The Youth Pledge and National Disruption

The Youth Pledge was a story of connectivity and inclusivity amid diverse identities in the early days of the nation of Indonesia. It was a spectacular story of youths’ struggles in adapting themselves in the face of life challenges and presenting themselves as survivors.

KOMPAS/DIDIE SW

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The Youth Pledge was a story of connectivity and inclusivity amid diverse identities in the early days of the nation of Indonesia. It was a spectacular story of youths’ struggles in traversing the rocky path of multiselection, adapting themselves in the face of life challenges and presenting themselves as survivors.

To paint a picture of the long and winding road Indonesian youths have gone through, from individuals into becoming citizens of a nation, we may borrow the descriptions used by Jonathan Haidt in his mesmerizing 2012 book “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion”.

The tale began with children of a colonized nation, with their natural traits similar to those of chimpanzees in prioritizing their personal interests. They were forced to race with one another to become “new (intellectual) aristocrats” within the unfair competition system of a colonial society. In the next stage, the various forms of discrimination they suffered along the way to become these “new aristocrats” fostered an interconnected “natural sensitivity” as if they were all members of one tribe – much like bees gathering in the “nest” of moral primordial community (based on ethnicity and religion).

In this stage, there were competitions between these new communal groups. The emergence of a student and youth organization on the basis of Javanese solidarity, the Jong Java, triggered the creation of similar organizations across the archipelago: Jong Islamieten Bond, Sundanese youth organization Sekar Rukun, Betawi youth organization Pemuda Kaum Betawi, Jong Ambon, Jong Celebes, Jong Batak and Jong Sumatranen Bond.

Civic nationhood

In its development, the selection process in the competition between these communal groups transcended due to the presence of similar interests in facing a common bigger enemy, namely the repressive and discriminatory colonial (“foreign”) state. Such perceptions of collective interest encouraged the fusion of various primordial communities into a single “nest” of moral community on a larger scale. Thus, a new gigantic “super-organism” named “civic nationhood” was born.

Indonesia’s path toward becoming a civic nation was markedly different from that of European societies. In the European experience, nationalism was fostered through secularization and the waning of influence of religion and other primordial bonds (Rupert Emerson, 1960). In Indonesia, however, religion and other cultural communities played an important role in the emergence of nationalism. The emergence of civil and political societies mainly took place within religious and cultural communities instead of in market communities. The road toward civic nationhood was forged by civilizing religious and ethnic communities in order to become a public moral community filled with peace and tolerance.

Therefore, in Indonesia, we could never polarize “nationalism” and “religiosity”. Religious communities can serve as the backbone of national integration as a result of their ability to link the diversity of ethnicities and vertical social classes by using similar streams of religion. This, coupled with the process of civilization (through the connectivity and inclusivity of various religious mass organizations) in promoting public morality, serves as reliable social and moral capital for Indonesia.

The importance of religious communities as social capital is similar to Robert Putnam’s (2000) portrait of the United States’ context of civic nationhood. In Putnam’s views, linkages between small groups, such as churches and religious groups that involve individuals from various social backgrounds, were the early capital for public affection. “Religion has made Americans into better neighbors and better citizens”.

“The active ingredient that made people more virtuous was enmeshing them into relationships with their co-religionists. Anything that binds people together into dense networks of trust makes people less selfish”. This is a hugely important social capital for national integrity.

In the tale of the Youth Pledge, the fusion process of various ethno-religious communities within a singular and more expansive civic nationhood was enabled by the youths’ willingness to ensure connectivity and inclusivity.

Their connectivity ability can be seen from the various sociographic background of the participants of the Second Youth Congress. Such diversity, apart from being reflected in the presence of aforementioned organizations, was also seen in the presence of Papuan representatives (Aitai Karubaba and Poreu Ohee) as well as Chinese observers (Oey Kay Siang, John Lawu Tjoan Hok and Tjio Dijen Kwie), including one Chinese member of the Jong Sumatranen Bond (Kwee Thiam Hiong). The Jong Islamieten Bond represented the religious community.

This presence of participants from several regions across the archipelago was truly amazing, considering the limited availability of transportation infrastructure network at the time. Only ships and trains connected many cities. Nevertheless, the limitations were overcome by the dense mental and spiritual connectivity. The mental-spiritual connectivity was enabled by the availability of modern public spaces that facilitated inter-identity meetings.

Such modern public spaces included networks of schools and European-style social clubs, especially in Bandung, Batavia, Surabaya and other major cities. They enabled youths from various regions and social groups to interact with one another. Secondly, the emergence of a vernacular press industry enabled the dissemination of information, the exchanges of ideas and the promotion of collective agendas.

The mental-spiritual connectivity was also enabled by the high level of reading interest and erudition. The expanse and depth of available reading materials enabled students and youths to understand problems taking place in faraway places, despite the lack of their physical presence. These youths were then able to develop empathy toward those with different identities and to discover their collective substantial similarities that transcended their different identities.

Connectivity and inclusivity

The inclusivity dimension of the Youth Pledge was seen in the equal opportunity available for all participants from different groups in expressing their ideas and in taking roles in reaching agreements on collective agendas and decisions. In the subsequent journey, this inclusive spirit inherited from the Youth Pledge enabled the congress’ leaders to take important roles in the history of the Republic. Sugondo Djojopuspito (congress chairman), Muhammad Yamin (secretary), Amir Sjarifudin (treasurer) and Johannes Leimena (aide) all had important government roles later on, including in the Indonesian Independence Preparation Investigative Assembly (BPUPKI), the Central National Committee of Indonesia (KNIP) and ministry posts based on non-discriminatory meritocracy.

Amir Sjarifudin, a Christian, once served as prime minister. Johannes Leimena with his double-minority status (Christian Melanesian) served as deputy minister for 21 years – the longest in the nation’s history – as well as acting head of state on several occasions.

Connectivity and inclusivity are important not only for national integration but also as prerequisites for a nation’s advancement. This can be seen clearly in sports. A 2018 study by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski in “Soccernomics” assessed why the English national soccer team had no international achievements for a long time despite being the birth place of modern soccer. The answer may very well be the lack of connectivity and inclusivity in the nation’s football scene.

In continental Europe, you can travel between countries in just two hours. This facilitates interconnectivity and mutual learning between countries. One country’s soccer skills can be learnt by other countries shortly in order to seek better playing skills. This encourages the emergence of great soccer coaches, such as Arrigo Sacchi, Arsene Wenger and Pep Guardiola, who can cook up soccer recipes through creative synthesis and create effective, attractive and achievement-filled playing styles. England, as a separate archipelagic nation, is less connected to the development of soccer in its neighboring countries. For a long time, the English national soccer team maintained its outdated hit and run style. Only recently, after Premier League teams hired continental European coaches, were there significant changes in the teams’ playing styles.

Apart from that, in many continental European countries, national soccer teams are developed with inclusivity in mind, with talent recruited from various social groups. In England, recruitment for the national soccer team is mostly an exclusive affair, with players hailing from the nation’s “working class”. Many of its players drop out of school at 16 and almost none has ever obtained higher education. Therefore, potential great talents from other social classes become out of reach. On the same basis, we can explain that among the factors that have supported the excellence of Indonesia’s national badminton team is its strong inclusivity.

In order to become a cohesive collective strength, connectivity and inclusivity must be founded upon shared values. In the context of public morality, such similarities can be found in six core values of the moral matrix: Care (toward dangers that threaten collective safety), fairness (justice and propriety), liberty (of oppression and restraint), loyalty (toward institutions and traditions), authority (that is respected by all) and sanctity.

The Youth Pledge generation had meeting points in almost all points of this moral matrix. They all cared for the dangers of colonialism. They all fought for justice and equality. They all longed for freedom from oppression. They were all loyal to the nation and the motherland. They all dreamt of a new authority that was different from the colonial and feudalistic one and they all sanctified one singular value, namely mutual assistance – unity must be prioritized above differences.

This linkage to a collective moral community was reaffirmed by the cohesiveness of collective nationalist identity and symbols. In a diverse society, political recognition and recognition politics are required to ensure equal rights for all ethnic, cultural and religious groups. However, the presence of these various communal groups must not be paid by social fragmentation. Therefore, each group is demanded to have a national commitment by strongly upholding collective values, norms, symbols and institutions. Karen Stenner (2005) reminded that multicultural politics and education that strongly emphasize difference will only increase racism, rather than reduce it.

For the Youth Pledge generation, the effort to link diversity was done by recognizing similar aspects that transcended social boundaries: one motherland, one nation and one unifying language. Unity was also fostered by striving for synchrony by fostering public affection through one flag and one national anthem.

The anthem “Indonesia Raya” (Great Indonesia), which the colonial government had underestimated as a non-emotional folk song, was always sung at various occasions, slowly turning it into a symbol that aroused collective nationalism. All of these frameworks of similarity and cohesiveness grew more solid as colonial policies grew more repressive. In time, this leads to the emergence of a singular nationalist bloc throughout the archipelago. Through the famous patriotic yells of “merdeka atau mati” (freedom or death), this energy of unity served as fuel in the war for independence. It empowered colonial children and made them see themselves as survivors of colonialism.

Threat of disruption

This long road toward nationhood is remembered once again as Indonesia faces the threat of national disruption nowadays. Despite much progress in physical connectivity through transportation infrastructure development and the increasingly intense use of social media, we are experiencing a decline in mental-spiritual connectivity. Schools and media, which used to be windows of openness toward inter-cultural communication and exchange of ideas, have turned into mediums of small-mindedness. The trend of exclusivity is on the rise with the proliferation of residential areas, schools and workplaces with increasingly steep social segregation.

Collective moral communities are becoming fractured as a result of the decline of commitment to establish and maintain public moralities. The moral basis of socio-political organizations is becoming vague. Of the six values in the matrix of public morality, the only one still relatively extolled is liberty. As for the other ones, there is seemingly no serious attention in caring for the things that threaten collective safety. Loyalty for national institutions and traditions is seemingly declining. Respect of leadership and legal authorities is also waning.

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

Yudi Latif

Public narratives do not encourage convergence. Instead, they promote divergence. Sharpening political polarizations seems to have hardened social differences. We need more events like the Asian Games to highlight our similarities and cohesiveness above our diversity. Competition with other nations may not only lead to achievements but also transform internal conflicts and competitions into contestations with common foreign “opponents”.

Common perceptions of collective interests can be fostered through not only negative-defensive nationalism (against outside enemies) but also positive-progressive nationalism (through collective agendas of progress, excellence and commonwealth).

Furthermore, we need to create much more public meeting spaces that can facilitate citizens to transcend identity boundaries. Democratic institutions must be reorganized in order to strengthen unity and justice. Freedom as a negative right (freedom from) must be transformed into freedom as a positive right (freedom to) so that our diversity and potential can be processed into sources of collective progress and happiness. In commemorating the Youth Pledge, we need to be catching fire, instead of collecting dust!

Yudi Latif, Executive, National Alliance