Learning Is the Most Celebrated Neglected Activity in the Workplace
Speaks right to me
USIPP Day 4
Our first agenda today were visiting the Office of DKI Jakarta’s Governor. While waiting for meeting time, we visited Museum National popularly known as Museum Gajah which is located nearby the office. Though I have come to Jakarta many times, that was my first time to visit this museum. The story behind the name of Museum gajah is that, right in front of the building, they have an Elephant (Gajah) statue. The bronze statue itself was a gift from Thailand’s King when he was visited Indonesia in President Soekarno’s Era. We did not have much time, thus we were only seeing the first and second floor of the main building. The first floor consist of statue of Indonesia’s cultural figures made by stone such as Hindu’s Gods, etc. In the upstair, they have a gold museum which is relatively new.
After that, we went to the Governor office where the Vice Governor of Tourism and Culture, Mr. Sukerti Martono, greeted us. We had a nice lunch there and continued our visitation to the Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi). It was impressive. Judge Harjono basicly explained the authority of Constitusional Court
1. Settle the dispute dealing with authority between state’s body (Lembaga Negara).
2. Judicial Review.
3. Dealing with dissolution of political party.
4. Election issues.
5. Involving with impeachment of the President.
He also mentioned that Pancasila is a part of the Preambule and is not subject to be changed. It is the articles that are subject to be changed. Furthermore, he elaborated how the Constitutional Court keeps their body clean from corruption, bribery, and such. Here are some of the explanations:
1. They have 9 judges which 3 of them are appointed by the President, 3 more are appointed by Parliament (DPR), and the rest are appointed by the Supreme Court (Mahkamah Agung).
2. Most of the judges have academic background, which away from politics/ briberies.
3. When the Constitutional Court was built, there was no significant political power and that was a good environment to grow.
Jakarta, July 7, 2012
USIPP Day 3
Today we have pretty tight schedule. We visited some official offices such as the Ministry of Higher Education (DIKTI), Forum for Interfaith Discussion (Forum Kerukunan Umat Beragama-FKUB), Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), and the last but not least one was Muhammadiyah.
The first visitation was to DIKTI where Mr. Purwanto, the Secretary of DIKTI welcomed us and kindly explained about the roles of DIKTI in order to ensure the achievement of the quality standard of higher education in all over Indonesia. Furthermore, to internationalize (to make the world acknowledge Indonesian’s univerties or education). they have several programs like a joint program with USA which called DIKTI Fullbright Scholarship Program, Sandwich Program which offers academic staff to experience student exchange program for 4 months), and SAMI (Academic Mobility) for PhD to visit overseas universities or to conduct a joint research.
Next, we went to FKUB and were warmly welcomed by several figures from each different religion in Indonesia. FKUB has 21 members from 6 religions, they are: Islam, Christianity, Protestant, Budhism, Hindu, Kong Hu Chu. FKUB exerts 5 main tasks as stated below:
- Conduct the interfaith dialog.
- Welcome aspirations from people of Indonesia.
- Deliver the aspiration to the government.
- Socialization of policies in regard to religion.
- Recommend the worship place (rumah ibadah).
The different that FKUB felt in regard to the New Order Era and today is that in the New Order, you had top-down approach. According to FKUB, what was happening in Indonesia regarding chaotic situation which involved religion actually isn’t merely because of different religions we have. There are some parties who stir the situation to gain political power or personal interest.
The discussion in FKUB was very lively and enlightening. Not only the USIPP’s participants but also the FKUB members themselves benefited from the discussion. They were pretty excited to ask what is going with the Moslem population in United States, how the US government protect each individualto practising their beliefs, or how the US perceptions regarding religious pluralism in Indonesia, and so on. The discussion improved our (both side) understandings about each other perceptions and clarifying things in regard to religious pluralism in US and Indonesia. This is vital because US is a significant player in the world including the one who play a role in Palestine which is a very sensitive issue for Islamic-populated country such as Indonesia.
In NU, we have Prof. Zaki Mubarak as the spekaer along with other 2 or 3 persons. NU is the oldest and the biggest Islamic organization in Indonesia which embracing the local cultures in preaching Islamic teachings. They believe that their position is in between the hardliner and the liberalist. According to them, the hardliner uses only “hard verses” and leaves the soft one. Meanwhile the liberalist is quite the opposite. Thus NU try to redirect them by providing a complete verses in Al-qur’an along with As-Sunah and Ijtihad in order to give a comprehensive understanding.
NU’s preaching methods is actually similar with Wali Songo’s (9 Saints) in Central Java’s coastal areas. They proclaimed that even (believe it or not) the founding fathers and the leader of NU itself was decendants from Wali Songo. This is interesting because there was a long debate in matter of whether Wali Songo are Chinese. However, the politic condition in that time, make it impossible to acknowledged the truth. In that time, there was a discrimination related to Chinese especially in Soeharto Era. That explains why almost all Chinese in Indonesia have their Indonesian’s name beside their Chinese one. Interestingly, if the claim of NU’s members is true (that their leaders are decendant from Wali Songo), then it may be true that Wali Songo is the Chinese decendant because as we know, the former Presdident Abdurrahman Wahid was the leader of NU and he was Chinese. Well, it still needs to be clarify with the historical evidents though.
The last destination was Muhammadiyah. Muhammadiyah is the second largest Islamic organization in Indonesia based on the amount of members. The provide four major services to the community such as:
- Education: Muhammadiyah currently operated more than 14.000 schools and higher education institutions in all over Indonesia ranging from elementary schools to universities. In some places such as Palangkaraya and Nusa Tenggara, more than 70% of their students are non-moslem students. For those students, they provide them with religion study based on their own religion. This is proven that Muhammadiyah embraces differences in religions and tolerant toward others.
- Health services by building hospitals and clinics in alll over Indonesia.
- Economic empowerment through microfinancing, including bank.
- Disaster management and rescue.
You must be wondering how they generate the money to conduct all of their agendas which requires a huge funding. Generally, they have 3 main sources of fund as below:
- Member’s donation
- Partnership with other Non or Islamic organizations.
- Profit from the schools, universities, institutes, and hospitals.
Responding on Ahmadiyah issue, Muhammadiyah said that actually Muhammadiyah’s leader has a strong relationship with Ahmad Ghulam who later become the leader of Ahmadiyah. There was also a hospital in West Java owned by Ahmadiyah which only want to be sold to Muhammadiyah. I just found out that in 1932, Muhammadiyah has issued a Fatwa stated that Ahmadiyah is not Islam but they FORBID ummah to conducted any violantion to Ahmadiyah and encouraged a peace dialog with Ahmadiyah.
In conclusion, we may see that in some cases, mass media plays a big role on blowing up a certain issue. Like in the case, we saw that Ahmadiyah has been existing since a long time ago yet the issue itself just came up recently.
Jakarta, June 6, 2012
USIPP Day 2
The journey of USIPP 2012 has just actually begun today. I and Shannon were woke up early this morning and had a nice conversation. I really appreciate that. We started the day at 7 am with breakfast then an hour later we took a campuss bus to UI’s library. They have an impressive library, all in one. It is a new and the only library in UI. They have like 8 floors, the two-last floor are used occasionally for meeting or official event hold by the campuss. In the first floor, they have “times” bookstore, travel agency office, tupperware and kitchen stuffs, the cinema, the bank, music studio, and they also have starbucks!! Yes, they seems like having a mall inside of their library. Wow!
Worth to be noted that they also have some old documents like the old testament which written in Old Ducth, Lontar (made from leaves and covered by two slices of wood) written in Balinese or Old Javanese about ceremonial thing in Bali, and the last one (that they showed us) was the copy book of Chinese 3 Empires.
Mr. Junaedi, the Head of International Office, was kind enough to give us a mini tour. The last room to visit was the “Meditation Room”, yes that’s how I call it. It’s a place of 100 rooms to “seriously” work on your dissertation, reseach paper, etc. Doctoral students and lecturers are allowed to book the room for 3 months.
The rest of the day was filled with two lectures from Prof. Maswadi Rauf and Mr. Muhammad Fuadi, continued with a discussion with religion-affiliated student’s organizations, and we end the day with shopping session in Margo City.
I’m going to discuss a little about our discussion and lectures today. So Prof. Maswadi started the lecture regarding Democratic Society in Indonesia: The Issues and Challenges. He went through a brief history of democracy in Indonesia to a lively discussion about the true meaning of freedom, individual democratization, and Special Region of Yogyakarta case. There was an interesting issue on how we define the so called “public interest”? Is it the interest of the majority people? If the answer is yes, then how can we believe that democracy not come in to majority rule?
He personnaly thinks that a freedom should not violate other’s interest (either public or individual one). The interesting thing is, how can we ensure that everyone doesn’t has a conflict of interest? Cause if they do, then it gets hard not to confront other’s interest.
Regarding the Special Region of Yogyakarta matter, he stated that we should distinguish the role of Sultan and Governor. His opinion is that the Sultan can be a symbol of culture, meanwhile the Governor has to play a political role. So we do have to hold an election to determine who’s gonna be our political leader. This issue reminds me to my previous discussion with a political and science lecturer in UGM. She told me that the legal status itself is being questioned since in the post-independence day’s agreement between President Soekarno and Sultan HB IX, it stated the specific name of a person that is Sultan HB IX, not only Sultan of Yogyakarta or something like that. So, does the agreement also prevail for his next generation?
My response was “why don’t we just have the election and the Sultan can also participate in it, can’t he? So if people really want him to be their leader, they’ll definately know who’s to vote.”
And her answer was, “the case is, the Sultan is not elected. They are inherited.”
Well, I was sort of “hmm..that can be true. nice answer.” but then now, I’ll ask more, “We don’t vote for the Sultan’s position, we vote for the Governor. And the Sultan will still be the Sultan.”
It MUST be noted that my responses don’t mean that I pick a side. I’m just trying to make sense of the matter..
The second discussion by Mr. Muhammad Fuadi was about the role of Muhammadiyah and NU, the two biggest Islamic organizations in Indonesia. It gave us some interesting informations related to those two, like I just notice that we don’t have many schools or hospitals under the name of NU but we do have some under Muhammadiyah. In short, Muhammadiyah tends to purify the Islamic teachings from cultural values that is not relevant to Islam, knownly as reformist. Meanwhile NU is more embracing the cultural side. He also went through about Alm. Abdurrahman Wahid’s idea on Islam in Indonesia. Then continued with Q&A session.
The last one, we had a fruitful discussion with students from many religion’s organization in UI which comprises of KMHD (Keluarga Mahasiswa Hindu Dharma), KMKUI (Keluarga Mahasiswa Katolik UI), Islam, and Kristen. Unfortunately, we didn’t have Buddhism but it was quite interesting topic we discussed though, such as the Lady Gaga (L) matters, their activities, and such. I was also asking about the experience whether they had been intolerated in any ways by other religion’s believer. And the answer was pretty sad to me cause unfortunately, we still preserve the intolerant attitute toward differences including in religion. Like it or not, a research conducted by Australian researcher showed that some schools, public as well as private, still practising “unrealized-intolerant-attitude” toward their students, like for some schools they require their student to wear hijab for example though they are not moslem, or Christian school ask their student to take a class on Christianity, or such. Those cases shows that we need to change our early education if we would like to make a change for Indonesia especially regarding tolerance toward others. Sadly, the religion’ teachers do play a part on this matter. We need a more formal action, could be from the Government. And this is a true story conveyed by the Hindu student, she said that when she was in the elementary school, her friend making fun of her belief by saying, “you are worshiping a stone.”
That was really mean, in my opinion. and a kid said that. Something really need to change.
Well, that’s all for today. Can’t wait what they have for us tomorrow! Gotta get some sleep. Nite all! 😉
Jakarta, June 5, 2012
USIPP Day 1
USIPP 2012 is officially started today’s evening with a delicious opening dinner at a restaurant in UI. I and Gita were picked up at the Soekarno-Hatta International airport by two student volunteers from Universitas Indonesia namely Arum (Psychology 2010) and Widya (English Literature 2008) at around 16.00 wib. Despite of some misunderstandings at pre-departure, everything was going pretty well today. They took us to Wisma Makara, inside the complex of Universitas Indonesia, Depok. We had an hour free time, well, actually more to prepare ourselves for the dinner. In this program, we will be paired with the US partners and live in the same room. One room for two. Really nice to get to know each other better. Mine is Shannon Cassidy, a sophomore of Social and Political Sciences from Lehigh University. Oh ya, I get to inform that for this year we have Universitas Indonesia (Ola and Ui), Universitas Gadjah Mada (Cindhi and Gita), and Lehigh University (Shannon, Ellie, Theresa, Angela). Yeaaa finally I memorize their name!!!!
That was the only agenda we have today. The real step is only about to begin…
Jakarta, June 4th, 2012
US-Indonesia Partnership Program (USIPP) Essay: Democracy
Democracy in Comparisons:
The United States of America and The Republic of Indonesia
Cindhi Cintokowati
Faculty of Economics and Business
Universitas Gadjah Mada
Indonesia
INTRODUCTION
Democracy literally means government by people. It is defined as a political system in which citizens enjoy a number of basic civil and political rights, and in which their most important political leaders are elected in free and fair elections and are accountable under a rule of law[1]. At 1863, Abraham Lincoln described democracy as a government of the people, by the people, and for the people in his speech. Democracy expects people to actively participate in political activity or public policy-making process. In ancient Greece society, people were able to directly participate in decision making process and made consensus since they were formed in small community. Nevertheless, the complexity of modern society makes those practices difficult to be implemented. Therefore, representative government emerged as a solution to maintain democracy system and to ensure that aspiration of its people still becomes the main concern of government. In democracy, the elected representatives tend to act for public benefit in order to generate public support for the next election.[2]
Democracy has many different forms such as parliamentary democracy, presidential democracy, liberal democracy, and so on. However, it has several common characteristics that can be elaborated as below:
- Participation by people is the heart of democracy. They may participate by electing their representatives (voting), joining politic party, doing communal political activity such as signing a petition or membership in public interest group, participating in protest activity, or any other form that enables them to demonstrate their aspiration.
- Separation of power into legislative, executive, and judicial branches to perform check and balances function.
- Governance will be conducted under the rule of law. Citizens have to be treated fairly and equally in the name of justice. Law force should be fair and independent.
- High commitment to protect human rights and basic rights of its citizens.
- Equality in legal, political, and economic. Every qualified individual has the same right and opportunity to be candidate and elected. The gap between social classes may indicate the effectiveness of government’s policy.
- Government has to guarantee the freedom of its citizens. Liberty of pursuing happiness, living their life, stating opinion, participating in an association, articulating interest, conducting religious activity, and others.
As democracy posses those characteristics stated above, it is viewed as the best government system so far since it is balancing the authority power in three separated branches and requiring participation from its people. Nevertheless, the implementation in each country can be different regarding to its social and political situation. Therefore, this essay tends to compare the implementation of democracy in The United States of America and The Republic of Indonesia. We may observe the uniqueness of democracy practice in The Republic of Indonesia where “monarchy” within democracy exists. It is related to special status given to Special Region of Yogyakarta which has special authorities’ consequences.
The comparative method chosen for several reasons below:
- We can identify the similarities and the differences to see wider range of political alternatives. Comparative method can help us to explain the combination of political events and institutions in different societies.
- Comparison is an effective tool to fully understand our own democracy. We may identify any shortcoming of our political system. Adopt democracy practice in another country that fit in our society’s beliefs, values, and conditions.
For simplification purpose, this essay will only compare democracy practice in United States of America during President Barrack Obama Period and The Republic of Indonesia during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono 2nd Period – (2009 onward).
COMPARISONS:
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
The United States of America has been used Presidential Democracy as its government system. Meanwhile, the Republic of Indonesia, starting from 1999, has been used Pancasila Democracy. Pancasila is the ideology of the Republic of Indonesia which consists of five moral principals functioned as guidance in all aspect of life including political matter.
The democracy practice comparisons between the United States of America (America) and the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesia) can be explained based on each characteristic as follows:
- I. The Constitutional System
Both America and Indonesia set their government system in a written constitution. Another similarity regarding its implementation of federalism in which governmental power is divided into a national government and several states or provinces government. In America, the federal government often funded the states to build infrastructure or to conduct its governing role. However, the states do not have to accept it, yet if they do, they should meet the requirement set by federal government on how to spend the money. Meanwhile in Indonesia, central government routinely grants fund to provinces or lower level government based on their approved budget.
Another characteristic of democracy is separation of power. Both countries have divided its authority into executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The branch has to be operated by persons entirely distinct from the one whom operating the other two branches. This is to eliminate the possibility of overriding by particular party who exercise too powerful position. Executive branch is led by a President who acts as chief of state and head of government with five-year term in Indonesia and four-year term in America which limited to two full elected terms. In America, President is elected indirectly through an electoral college. In the other hand, President of Indonesia is directly elected by its people since 2004.
Legislative branch between two countries is slightly different. Congress which consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate hold legislative power in America. Members of both the House and the Senate are elected directly by the voters for two-year and six-year terms without limitation time to serve. The election of the Senate’s member is staggered so that one-third of its members comes up for (re)election every two years. Together, the House and the Senate can impeach, convict, and remove president or federal judges from their position. In turn, the president can veto any action conducted by Congress. It needs two-third vote of both chambers to override the veto. Thus, to exercise a policy, president and congress should cooperate and agree in each other. This is one of the reasons why policy making process often finds a deadlock in America. It is because the system has been designed to do so. Each branches designed to exercise its authority with supervision from other branches – cross controlling. However, Americans usually solve the deadlock by lobbying or putting together ad hoc to make public policy.
The significant difference between Indonesia and America regarding its legislative is that in Indonesia legislative consists of the People’s Representative Council (Indonesian: Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, DPR, referred to the House of Representatives), the Regional Representatives Council (Indonesian: Dewan Perwakilan Daerah, DPD, referred to the Senate), and the People’s Consultative Assembly (Indonesian: Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat, MPR). The latter one is resembled from members of both first chambers. The members are directly elected by people. DPR has three main functions: legislative, budgeting, and oversight. Another characteristic is similar to America. President and DPR should cooperate in determining public policy. DPR can impeach president with requirement two-third vote from members who present in plenary session which the session should be attended by two-third of total members, and propose it to Constitutional Court. Later, Constitutional Court will hold a court session to decide whether the president can be impeached or not. Apparently, legislative in Indonesia is more powerful comparing to executive since President of Indonesia does not posses veto right like President of America does. Furthermore, President of Indonesia is reporting to DPR.
Judicial branch in Indonesia as well as in the America is hold by Federal courts and is chaired by Supreme Court. In Indonesia, sixty-member of Supreme Court are proposed by Judicial Commission to DPR and approved by president. The leader will be elected by the Supreme Court’s judges for five-year term with full two elected terms. Meanwhile in the America, president appointed all federal judges with the approval of a majority of Senate and they hold their position until death, resignation, or removal by Congress. The significant difference between the two countries is that in the America, Supreme Court exercises a prominent position. The litigiousness of Americans, in which they tend to solve dispute by filing lawsuit, gives the court a central role in America.
- II. Political Participation
Most of scholars agreed that voting turnout (the percentage of eligible people to vote actually do so) is an important indicator for democracy. Average of voting turnout in the America is lower than Indonesia that is 55%-60% for America and 73, 8% for Indonesia in 2009.[3] This can be triggered by several reasons:
– Unlike any other country, in America, the eligible citizen has to register themselves. Each state regulates voting registration with no list of residents. It might be causing a less convenience for voters. Furthermore, the identity of voter is not automatically transferred to other local government when they are moving out to other places. Thus, they need to manage administration by themselves.
– Americans only want to vote candidates whom fit with their idealism and whom they consider as a good leader who will bring prosperity and a better society. In the other hand, they could not find the ideal candidate to be voted.
– Election frequently hold in America causing Americans to make hundreds electoral decision.
– Since 2004, Indonesian people are having enthusiasm of what so called democratic process where people could participate directly to elect their president.
It is worth to be noted that Indonesia put consensus above voting for decision making process. This is as the implementation of fourth principal in Pancasila.
Another form of political participation is by joining a political party, public interest association, articulating interest, and so forth. In the United States of America, there are many political action committees (PACs) which not formally affiliated with any political party and spend money to influence the result of the election. PACs should be registered at Federal Election Commission and report its income and expenditures. PACs flourished as a result of amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act that set a low limit for individual to financially support a particular party or candidate yet set a higher limit for organization to contribute. PACs mostly funded campaigns for the House and Senate particularly to candidates who will support legislation favor in its interest. PACs could contribute up to 28% of all campaigns fund. Therefore, they are included in a strong group whom able to influence the policy made by government.
In Indonesia, UU No. 8 tahun1985 regulates public interest organization commonly named Lembaga Sosial Masyarakat (LSM) and Organisasi Masyarakat (Ormas). This law required any LSM and Ormas to register to Kesbangpol. Since they are partially funded by government, they are required to report their income and expenditure to the government as accountability. Nevertheless, many of LSM and Ormas still unregistered and operates illegally. In 2010, there are 364 LSM and Ormas registered (source: depdagri.go.id). It is predicted that among those number, almost a half of them is not active.
- III. Political Party System
United States of America has a dual party system which consists of two major parties, Democrats and Republics. Though there are other parties, they only obtain a small percentage of voting. Democrat is known as the liberal side, while Republic as the conservative ones. In the old days, it had no significant difference between candidates from Democrats and Republics. However, it has changed recently as the differences getting meaningful. Democrats have greater support among minority such us women, blacks, and people with lower incomes and educations. In contrast, Republics is increasingly more conservative. It tends to put government intervention in some private areas such as people’s morals, religious, limiting abortion, etc. the point should be noted is that political party in America is so weak and closely regulated.
Unlike America, Republic of Indonesia has many politic parties participate in political stage. Each party brings their ideology yet never contrasted extremely. Two parties or more may form a coalition as an effort to win the election by gathering voters. From practices mentioned above, there some ambiguity of Indonesian political party behavior. It is indicating that Indonesian democracy has not found its established form.
“MONARCHY” WITHIN DEMOCRACY
Special Region of Yogyakarta is one of provinces in Indonesia located in Java Island. Yogyakarta used to be a Javanese kingdom consists of Kesultanan Yogyakarta headed by Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono and Kadipaten Paku Alaman headed by Sri Paduka Paku Alaman. It was granted its special autonomy since Dutch occupation and remains until today. Constitution of Indonesia (Undang- Undang Dasar, UUD 1945) article 18, 18A, and 18B has guaranteed its special status. Later in 1950, the Formation of Special Region of Yogyakarta Act (UU No. 3 1950) strengthens its status as a special region that has an authority to regulate Yogyakarta by itself under the supervision of central government. No. 3 year 1950 Act also stated that although Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono becomes the Governor, his royal family is not related with bureaucracy matter. This can be an explanation that Yogyakarta is not a constitutional monarchy.[4]
The consequence of special region status is that Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono will automatically appointed as the Governor of Yogyakarta and Sri Paduka Paku Alaman as a Vice Governor of Yogyakarta. Governor acts as the head of Region and the head of Regional Government. However, their term should be extended by President in specified time. This means that Yogyakarta has never elected its Governor and Vice Governor through election which theoretically breached the heart of democracy. Another special arrangement for Yogyakarta is that Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono and Sri Paduka Paku Alaman directly responsible to President of Indonesia, while other Provinces Government is responsible to Regional People’s Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah, DPRD). Currently, Yogyakarta is led by Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X and Sri Paduka Paku Alaman IX.
The first democratic process in Yogyakarta was in 1951 when people indirectly elected their representatives at Yogyakarta’s legislative for the first time and continues afterward.[5] Therefore, we may conclude that the uniqueness of Yogyakarta relies on its Governor and Vice Governor position, while any other legislative and judicial structure is remain the same as the rest of provinces in Indonesia.
This situation has become a debatable issue where pros argue that the special status has been guaranteed since centuries and Sultan has become a symbol to preserve Javanese culture, beliefs, and values. Furthermore, Indonesian people should remember history when Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono IX helped Indonesia to achieve its independence and declared to unite with Indonesia. In the other hand, the cons argue that it breached democracy and eliminated an opportunity for common people to lead Yogyakarta. They want Yogyakarta to conduct governor election according to Regional Government Act.
In July 2007, Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X stated in his speech that he would not take Governor Position in future years after his period ends in 2008. This statement triggers opinions from politic scientist as well as politic figure. Some stated that Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X indeed did not necessary to involve in governing activity. However, Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X should become a symbol (similar function as Britain monarchy) and government should guarantee royal’s expenditures budget. Others said that Governor Election would only violent the Special Status of Yogyakarta. While the common people still perceived Sri Sultan as the King that should be obeyed.
In 2008, Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X was willing to extend his period until October 9, 2011. Currently, draft of Special Region of Yogyakarta Act has been finished and discussed in DPR. Corresponding to this issue, the Minister of Internal Affairs provides three options: (1) Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X period as Governor and Pakualam as Vice Governor will be extended until draft of Special Region of Yogyakarta Act legally enforced, (2) Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X period as Governor and Pakualam as Vice Governor will be extended for five years. Later on, the implementation will be accorded to Special Region of Yogyakarta Act, (3) Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X period as Governor and Pakualam as Vice Governor will be extended for unlimited period. Nevertheless, the authority pertain to this issue relies on President of Republic of Indonesia.
DEMOCRACY PROBLEMS
- Voting is a form of people participation where the majority voice will decide. This may trigger a threat when the majority ignoring minority’s rights, freedom, or interest. In that case, democracy cannot accommodate minority’s aspiration and turn out to be majority rule (Madison, and J.S. Mill).
- The elected representatives should be trustee who behaves in public interest instead of delegation who behaves in their group interest or constituent.
- Corruption and bribery can be the major enemy of any government form including democracy. In a condition where corruption has deeply rooted in society even government bodies; it will become a tremendous threat in exercising public policy for people benefits. The separation of power is no longer effective since rich parties may buy out justice or influence policy making process to behave in their interest. Manipulation can be made easily.
CONCLUSION
- Implementation of democracy different among countries regarding to the difference of its social, politic, and economic condition. Democracy ideally should accommodate any aspiration of its people especially at the bottom one. Form of democracy must be suited with society perceived values and beliefs. Moreover, education degree of its people also plays an important role in exercising a good democracy practice.
- In Yogyakarta case, people should be involved in deciding issues related to its special region status. People aspiration is the main concern.
- A good democracy practice requires an active participation of each individual.
REFERENCES
A.Almond, Gabriel, et.al. 2008. Comparative Politics Today: A World View 9th ed. United States: Pearson Longman.
Joyokusumo in Kedaulatan Rakyat newspaper July 03, 2007
Rasyid, Muhammad Ryaas. 1997. Pemerintahan: Tinjauan dari Segi Etika dan Kepemimpinan. Jakarta: PT. Yarsif Watampone.
Republika website retirieved from republica.com December 08th, 2022 at 08.41pm. Article: Banyak Ormas dan LSM Ilegal. Monday, November 14, 2011.
Sumardjan, Selo. 1962. Social Changes in Jogjakarta. New York: Cornell University Press
[1]A. Almond, Gabriel, et.al. Comparative Politics Today
[2] Rasyid, Muhammad Ryaas. 1997. Makna Pemerintahan: Tinjauan dari segi etika dan kepemimpinan. PT. Yarsif Watampone, Jakarta. hal 31-42
[3] Data taken from Election Commission (Komisi Pemilihan Umum, KPU) and A. Almond, Gabriel et.al. Comparative Politics Today
[4] Joyokusumo in Kedaulatan Rakyat newspaper July 03, 2007
[5] Sumardjan, Selo. 1962. Social Changes in Jogjakarta. New York: Cornell University Press
Globalization and Changing Population: Japan Case
As a final assignment from Japanese and Globalization class, we were asked to write a paper related to Globalization issue. It doesn’t necessarily pertain to Japan. But since I study in Japan, then I thought why not study further about this developed country which has some interesting phenomenon. I was interesting in its population problem. In short, I decided to write this one paper.
Globalization and Its Impact on Labor Forces:
Japan Case
- Introduction
Globalisation is a process which enables flow of information, technology, goods, services, or even people, between countries all over the world. In this era, technology and information play an important role to gain a competitive position in global market. Japan known as one of the most powerful country in term of economy and technology. However, this developed country is currently facing a great problem regarding labor forces, especially caused by its aging population.
Japan’s population at 2008 based on OECD data, was 127,568,000 with 22% of elderly population aged 65 or over. The rate of population grow from 2001 to 2008 was 0.1% in average. The number of its population projected to be declining, meanwhile the rate of elderly people itself estimated to be 33% by 2050. In order to fulfill the needs of labor market, Japan will be depending on immigrants from other countries. Besides its shortage of labor forces, Japan also facing a problem regarding its pension fund and social security.
- Labor Force Condition in Japan
- Aging population
The main factor that causing the aging population can be divided into two, that is: (1) Decreasing fertility as a result of increasing marriage age. Education might be strongly influence this behaviour. (2) Life expectancy increase as a result of medical service development. Furthermore, low rate of accidents and criminal can also contributed to this matter. Currently, there are about 66.3% of people aged 55-64 who still actively working.
- Immigration
According to Ministry of Health and Welfare (2002), between 1970 – mid 1980s, Japan annually allowed 20 – 30 thousand immigrants. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, annual immigration increased to about 70 – 90 thousand, but that number declined in recent years. In 2008, foreign population in Japan reached 1.7% of its total population with perhaps another 500 thousand illegal immigrants. The United Nations Population Division (1998) projects that to keep the Japanese population in 125 million, Japan would need an average of 400,000 immigrants annually between 2005 – 2050.
Registered Non-Japanese National Residents in Japan （end of 2008 figures）
|
Total |
China |
Korea |
Brazil |
Philippines |
Peru |
U.S.A. |
Thailand |
Vietnam |
Indonesia |
Others |
|
2,217,426 100％ |
655,377 29.6% |
589,239 26.6% |
312,582 14.1% |
210,617 9.5% |
59,723 2.7% |
52,683 2.4% |
42,609 1.9% |
41,136 1.9% |
27,250 1.2% |
226,210 10.2% |
(1.7% of Japan’s total population)
There are two category for immigrants who enter into Japan:
- Skilled immigrant who mostly come from English-speaking country.
- Unskilled immigrant who mostly come from Asian countries. This immigrants fulfill the needs of low-wage labor market in Japan.
This issue brings up some points into considerations, (1) certain characteristic of immigrants is that, unlike Japanese who would save their salary in bank, those immigrants tend to send back their salary or wage to their homecountry. Therefore, it is unfavorable for Japan’s economy, (2) There is a concern that immigrants would raising up the criminal rate, (3) Some Japanese worker afraid that the presence of this immigrants will lower their salary.
Brain Drain and Brain Circulation
Another interesting phenomenon in globalisation era is brain drain and brain circulation. Brain drain happens when someone who had received advanced education or who work in specialized occupation moved out to another country to exercise his (her) skill and abilities. Brain drain could be disadvantageous for source country since they will lose their advanced skills and knowledge, thus lose their productivity and competitiveness in global market. Furthermore, they will not fully earned their investment on higher education. Nevertheless, the process in which the “brain” moved overseas and then return is called brain circulation (Mahroum, 1998). Unlike brain drain, brain circulation may give advantegous for source country as the skilled people may bring back knowledge from destination country.
Japan is one of recipient country of these brains from overseas. Ministry of Justice Immigration Bureau (2006) reported that there were 8,406; 2,494; and 29,044 individuals with “Instructor”, “Researcher”, and “Engineer” visa respectively. On the other hand, Japanese scientists and researchers are also moving overseas, primarily to United States. According to National Science Board (2006), the number of Japanese who live in United States as high as 59,400. Mostly they are undergraduate or higher level of education holder, with Ph.D accounted for 5,400.
Most of the “brain” who come to Japan get their higher education in Japan, thus decided to continue working in Japan. Meanwhile, the “brain” who fly away from Japan to United Stated are also get their higher education in Japan then for some reasons decided to go to United States. The reason mainly is to find better research environment. The other reasons are to receive training, to find a job that they could not find in Japan, wage disparities, to learn english, or to gain International acknowledgement. A suvey conducted by Murakami Yukiko (2005-2006) revealed that 31% are willing to work in Japan in the future, 22% says np, and 58% says it is depend on the circumstances.
- NEET
According to wikipedia site, NEET is an acronym for Not currently engaged in Employment, Education or Training. This classification includes people aged 15 – 34 who are unemployed, unmarried, not enrolled in school or engaged in housework, and not looking for job or training. At first, this phenomenon only hit children from upper-class family. Yet it’s contagious to even middle and lower-class family causing the number raising each year. Survey conducted government in 2002 was revealed that 850,000 people can be classified as NEET, of which 60% were people aged 25 – 34.
- Suicide
Japanese number of suicidal is the largest from any other country. In 2006, the number reached 19.1% per 1000 people. This issue needs to be solved quickly because it may worsen Japan’s population condition in the future.
- Recomendation
- Regarding aging population problem, since the main cause is decreasing fertility rate, government should promote or encouraging Japanese citizens to have more than one child. It might be done by making a policy for example family who has third child will be given some amount of money or any other encouragement.
- Women empowerment by giving an equal opportunity for women to choose their career path.
- It is undeniable that Japan needs immigrants to fulfill the need of its labor market. Thus, it might be better to cooperate with legal government’s body from another country or official institution to provide it.
- Though most of “flied brain” are willing to come back to Japan if it is possible, yet it is still uncertain. To prevent brain drain, Japan has to reform its research environment to be more open, flexible, free, promote competitiveness, and use merit system.
- Government should seek the root of this NEET’s problem because if it continues, the number may be getting bigger each year. Thus, Japan will lose its productivity.
- Suicide is getting serious and should be overcome soon. With those low rate of population growth, this phenomenon would be more disadvantageous. Government or social organization may create a consultation peer group or something that allow someone who has problem to share with others. There should be social encouragement.
- To prevent pshycology-rooted problem, it might be best to prepare a strong mental or EQ from childhood, like elementary school. Another way, for entrance exam, it is not only depend on IQ but also EQ test.
References
Dekle, Robert. (2004). Financing consumption in an aging Japan: The role of foreign capital inflows and immigration. United States: Elsevier Inc.
Koyama, Kaoru & M. Okamoto. (2008). Migrants, Migrant Workers, Refugees and Japan’s Immigration Policy. Japan
Murakami, Yukiko. (2010). Japan’s Brain Drain: An Analysis of Japanese Researchers Living in the United States. Japan
Wikipedia. www.wikipedia.com retrieved July 20th, 19.45
Independent Study: Proposal
Here is my proposal for independent study related to management control system in Japan, yet it was rejected since my sensei considered it would take long time and I wouldn’t be able to finish it on time. Moreover, I wasn’t fluent in Japanese which is the main constrain for conducting this research plan.
MANAGEMENT CONTROL SYSTEM IN JAPAN
CORPORATION: BEHAVIORAL ASPECT
Proposed by: Cindhi Cintokowati
I. INTRODUCTION
Organization consists of many different individuals who work together to achieve its goal. Inevitably, each individu sometime has a goal that is not congruence with organization goal. Furthermore, they may behave on their own interest which may counterproductive for organization as a whole. In that case, management control system is designed to assure goal congruence between individual goals and corporate goals. An effective management control system can be built by analyzing its individual goal and other factors that may influence worker’s behavior. Once individual goal determined, it could be an important consideration to drive it along with organization’s goal through insentives and disinsentives policy. In other word, we need to observe workers’ behavior and reveal reason behind it to design an effective management control system.
II. RESEARCH GOAL
Formulate an effective management control system to:
– Motivate workers to posses productive behavior.
– Encourage workers to develop ideas, creativity, and leadership skill.
– Build workers’ loyalty.
III. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
– Reveal current implementation of management control system related to behavioral aspect.
– Reveal how genre issues take place on workplace in Japan’s corporation.
– Determine factors that strongly influence workers’ behavior.
IV. RESEARCH METHOD
– TYPE OF STUDY
Both quantitative and qualitative.
– DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
- Primary Data
Conducting interview with manager of Japan’s corporation and distributing questionair to its workers.
- Secondary Data
Related books and journals
V. OUTLINE PAPER
- Introduction: Explain definition and theory of MCS
- Research Goal and Objectives
- Research Method
- Implementation of MCS in Japan’s Corporation: Nowadays
Regarding company’s policies on promotion system, salary, benefits, insentives, or any other policies that may affect workers’ behavior or motivation.
4. Research Results
Contains explanations regarding achieved objectives, such as factors that influence workers’ job satisfaction, etc.
5. Conclusion
Formulation management control system: behavioral aspect.
6. References
Indonesian Slang: Bahasa Gaul and Alay
- Introduction
Young generation is dynamic. They are in the stage of searching for identity and recognition from community. They tend to differentiate themselves from others to create their own unique identity. In the other hand, peer group strongly influence their member’s behavior. They will try to meet up their peer-group expectation to gain a recognition. Therefore, young generation always identic with their own “world” or subculture.
The emergence of pop culture (referred to popular culture) and the use of slang words are the example of this subcultures. According to Wikipedia, pop culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred through an informal consensus within the mainstream of any given society. Meanwhile slang word is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker’s dialect or language.
This paper will be focused on slang words used among Indonesian youth that is Bahasa Gaul and Alay. The former tend to be more wide-used among young generation especially in the urban area. Meanwhile, the latter one is just recently emerged and become a hit. Nevertheless, those two slangs have completely different image and different user.
- Indonesian Slang
- Bahasa Gaul
Bahasa gaul derived from “bahasa” which literally means “language” and “gaul” which means “social” or “cool”. This language is commonly used among youngsters in urban areas such as Jakarta (capital city) and Bandung which considered as trend-setter city for young generation. Actually, bahasa gaul is an informal form of Indonesia’s National Language, Bahasa Indonesia.
Historically, bahasa gaul originated from Jakarta which using Betawi dialect. Betawi is origin residents of Jakarta. Bahasa gaul emerged long time ago in the late 1990s and nationally recognize as language spoken primarily by youngster in Jakarta. Meanwhile for youngster in other small cities or rural area, they still use regional language for daily conversation.
Commonly, bahasa gaul formed by changing on the last syllable of Bahasa Indonesia into “e”. For example:
| Bahasa Indonesia | Bahasa Gaul | English |
| Kata siapa? | Kate siape? | Who said? |
| Yang benar? | Yang bener? | Really? |
| Ingin | Pengen | Want |
| Malas | Males | Lazy |
| Pinjam, Meminjam | Pinjem, Minjem | Borrow, etc |
Basically it sounds like they use “e” more often, though it is not always like that. Some words also completely change, for example:
| Bahasa Indonesia | Bahasa Gaul | English |
| Saya | Gue | I |
| Anda | Lo/ Lu | You |
| Ayah | Bokap | Father |
| Ibu | Nyokap | Mother |
| Sahabat | Sohib | Best Friend, etc. |
| Tidak | Enggak, Nggak, Gak | No |
Bahasa gaul tend to cut some syllable of the word to make it easier to say, here is the example:
| Bahasa Indonesia | Bahasa Gaul | English |
| Sudah | Udah | Already (done) |
| Menulis | Nulis | Write |
| Lihat | Liat | See |
The way of speaking or expression can also be differentiated. For example, they use this kind of expression: “..ah..”, “sih”, “dong”.
Here is the example for the full sentence:
| Bahasa Indonesia | Bahasa Gaul | English | ||
| Saya malas | Males ah gue | I’m lazy | ||
| Saya minta satu | Minta satu dong! | May I have one? | ||
| Apakah anda sudah mengerjakan tugas? | Lo uda ngerjain tugas belom? | Have you done the assignment? | ||
| Apakah saya boleh- meminjam buku anda? | Gue boleh pinjem buku- lo nggak? | Can I borrow your- book? | ||
| Ibu saya sedang di Bali | Nyokap gue lagi di Bali | My mother is in Bali | ||
Bahasa gaul is spoken by every youngster in Jakarta and probably most of Bandung’s youth. No matter from what social class their family is. It is considered as cool and trendy. In the other hand, if someone from other cities speak bahasa gaul to talk with their peers who is also from the same region, it will be considered ostentatious or city-youth-wanna-be. It does not necessarily mean that youth from other city dislike bahasa gaul. It is just not the way they interact each other. They usually prefer to use their own regional language. Even if they speak with bahasa gaul and imitate Jakarta youth’s way of speaking, it usually just as joke. Although they also take some of bahasa gaul into their daily conversation. Nevertheless, when they move to Jakarta to study or other business, they tend to adapt bahasa gaul as it is required as “social language”.
- Alay
Alay is one of recent subculture created by young generation in Indonesia. Alay phenomenon emerged in early 2004 as a result of social network called friendster which then become a hit recently.[1] Unlike bahasa gaul, alay has a unique style of messaging, fashion style, music, pose of taking pictures, etc. The word alay itself has no definite derivation, some says it stands for “anak layangan” (kiteflyer, means someone who like to go with the mainstream) or “anak lebay” (a person who has exaggregating behavior, overacting).
Alay commonly used by middle and high school students (11-18 years old) yet it is not general. Only minor part, usually young generation who come from middle lower class use this alay style. Unlike bahasa gaul, alay mainly modify the form or the style rather than modify the language itself.
Alay messaging can be formed either by changing some spelling using number, cut some character to make it as shortest as possible, playing with capitalization, or combinasation of those all. Here is the example:
| Alay | Bahasa Gaul/ Indonesia | English |
| gu3 M4u ke rum4h L0e y4 | Gue mau ke rumah loe ya | I’m going to your house |
| km 5yn6 n6g4k 5H sM 4ky | Kamu sayang nggak sih sama aku? | Do you love me? |
| nyk4P 6 mRh MLu Nh kerjnny | Nyokap gue marah mulu nih kerjaannya. | My mom always get mad at me |
Photo pose and music also can be modified to be alay. As pose, alayners tend to turn their head around 45 degrees (to become oblique) or put their finger in front of their lips like “be quite” sign. Meanwhile for music taste, they tend to like indie band or malay- pop genre band that is raising star recently.
Another sign of alay is the way they dressed. They usually wear a tight jeans, bright color, imitation brand, or something a little bit “too much” for general youngsters. Alayners (name for alay person) usually try to be cool, fashionable, or trendy but it just not fit them well. Therefore, the image of alay itself often stereotyped as “tacky” or “cheesy” or “norak and kampungan” in Indonesia. Nowadays, many people or show use alay style as a ridicule.
- Conclusion
– Bahasa gaul has been accepted since a long time ago as a subcultural originated and mainly used in Jakarta. It is even become a primary communication tools for among young peers.
– Bahasa gaul considered as cool and metropolis style. Although youngsters from another cities still prefer to use their own regional language, they never consider bahasa gaul as a “minor” one.
– Bahasa gaul used regardless of social stratification.
– Alay just become a hit recently. It is modify style, rarely modify the language.
– Alay is associated with high schoolers or called “Anak Baru Gede (ABG)” which literally means “Kid who just getting mature/ puberty).
– Alay style usually considered as “minor” or “exaggregating”. Therefore, their style often become a ridicule.
Reference
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Alay. Retrieved August 10, 2011, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alay
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Indonesian Slang. Retrieved August 10, 2011, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_slang
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Popular Culture. Retrieved August 10, 2011, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_culture
[1] According to wikipedia
bengkel jiwa 