into series of simple matter to reach or equip the masses. Note that the intellectual that is meant here is those with intellectual as identity not just status. This is significant because providing clear information and breaking down of matter needs active and perpetual pursuits. Identifying problems and breaking them down needs constant reflection and observation which is not possible to do if they do not come from the commitment set by the decision in becoming an intellectual. Intellectuals must realize that the two tasks are parts of their internal responsibilities.

Not many people can tackle complex issues, but relatively more people can tackle more simple issues. Although it is hard to breakdown complex matter, if it could be done, then nation wide participation will be more possible. Thus intellectuals who have unique intensive training and experience of thinking analytically and critically, the Indonesian intellectuals, are therefore responsible for the task of providing clear information to public and breaking down the complex problems for the sake of better Indonesia and better Indonesians.

Eden Steven obtained his bachelor degree in Physics and Electrical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

[1] Social Structures: People’s role in society.
[2] Cultural Structures: Ideas or symbols existing in society
[3] Personality Structures: How do people function as individuals?
[4] (page 247, G. M. Tamas in “The political irresponsibility of intellectuals”)

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