I. Introduction and Objectives 1
II. Profile on Indonesia: the Seeds of Unsustainability 1

 I. Introduction and Objectives

    According to the World Bank, “Indonesia has been remarkably successful in achieving its development objectives over the past twenty-five years: income per capita has risen from US$50 in 1967 to US$650 today; poverty has been reduced from 60% of the population to an estimated 15%; life expectancy at birth has increased by 20 years (almost 50%); and, with the achievement of universal primary education, the adult illiteracy rate has been cut by two-thirds. While still a low-income country, its tradition of sound economic management, the structural reforms of the 1980s, and past investments in human resources and infrastructure have laid the foundation for continued progress in the decades ahead.”

    Despite this glowing report from the World Bank (which, incidentally, came out before the recent economic crisis), Indonesia has an enormous challenge in front of it as it nears the 21st century. Its large and expanding population, has been rushing headlong down an unsustainable and environmentally damaging path, guided by the outdated paradigm of economic growth held by the industrialized nations. The pace and pattern of growth Indonesia has followed in the past must be changed to provide for long term protection of its natural resource base. Rather than focusing on unsustainable increases in its Gross Domestic Product, Indonesia must regard development in more holistic terms. If not, short term gains will be far outweighed by long term losses in terms of social decay and environmental degradation.

    The objective of this report is to identify the major challenges to sustainable development in Indonesia and provide recommendations on how to meet those challenges.

II. Profile on Indonesia: the Seeds of Unsustainability

A History of Plunder

    Indonesia has had a stormy past. History records religious conquest of large areas of the archipelago by Hindus, Buddhists, Islam, and Christianity. At various times since the early 1500s, the islands were exploited by the Portuguese, the English, the Dutch, and the Japanese. During the period of Dutch colonialism, from the mid 1700s through December, 1949, large portions of the Indonesian landscape were transformed into plantation agriculture. “An infamous forced cultivation system, the Culture System, was instituted in 1830, and soon coffee, sugar, indigo, pepper, tea, and cotton were raised to supply the demand in Europe. Virtually all of Java was turned into a vast state owned labor camp run somewhat like the contemporary slave plantations of the United States.”

    During World War II, the Japanese occupied and plundered the islands for oil, rubber, rice, gold, jewels, and iron to feed their hungry war machine. Following the war, a bloody revolution ensued between Indonesian nationalists and the Dutch which finally culminated with independence on December 27, 1949.

    From its inception, however, the new nation was in a state of disarray. The Indonesians had no teachers, no higher-level civil service class, no national income, the mills and factories were closed or destroyed, and there was serious fighting with secessionists, communists, and religious fanatics.

    Although Sukarno, Indonesia’s first president, can be credited with welding the islands together into a nation by adroitly playing off powerful groups against one another, he also squandered billions on prestige projects which drove the nation’s inflation rate to 650% per year and caused the accumulation of mammoth foreign debts. A bloody but failed coup in 1965 in which over half a million people lost their lives (reportedly engineered by Sukarno himself) resulted in the obliteration of the Communist party in Indonesia and the deaths of many dissidents and Chinese.

    President Suharto, the current ruler of Indonesia, came into power after Sukarno’s death. Suharto is credited with establishing the mainstay of the Indonesian economy: the massive export of oil and natural gas. However, since the 1980’s, opposition to President Suharto’s government has been increasing. Rising unemployment, student unrest, the politically frustrated masses, the widening inequality between the urban and rural sectors, rampant government corruption, and Muslim radicalism have all contributed to the tensions.”

Indonesia’s Exploding Population

    Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago with more than 17,000 islands. Its population is the fourth largest in the world -- ranked behind China, India, and the U.S -- with over 201 million inhabitants (1997) spread over 6000 islands. Indonesia covers a geographical area which if laid over the continental U.S. would stretch from San Francisco to New York, and has a land area of more than 734,000 sq. mi. Culturally, Indonesia is extremely diverse, with over 300 different ethnic groups, each with its own language or dialect. The national motto of Indonesia is Bhinneka Tunggal Ika -- unity through diversity.

 

    From 1990 to 1995 Indonesia’s population grew at an annual rate of 1.6%. The population of Java, Indonesia’s most populated island which is about the size of New York state, has more than tripled this century to over 93 million. Java’s population is well over a third of the population of the U.S., and gives Java a population density of over 1500 per square km.

    Since the seventies, Indonesia has attempted to slow the rate of population growth through programs aimed at improving the welfare of women and family planning. Nevertheless, at the present rate of growth, Indonesia’s population will continue to exert ever greater demands on its environmental resources.

The Trend Towards Urbanization

    Urbanization is Indonesia has been taking place at a feverish pace (over 5% per annum. Lured by the promise of jobs, improved income potential, and the excitement of the urban environment, large numbers of rural residents have opted to move to the cities during the recent decades. By the year 2020, half of the entire population may reside in urban areas.

    The urban transition is occurring more rapidly on Java, which is already 36% urban and could reach 60% by 2020. Population in the urban agglomeration that encompasses Jakarta ballooned by 44% in the eighties, from 11.9 million to 17.1 million. Industrial firms continue to concentrate in and around urban areas, with little regard for potential impacts on ecologically sensitive areas or the health and welfare of surrounding communities.

    The country’s controversial transmigrasi policy has failed to reduce Indonesia’s overcrowded urban populations, estimated to increase from 35 million (1991) to 130 million by 2025. The transmigrasi policy is aimed at relocating people from the overcrowded islands of Java to sparsely populated islands like Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Irian Jaya

Population Densities in the Indonesian Archipelago

Adapted from Global Population Densities : http://www.ciesin.org/datasets/gpw/aucountsmoo.gif

Jakarta — Capital Punishment by Pollution

    Jakarta is Indonesia's center of government, finance, commerce, and education. In Jakarta is concentrated as much as 7 percent of the country’s GDP, 17 percent of its domestic industrial production, and 61 percent of its banking and financial activities. Per capita income in Jakarta is 70 percent higher than the national average.

    Jakarta suffers from high levels of pollution from both industrial and urban sources. Ambient levels of particulate matter exceed health standards at least 173 days per year. Vehicle emissions constitute the most important source of harmful pollutants, and this trend will continue (the number of motorized vehicles in Indonesia more than doubled during the 1980s, to 9 million vehicles, a third of which are in urban areas).

    Jakarta's water quality also suffers under the combined strain of domestic and industrial pollution. Its open ditch wastewater system cannot cope with the wastes of the current 17 million residents. Domestic wastewater is estimated to contribute 80 percent of surface water pollution. Industrial discharges are a growing concern. In some areas, groundwater is polluted with nitrates and microorganisms from domestic waste and toxins leached from industrial landfills.

    Jakarta's aquifer is suffering from overextraction and salinization. Parts of the city have sunk 30 to 70 centimeters in the past 15 years due to land subsidence. Urban expansion into the water catchment areas southwest and southeast of Jakarta is further threatening the aquifer.

The Challenge of Rural Development

     A major sore spot for many of Indonesia’s poor living in rural villages is the inequitable manner in which land is often acquired for development purposes which sometimes occurs without sufficient compensation or other arrangements to ensure that the livelihoods of those affected are fully restored. Inequities have occurred in many instances where land was acquired for major infrastructural development projects, for parks, and for expansion of forest concessions and plantations. The result has been an increase in conflicts over traditional "adat" land-use rights and access to natural resources by local communities.

Indonesia’s Major Industries

    Before W.W.II, Indonesia exported substantial percentages of the world’s rubber, tin, petroleum, pepper, cloves, nutmeg, quinine, coffee, tea, palm oil, and copra. Though in large part an agricultural country, Indonesia has made significant progress in developing a modern infrastructure and an industrial base. Industry in Indonesia employs only about 7% of the people, and includes oil refineries, fertilizer, cement, steel, liquefied natural gas plants, mineral, timber, and wood processing plants. Light manufacturing, concentrated overwhelmingly on Java, focuses on tires, furniture, shoes, textiles, electronics, drugs, and cigarettes. Automobile assembly plants make European, Japanese, and Australian models, and Indonesia has even gotten into the high-tech aerospace industry, manufacturing passenger aircraft and helicopters.

    The driving force behind the Indonesian economy over the past 10 years has been petroleum which until 1985 accounted for about 60% of total budget revenues. Estimates are that Indonesia’s oil reserves will last well into the 21st century. The Indonesia economy relies very heavily on oil, timber, rubber, and other highly localized programs.

Agriculture — Many Hands but Not Much Income

    Indonesia’s agricultural sector is the country’s largest employer. More than 55% of the work force is employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing. Major crops include rice, corn, coffee, tea, cassava, palm oil, natural rubber, coconut, soybeans, tropical fruits, vegetables, and spices. Indonesia is the world’s third largest grower of rice, the second largest producer of palm oil, the fourth largest producer of coffee, and the second largest producer of natural rubber. Despite the large number of Indonesians working the land, agriculture contributes 16% to Indonesia’s GDP.

    In the past two decades, Indonesia has evolved from a large food importing nation to an economy that exported more than $7 billion in agricultural commodities in 1995. The above gains have not been achieved without skirting ecological disaster, according to one source, because of the overuse of government subsidized fertilizers and pesticides.

Economy, Debt Structure, and Balance of Trade

 Indonesia has the largest gross domestic product ( GDP ) in South East Asia, $225.8 Billion. During the last decade, its annual economic growth hovered around 7%. In 1997, its GDP Growth rate was 7.8%. Exports totaled $49.8 Billion. Import totaled $42.9 Billion. By sector, the total GDP (1995) was divided as follows: Manufacturing, 24.3%; Mining, 8.4%; Agriculture, 17.2%; Construction, 7.7%; Trade, 16.4%; Infrastructure, 6.8%, and other services, 19.2%. Inflation rate until the recent economic crisis has hovered between 6% and 10%.

The Government has estimated that its foreign debt amounts to $133 billion, including more than $65 billion in private debt repayable in dollars, a sum that has grown hugely more expensive with the depreciation of the Rupiah. The currency has fallen in value by two-thirds since last July.

 A major reason for the increase of the foreign debt is that the import of consumer goods has been growing faster than the rise of exports. The growth of the new middle class (now estimated at over 20 million persons) has increased the market for consumer goods and luxury items, many of which are imported.

 A Nation in Economic Crisis

 In the last months of 1997, an economic crisis of unprecedented proportions swept through Southeast Asia. Indonesia, which is the largest economy in Southeast Asia, also succumbed to the disease in confidence. Global investors and domestic firms alike scrambled to sell the Rupiah, setting off a tumble not only in the currencies but in the local stock markets as well. As a result of the crisis, prices and unemployment soared in Indonesia, and there have been scattered outbursts of social unrest. The following points briefly describe the dynamics which led to the Asian Economic Crisis.

 • In early May of 1998, Japanese officials, concerned about the decline of the yen, hinted that they might raise interest rates, raising fears among commercial bankers, investment bankers and others about the safety of big investment positions they held which were predicated on currency stability in Asia.

• For years, because of rock-bottom interest rates in Japan and low rates in the United States, banks, investment houses and insurers had borrowed in yen and dollars and put the proceeds into short-term notes in Southeast Asia that were paying far higher rates. These are what are called “carry trades.”

• These trades attracted many investors because the Southeast Asian currencies had been stable for years. Still, they did not come without risks. Should foreign interest rates rise, or the currencies start to lose their value, the profits would diminish -- or might turn into losses.

• The threat of a Japanese rate rise was enough to cause some investors to unwind their positions — to sell their Asian notes and local currencies.

• As these investors scurried to liquidate holdings in local currencies, the anxiety spread. Big foreign companies operating in the region became frightened, and scrambled to convert local revenues into dollars. And finally, local companies rushed to get yen and dollars. With everyone running for the exits, the Thai baht, the Indonesian rupiah and other regional currencies were trampled.

• American companies that do big business in Asia, like Dell Computer Corp., added to the pressure as they rushed to protect themselves against further declines in the value of the local currencies in which they were paid. They did this by hedging, which allows an investor to lock in an exchange rate.
 
• Mutual funds, like the T. Rowe Price New Asia Fund, moved, too, selling Asian securities and converting the proceeds back into dollars, further driving down the value of Asian currencies.

• Local companies and banks in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and South Korea also scrambled to get into yen and dollars, since the amounts they owed in dollars and yen were skyrocketing. Many of these companies and banks had borrowed billions of dollars at low rates abroad for use in expansion and for lending in overheated real-estate markets.

    Under intense international pressure, President Suharto has agreed to a broad program of austerity measures aimed at halting the steep slide of the Indonesian economy. This program of economic reforms, required by the International Monetary Fund in order to free up a $40 billion bailout package, include an end to several major monopolies controlled by the president's powerful family and friends, an end to expensive but socially crucial fuel subsidies, cancellation of some building projects and a tightening of the country's budget targets.

The Plague of Political Corruption

    Corruption seems to be quite pervasive in Indonesia. Corruption stems, in part, from the Asian custom of paying deference and presenting gifts to one’s superiors, but is also exacerbated by low salaries for civil servants. According to some sources, even the judicial system is not immune. Anti-corruption drives are launched every few years, but are relatively ineffective in making any permanent improvements.

III. Indonesia's Natural Endowment: What's Happening to It?

Assault on Indonesia’s Forests

    Indonesia's forests are second only to Brazil's in size, and represent 10% of the world's remaining tropical rain forest. Nearly 75% of Indonesia's total land area is classified as "forest land" (about 144 million ha), and some 100-110 million ha are estimated to be "closed canopy" forest, of which about 60 million ha are designated as production forests.

    The Indonesian government has encouraged the exploitation of commercially valuable timber in these production forests by the granting of more than 500 forest concessions, about 60 of which are foreign owned. Government regulations specify a "selective cutting" approach to concession management that, combined with careful logging and replanting, was expected to allow these production forests to be managed sustainably. However, poor logging practices and the failure of replanting efforts have resulted in extensive degradation in many of these concessions.

    Between 1970 and 1980, timber production grew by almost 10% per year, peaking in 1978 when exports comprised over half of the world’s total. Exports dropped abruptly in 1981 when the government required foreign logging firms to build plywood plants in order to maintain export quotas. Environmentalists fear that in 20 years all the lowland forest areas of Sumatra and Kalimantan will be depleted. Indonesian logging concessions are cutting down irreplaceable rain forests by one percent annually, faster than any other place in the world.

    On the positive side, the government of Indonesia has set aside 19 million hectares, 10% of its total land area, as parks and reserves, and another 30 million hectares as permanent protection forests to safeguard critical watersheds. Additionally, it has prepared a Tropical Forest Action Plan and has declared its intention to ensure that its exports are from "sustainably managed forests" by the year 2000. However, effective management of protected forests and implementation of the plan is constrained by a shortage of staff, expertise, infrastructure and budget, compounded by the vast size and often remote location of the areas that need to be protected.

    Furthermore, government policies, such as low fees for extraction, have resulted in domestic prices for raw logs which are significantly below world market prices. Low domestic prices, in turn, have led to lower rates of efficiency in the wood processing industries, reduced incentives to conserve, and growing pressure on the natural forests.

    Tangential to these considerations, the World Bank has noted that the encroachment of landless farmers into forest lands and the conversion of coastal wetlands to agricultural use is often done in an unsustainable manner, and has led to increasing soil erosion and flooding in low-lying areas.

Up in Smoke: A Planetary Disaster

    Forest and brush fires recently flared up again in Indonesia and are threatening a bigger crisis than in 1997, when more than 5 million acres were burnt. Satellite images of Indonesia last fall revealed massive clouds of smoke spreading from the tropical rain forests of Sumatra and Borneo to the densely populated urban centers of Malaysia, Singapore, and other countries. The World Wildlife Fund is so alarmed that it has declared 1997 "the year the Earth caught fire." Its report released in December called gross mismanagement of human-caused fires "a planetary disaster."

    Current global climate conditions and a short wet season are similar to the conditions during 1982-83, when 7.5 million acres of primary and secondary forest, valued at $5 billion, were lost in Kalimantan. However, this time the fires started much earlier and were more widespread. Of major concern are the huge peat swamps in South Sumatra which produced much of last year's noxious smog, and are starting to burn again. The Indonesian government, struggling with the current economic crisis, has done nothing yet to put them out. The only way to tackle the peat fires, pumping water into the ground, is not a practical proposition at the moment given the relative inaccessibility of the fires and the government’s insistence that it lacks funds to do so.

    A fast tool for clearing a forest, forest fires have become an annual phenomenon in Indonesia, as population pressures on crowded islands like Java push people into the interior of Borneo and Sumatra in search of land. Small farmers and big timber companies for years have been clearing tropical forests. Fire is often the tool of choice because it is cheap, fast, and effective - particularly if used in dry El Niño years. But poorly managed fires often get out of hand, spreading easily in damaged or drought-stricken rain forests.

    Many governments have aggressively supported the clearing of forests. Such is the case with Indonesia, whose Transmigration Program seeks to relocate 140 million people and convert 2.5 million acres of rain forest to rice paddies, a project which has received support from the World Bank. There is reason to believe that this policy is partially responsible for the increasing incidence of fires in Indonesia, since the majority of fires have been occurring in areas of low population density which are being developed under the Transmigrasi Program. Another contributing factor to increasing incidence of forest fires may be corruption. Last year, the coffers of forest service in Indonesia is reputed to have been brimming with cash. Where did the money go? Certainly not to fighting forest fires!

Losing Ground in Biodiversity

    Indonesia is arguably the second most important country when it comes to biodiversity. Although this nation has only a little more than 1% of the earth’s land area, it has roughly 12% of the world’s mammals, 16% of the reptiles and amphibians, and 17% of all birds.

    Irian Jaya, the largest province of Indonesia, has some of the planet's last, richest, and most important tropical forest wilderness areas, as well as many of the most biologically diverse and pristine coral reefs on Earth. Irian Jaya is home to a unique and highly diverse array of plant and animal species, many of which are found nowhere else on the planet.

    According to government estimates, Indonesia’s species are being lost at a rate of one a day, driven by a large and politically     influential logging industry as well as a human population that is expanding by some 3 million people each year.

Saga of Indonesia’s Once Pristine Oceans and Rivers

    Few Indonesian cities have even a rudimentary sewerage system. Most households use septic tanks or dispose of human waste directly into rivers and canals. Septic tanks, however, are rarely maintained properly, causing overflows which contaminate groundwater supplies, including the shallow wells upon which most urban households depend for their water. Even when the sludge from septic tanks is collected, most of it is disposed of into rivers and canals. Most urban water supplies are not safe to drink.

    Urban solid waste is likely to expand more than twice as fast as the population, since the amount of waste per capita increases as incomes rise. At present, an estimated 15-40% of such waste is not getting collected at all, and much of what is collected ends up in uncontrolled dump sites, leading to leachates that contaminate ground water. Some uncollected wastes are burned, adding to urban air pollution. An estimated 30%, however, ends up in rivers and canals, sometimes blocking them up and causing flooding and the spread of contaminated water in low-lying residential areas.

    The result of the increasing pollution of Indonesia’s inland waterways is also affecting the surrounding oceans. In Jakarta Bay, for example, organic pollution has contributed to the decline of coral reefs, and in the Angke estuary in Jakarta Bay, the mercury content in commercial fish far exceeds WHO guidelines for human consumption. Pollution has also resulted in declining fish populations in some parts of Indonesia.

The Ravages of Drought

    Due to global climate changes and El Niño a severe drought has affected parts of Indonesia for months. The worst in Indonesia in at least a decade, the drought has resulted in increased incidence of fires, disease, and death. Although the drought started to subside in mid-November of 1997, the frequency of the rains has been uneven and below average, often coming less than once in two weeks. In certain parts of eastern Indonesia, like East Kalimantan and Irian Jaya, there is still little rain to speak of, leaving poor folk in villages and settlements with food supply and water problems.

    Rivers are drying up or becoming contaminated. Crops are failing and new plantings have not taken place. The Indonesian government is refusing to declare a state of emergency despite numerous requests from local church and community leaders, and urgently needed support from other countries is being limited due to the Suharto government's refusal to alert the world to the tragedy unfolding.

    Unless substantial relief to Irian Jaya comes soon this toll will continue to climb. The people will quickly succumb to the ravages of malnutrition as their health is already very poor. Irianese suffer higher rates of endemic malaria, pneumonia, dysentery and leprosy than any where else in Indonesia. Irian Jaya has the highest number of HIV/AIDS cases outside of Jakarta. The elderly and children will be those who die in the largest numbers.

    The growing incidence of famine and disease in Irian Jaya raises the question of why the Indonesian government has done so little for this part of its sprawling archipelago. Some government officials argue that the drought affected areas are so remote that it is not possible to bring in supplies. But successful Australian relief efforts in Papua New Guinea prove that this is not true.

    One of the areas in Irian Jaya hardest hit by the drought is in the vicinity of the Grasberg mine owned by the US mining company Freeport McMoRan. The Grasberg mine, the world's largest gold mine and third largest copper mine earns up to $US1 million per day now. The Government of Indonesia gains considerable income from the mine's operations. This year, the government will receive an estimated $US480 million in royalties, taxes and benefits from the mine’s operations, and this revenue is set to rise as gold output will be increased by 60 percent under the mine’s current expansion plans.

    The revenue from this mine, located high in the mountains of Irian Jaya, is vital to the future of the Suharto government, particularly in light of the recent near collapse of the Indonesian economy. The government of Indonesia could be expected to do everything to ensure that the Freeport mine, in which it has a ten percent interest, operates unfettered. Meanwhile, the Amungme people of Irian Jaya, whose traditional lands have been decimated by this mine, are now dying from malnutrition and diseases exacerbated by a poor diet, and meteorologists have predicted that El Niño will continue to wreak havoc in the region until mid-1998.

    On a more positive note, officials with Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) Belgium, who are undertaking relief efforts with the local government of Gunung Kidul in central Java, say they making strides to help residents maintain access to potable water. MSF officials working in Java say they are shifting the nature of assistance from mere distribution of water to ensuring that communities have a permanent network for water supply for the future. MSF plans to build 500 water tanks for the most vulnerable families in the area. In other areas, MSF is supporting the secondary extension of existing networks of public water pipes.

    The people of Gunung Kidul, had not felt it necessary to build public water networks because water had always been abundant, with their land situated at the feet of Mount Gunung Kidul. But when drought conditions turned severe and began to cause food supply problems, as they did recently, the need became essential.

IV. Underlying Challenges to Sustainable Development

Overpopulation and Consumerism: a Crisis of the Spirit

    Population growth is a major contributor to ecological problems in Indonesia. The high and increasing density of population (over 1500 per square km in Java, for example) creates an enormous pressure on the environment, both in terms of the natural resources that are consumed to support the population, and the environment’s capacity to absorb and process the stream of waste which is produced.

    Any approach to sustainable development in Indonesia must find a way to keep population and consumption from exceeding the carrying capacity and regenerative capability of the land. Yet, attempts to curb population growth and consumption habits have met with limited success. Modern approaches to population control revolve around family planning, an approach which has been in operation in Indonesia for many years. Yet, despite this program, population is, and will continue to rise in Indonesia unless some new element is brought into the equation.

    In the past, the population in Indonesia has remained fairly constant due to high infant mortality rates and short life spans. However, with the advent of modern technology, infant mortality has gone way down, and life spans have increased substantially. Although these two factors explain much of the recent surge in Indonesia’s population, there is another factor which is equally if not more important. Fundamentally, excessive reproduction and consumption are diseases of the spirit. They arise out of a pervasive sense of lack and insecurity.

    While it is the nature of life to move in the direction of more and more, the manner in which Indonesians satisfy their increasing desires varies widely depending on their knowledge and degree of self-actualization. As in every other nation, most Indonesians tend to try to fill the voids they perceive in their lives with a never ending stream of sensory experiences and accumulation of material possessions. The resulting stream of consumption amounts to a type of growth which we might identify as “growth in quantity.” Heavily dependent on the environment, this type of growth is therefore limited and unsustainable.

    On the other hand, experience has shown us that people around the world who are self-actualized and experience a greater degree of inner contentment are not driven to such high levels of consumption. Nor do they tend to have large families. Rather, their desires take them in the direction of increased refinement in life, or a type of growth that we might identify as “growth in quality.” Growth in quality is more centered on the self — artistic, interpersonal, and intellectual growth for which there is infinite capacity — and is totally sustainable.

    The key to sustainable living in Indonesia, therefor, is spiritual in dimension. The most fundamental need is for Indonesians to turn their attention to the growth of consciousness. This requires a turning within, a soul searching which involves not only the re-enlivenment of Indonesia’s rich spiritual traditions, but culturing the widespread use of technologies for the development of consciousness. Such technologies not only readily available, but are highly effective and scientifically validated. The only impediments to the widespread adoption of these technologies are: lack of knowledge of their availability and efficacy; self doubt as to the ability to access and succeed with them; possible religious prejudice, and fear of change.

The Western Paradigm; a Crash Course in Cultural Disintegration

    The Western paradigm of what makes for a better life is a transitional paradigm. Although it is an important phase in the overall scheme of evolution, the Western paradigm is unsustainable and must give way to a new paradigm, one that integrates life into one wholeness. Because the Western paradigm focuses mainly on growth on the material plane of life, it has plunged the human race into patterns of consumption which are rapidly eating up the world’s natural resource base. Industrialized nations have led the way in this pursuit, but non-industrialized nations are quickly following suit.

    The dynamics set in motion by the Western paradigm are simple enough to follow.

    It starts with a shift of attention. The left brain, involved with rational, linear thinking becomes slightly more predominant in society. With this, attention is shifted away from the more intuitive, holistic type of thinking associated with the right brain functioning. Differences take on greater significance. That which unifies is increasingly forgotten. A new paradigm emerges in which man sees himself separate from and at odds with nature. The whole of the scientific approach to knowledge emerges, an approach which probes deeply into the structure and functioning of natural law, but at the expense of integrated, holistic understanding.

    The products of science give rise to new technologies which increase the capacity to affect and control the environment. Following the path of least resistance, industries emerge, fueled by the emergence of new technologies and the mounting desires of the people for the products of these technologies. Requiring a skilled labor force, manufacturing firms locate in existing urban areas to take advantage of the larger pool of labor and the educational services. Increasingly, people move off the land and from small towns to the larger urban centers.

    The process of urbanization leads to a deeper and deeper state of alienation from nature, and a gradual disintegration of family and community life. Urban land, being more expensive, leads to diminishing sizes of private land parcels. Because of the cramped conditions, extended family relationships become stressful and fall by the wayside. The nuclear family emerges as the standard living arrangement in the cities.

    Due to the increasing financial pressures of urban life, parents find that they have little time to spend with their children and other relations. The structure of the nuclear family begins to disintegrate. Grandparents no longer live at home as a general rule, and are increasingly sent to retirement homes when they begin to require assistance. Children generally can’t wait to leave home, and do so shortly after finishing high school.

    The sense of local community dries up as people increasingly fence themselves off from their neighbors and seclude themselves within their homes. The cumulative effect of being separated from nature, the economic pressures of modern city life, and the breakdown of the extended family, erodes the moral and spiritual fiber of life, resulting in escalating social disintegration, divorce, crime, and drug abuse.

    This scenario is the situation which faces Indonesia today. Due to the influence of Western culture, Indonesia, like many of the developing nations, is heading down a path that will lead to cultural disintegration, and ever greater demands upon its environmental resources. But, while cultural disintegration and ecological disaster in Indonesia are the potential dangers that issue from following the example of the West, the Western experience also provides an unprecedented opportunity. Indonesia can learn from the mistakes of the West and avoid its pitfalls. It can take advantage of the best developments in knowledge and technology that have come from the West while reestablishing and maintaining the best of its own unique culture and heritage. Indonesians need to be cautioned not to be deluded by the unrealistic and unsustainable Hollywood picture of Western life. Although, this picture appears to be everyone’s dream, the beauty of it is mostly on the surface. Underneath, the picture leaves much to be desired.

Multinational Investment Practices and Transnational Corporations.

    If the management of transnational corporations and international investors were enlightened then the existence of transnational corporations and international investors would be a great force for positive change and evolution in the world. But this is not the case. While there are occasional exceptions to the rule, the general effect of transnational corporations and international investors in Indonesia and other developing nations is damaging with respect to environmental, economic, and social sustainability.

    Both transnational corporations and international investors are concerned mainly with their own profits. Investors are generally oblivious to the effects which their investments have upon the general welfare of the cultures in which their investments are operating. Being disconnected in this way, and managing their investments for pure self interest, international investors have no qualms about shifting their investments at a moments notice. When enough investors do this, as we have seen just recently in Southeast Asia, the effect is devastating.

    The history of Indonesia shows that the archipelago has been plundered by foreign powers which swept through the islands and raped the land for its wealth for its own needs and desires. Many of the transnational corporations which operate in Indonesia today are the modern counterparts of past colonial powers. Their interests are in expanding their power, territory of influence, and profits. They are beholden to their investors, and carry on their profit generating activities with only a minimal regard for the people, communities, and environments which their operations affect.

    Why do transnational corporations establish plants in countries like Indonesia? They do so because of cheap labor, abundance of raw materials, and the absence of well developed controls and regulations that would hold these companies accountable for the long-term impacts they have on their host countries. On the surface, it may appear that the existence of transnational operations in Indonesia are helpful to that country’s economy, because they create jobs and contribute somewhat to infrastructural development. However, experience has shown that the environment almost inevitably suffers at the hands of the transnational corporations, and these corporations also contribute to cultural disintegration, since they further inculcate the western paradigm wherever they go.

Outdated Land Use Policies and Planning Paradigms

    Indonesia and other developing countries are rapidly adopting Western concepts for land use and urban planning. This trend is reinforced by major institutions involved in international finance and development such as the World Bank which clearly encourages the adoption of Western ways of development. Unfortunately, Western land use policies and planning paradigms are, in many ways, unsustainable.

    The modern Western city, with its separationist zoning, forces a way of life on the people which is unnatural, and which contributes to cultural disintegration. Because of zoning, where one works is generally separated from where one lives. Contact between children and parents is limited by this setup. The distances which residents must travel in the course of a day for work, school, shopping, and social engagements, often requires the use of a car or public transportation. The social overhead that comes with city living increases the cost of living substantially, and often forces both parents to work just to make ends meet.     The result is less free time for quality family activities. With the unnaturalness of our urban environments, the economic pressures of modern urban life, and the weakening of the family and community which have occurred in our urban environments, it is no wonder that the divorce rate now exceeds 50%.

    The tendency, as is seen in Indonesia, is for the urban centers to grow. Some modern day thinkers, such as Kirkpatrick Sale, have made a convincing argument for curbing the growth of urban centers. In his book, Human Scale, Sale points out that when cities grow beyond a certain size, social problems begin to escalate at an exponential rate. Just like in nature, there is an optimal size for the various species, so also, it seems that there is an optimal size for human communities. Jakarta is a city which is way beyond the optimum according to the findings of Sale’s research.

    Another damaging aspect of land use policies and planning paradigms which is rapidly overtaking Indonesia is the unnatural population densities which are being created both in urban centers and rural areas. Population in the urban centers is far to dense, and in the rural areas is to sparse. Due to the economics of urban areas, land is at a premium, and lot sizes are extremely small. Because of land constraints in urban areas, it is difficult to maintain a deep connection with nature, and self-sufficiency with respect to food production. A tremendous amount of time is also wasted in commuting.
 
    In the rural areas, a different problem often occurs. Western land planning often makes it impossible for sustainable community to exist in the rural setting. Population densities are carefully regulated to extremely low densities to keep farm land from being eaten up. While maintaining prime farm land is a laudable goal, such policies also force non-community upon rural dwellers, and require extensive use of the automobile to manage one’s daily affairs. The net effect is, again, the eventual disintegration of the family, absence of real community, and many time and resource consuming inefficiencies that arise with such a transportation dependent living arrangement.

V. The Basket of Options: Treating the Symptoms and Getting to the Root
 
    Thus far, the major challenges to sustainable development that face Indonesia have been outlined. The following section presents, practical and far reaching options that Indonesia can adopt to meet these challenges, and move into an era of truly sustainable development.

    There are two basic elements to an approach to sustainable development. One issues from the Western paradigm, and treats the symptoms of unsustainability. This approach is much akin to the western approach to health care which attempts to identify and remove the symptom of disease. Although there is merit to this approach in that it often achieves the alleviation of pain and suffering at least for the short term, it is insufficient since it does not root out the underlying cause of the disease, and it’s cures are often worse than the diseases they are supposed to treat. The second element gets to the roof of the problem, and provides options that will help eliminate the basic weakness which gives rise to the symptoms of unsustainability.

Treating the Symptoms

     Current wisdom on how to approach the challenge of establishing environmental, social, and economic sustainability in Indonesia are reflected in a lengthly report published by the World Bank. Comming from the Western paradigm, the World Bank’s recommendations mainly deal with treating the symptoms of unsustainability. The following list of options includes summations of many of the major elements and specific points in the World Bank’s Program for Sustainable development along with some editorial comments and additional points which the World Bank did not include.

          Raise domestic log prices to international levels.

       Intensify training in organic agricultural methods.

• Establish and enforce tight regulation on vehicular emissions.
• Expand and improve public transportation systems.
• Improve traffic management and engineering
• Introduce cleaner fuels such as unleaded gasoline and compressed natural gas.
• Introduce pollution-based fuel taxes
• Subsidize pollution-free transportation technologies such as bicycles and solar-electric.

Avoiding Environmental Crisis Through Increasing Self-sufficiency

    It is amazing that Indonesia has so many people that suffer from famine and disease. Indonesia is a virtual paradise — a land of legendary natural beauty, teaming with life. Edible fruits and plants grow in abundance in most parts of the country. A great variety of medicinal plants and herbs grow without the need for intensive cultivation. It has rich cultural traditions. Without much effort, Indonesians could live healthy lives of relative ease and comfort, and have ample time for family and community activities, cultural expression, and spiritual development. By turning its attention on becoming self-sufficient for its basic needs, i.e., food, water, shelter, clothing, medical care, and education, much of the activity which results in environmental degradation could easily be avoided.

  Much of the trade which is carried on between Indonesia and the rest of the is unnecessary and counterproductive for Indonesia. Trade may be advantageous to the developed nations which have voracious appetites for Indonesia’s raw materials and low labor rates, but Indonesia would be far better off it kept most of its wealth within its own boundaries.

     With this in mind, the nature of transnational corporate activity and international investment should be gradually transformed from its current form if not substantially phased out of Indonesian life. Ownership and control of Indonesian industries should be with Indonesians. Preferably, the people who work in a factory or other business should all share in the ownership, management, and profits. To increase accountability for environmental impacts, businesses and industries should be integrated into the communities which they serve. Small scale, microenterprises, owned by the people who work in them, and serving the communities where they are located will naturally be managed in a manner which is friendlier to the environment. Who, with awareness, would want to spoil their own environment?

    A more rational policy for imports and exports should be established. To reduce the pollution and waste created by transporting goods over long distances, the people of Indonesia should plan and develop their industries so that most of the basic necessities of life are produced within walking distance of the home. This requires the development of more community based microenterprises and land stewardship. Only the natural excess production of a community, sustainably harvested, should be traded for the things that the community cannot easily create for itself.

    A new paradigm needs to be developed and implemented in Indonesia which integrates the best of both rural and urban life to create a network of rural/urban villages which are relatively self-sufficient for basic necessities of life, but connected socially and culturally.

    The villages should be organized in a manner which nurtures and protects family and community relationships. This can be achieved by organizing homes in clusters, which in turn are clustered into communities, which in turn are clustered to form the whole village. All the basic necessities of life should be available within easy walking distance of the homes. This requires that means of livelihood should be integrated into the fabric of community life, including cottage industries, microenterprises, and basic services.

    Agriculture must be reintegrated into community life, both through the development of community gardens which are woven between clusters of homes within the villages and larger fields for grain production which surround the villages. On the outskirts of the fields, there should be a band of wild, natural forest land which provides a buffer zone between villages and protection for Indonesia’s abundant flora and fauna.

    The natural resources which surround the villages should be managed by those who live in the village and overseen by regional and national governments. Indonesia must educate its people to understand and accept their role as stewards of the land. The land is their life support system. If they spoil it, they are creating the seeds for their own destruction.

    Education in its most fundamental sense (that which leads to the full flowering of the inherent potential of the people) is vital to the realization of sustainable growth in Indonesia. Without it, Indonesia is bound to follow the environmentally destructive path of overconsumption and mindless pollution that has enveloped the West. True and lasting happiness cannot come from the incessant activity that drives the industrialized world and the endless craving for unnecessary products which that activity engenders.

    The whole concept of development must change from “gross domestic product“ to “refined domestic life.” Rather that putting attention on the quantity of production and consumption, attention needs to be turned towards quality, simplicity, and refinement. Simplicity frees up life for the more noble pursuits of refinement of home, spirit, and culture. It makes time for family and self-actualization.

    The increasing inequities between the rich and the poor must be eliminated if Indonesia is to achieve the ideal of sustainable development. Today, the trend is for the rich to become richer and the poor to become poorer. As long as the situation remains fairly stable, the Indonesian rich will tend to isolate themselves from the poverty that surrounds themselves, and the Indonesian poor will tend to fall further and further into poverty and desperation. On both ends of the spectrum, this inequity gives rise to environmental degradation. The rich, who are able to create pockets of environmental abundance around them, are relatively isolated from the increasing environmental degradation, and can blissfully ignore it. The poor, though they cannot avoid it or ignore it, are driven by their own desperation to behave in a manner which contributes to further environmental degradation.

    A redistribution of wealth needs to occur in Indonesia. What the Indonesian wealthy need to realize is that their lives could be even richer and more fulfilling if the whole of the Indonesian archipelago were as clean and prosperous as their isolated bubbles of bliss. This will require much soul searching and spiritual realization. The responsibility lies mainly with the wealthy.

    Violation of natural law creates tension in society and the environment which must eventually be released. When the cumulative stress in social life reaches a breaking point, the tension is most often neutralized by outbreaks of violent conflict. When the tension in nature reaches a breaking point, the release comes through natural calamities such as fires, drought, famine, and disease.

    It should be abundantly clear, by now that Indonesia is being buffeted from all sides as a result of the violation of natural law which has become endemic within the culture. The devastation wrought by drought, fires, pollution, disease, famine, and civil strife are all symptoms of the deep malaise which affects the nation. Political corruption, the rape of the environment, and unnatural patterns of living all contribute to the growing tensions in social life and the environment that ultimately result in destruction and suffering.

    It is vital at this time for the Indonesian people to recognize this relationship between action and reaction and take steps to root out the problem at its source. The simple means for avoiding conflicts and disasters is to raise the level of consciousness.

    The following are a few recommendations on how to implement the basket of options listed above.

Bibliography

The World Bank, Published on the Internet Wednesday, Dec. 6, 1995. ISBN: 0-8213-2950-2

Dalton, Bill, Indonesia Handbook, Chico, CA., Moon Publications, Inc., 1991

Brown, Lester, et. al., State of the World , Worldwatch Institute, New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.

Giles Clarke, Suhaid Hadiwinoto, and Josef Leitmann, "Environmental Profile of Jakarta," draft paper, The World Bank, Washington, D.C., 1991, pp. 1, 7.

The World Bank, Indonesia Environment and Development: Challenges for the Future, The World Bank, Washington, D.C., 1994, p. 73.

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Map of Indonesia: http://www.indonesia.net/Facts.htm
Population Densities in Indonesia: http://www.ciesin.org/datasets/gpw/aucountsmoo.gif
Asian Development Bank: http://www.asiandevbank.org/projects/ino/inolist.html