Indonesian society is facing a serious crisis of values.

Pornography is now widespread across the country. Explicit pornographic VCD are sold openly at street markets, and convictions of sellers are rare.  On July 3, 2003 Indonesian police arrested a group of men suspected as reproducers of pornographic VCD in Tangerang, West Jakarta. The alleged reproducer could produce up to 20 thousand copies of VCD every day, enough to flood the street markets in Jakarta and its surroundings.  

In August 2001, Federal officials in Washington arrested 100 subscribers to child pornography websites, which they said had around 250,000 subscribers worldwide and grossed up to $1.4 million a month. Authorities called it the largest child-pornography business ever discovered in the United States. The most troubling news was the bulk of the material came from Indonesia and Russia, where officials believe webmasters operated the sites.

"Indonesia is a haven for child pornography," said Ade Armando, of Indonesia's Anti-Pornography Society. "Sadly, it is completely unregulated here. You can do anything."[1]

Children prostitution is another concern.  In its report last month, ILO said more than 10,000 children aged under 18 works as prostitutes in five major cities in Indonesia.  Trafficking of children for prostitution mainly occurs in Java Island where parents and other relatives play a part in trafficking them.[2]

Drug abuse, especially among the young, is also a serious social problem. According to ILO’s report, drug children as young as 13 are engaged in the drugs trade in Jakarta and about four percent of all users are aged under 17.[3]  Without urgent preventive action, reported by news in September 26, 2002, "a new catastrophe" is in the making.[4]

There are reportedly more than 1.3 million drug abusers in the country where most of them are the young, aged between 15 and 35. Joyce Djaelani, a counselor with a Yayasan Permata Hati Kita, a private rehabilitation center said a growing concern now was a rising trend of children using drugs and outbreaks of student brawls. Even elementary school students have confessed to taking drugs. An 11-year-old student during a trial of a suspected drug trafficker recently said he had used barbiturate pills for six months.[5]

In education, plagiarism and buying academic diplomas are common practices. Simon Marcus Gower, Director, Research and Development, Harapan Bangsa School, Kotamodern, Tangerang wrote:

“For example, a group of second year university students were set a task to complete a research paper that would require them to examine the work of eminent academics and researchers within their field of study. It became clear that they had no understanding of referencing sources that would provide evidence that they had done the necessary research. What they produced instead was a paper that assimilated the work of others without any accreditation and even included quotations that did not have details of the person that made the original statement or remark.”[6]

And it is widely known that the vice president had bought his doctorate diploma. Many people view education merely a certificate, not a way to enrich their knowledge. Accordingly, they view that the end justifies the means - whether by copying other people’s works or by buying diplomas.

In business, corrupt business people and corporate fraud are safe profession and practices, suggesting that, for many people, integrity and hard work are less important in accumulating wealth. Of those who cooked the book and failed to pay their debts, only one or two that has been put in jail. Corrupt bankers and businessmen walk free as their debts have been forgiven and a burden is now on the state. In December 31, 2002, President Megawati announced a controversial decree that rules out criminal charges against former bank owners who have finally settled their huge debts to the state.

Megawati instructed financial authorities to issue letters of "release and discharge" for the businessmen who have repaid their debts which will effectively clear the debtors from any criminal liability.  The decision to issue the release and discharge letters was part of a scheme agreed with the International Monetary Fund, which is coordinating a US$5 billion economic recovery program for Indonesia.  IBRA chairman Syarifuddin Temenggung would issue discharge letters for five former bank owners who have settled their debts to IBRA. They include IBRA's largest debtor the Salim Group, which had a total debt of Rp 52 trillion ($ 5.8 billion). The other four are Ibrahim Risjad (Bank Risjad Salim Internasional), Sudwikatmono (Bank Surya), Liem Hendra (Bank Budi Internasional) and The Ning King (Bank Baja Internasional).

How and how much exactly these debtors paid their debts are remained mystery to the public.  But what public do know is the government debts keep amounting as a result of the bad practices of these business people.

John Beth from the Far Eastern Economic Review called this as “The Betrayal of Indonesia”.[7]

Combined with the corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and officers, the country does not have much good values to be inherited by the current and next generations.

The survey of 1,072 expatriate executives working in Asia, conducted by Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd, found Indonesia as the most corrupt country, with a score of 9.33 out of a possible 10.  PERC said the survey only measured perceptions among business people, and was not necessarily a reflection of reality.  Indonesia might not be Asia's most corrupt nation but "the perception of this problem is the worst, and this poses a major problem for a government that is heavily dependent on foreign aid", the group said.[8] No doubt, perception is reality and the results do indeed show the true picture of the reality in the country.

"Corrupt political elites in the developing world, working hand-in-hand with greedy business people and unscrupulous investors, are putting private gain before the welfare of citizens and the economic development of their countries," says Peter Eigen, Chairman of Transparency International.[9]

As a result, people have started losing faith in the political system because it is becoming more and more corrupt and criminalized. The persons who are elected by the people to hold high offices are many times alleged to be involved in big scams. The convicted speaker of the House is still a free man and the investigations of big corruptors have been a wishful thinking.

All of these – from pornography, child prostitution, drug abuse, plagiarism, lack of interest in true education to corruption -- are clear evidence of a crisis of values in our society.

Welcome to a crisis zone.

What factors that have led the nation into such a crisis of values?

The crisis of values begins in each individual and spread out to families then society. When society is in crisis, it only worsens the crisis which already occurs in each individual.  In other words, the society gives a wrong feedback and then the cycle begins again.

 

                     

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We must accept the fact that the degradation of moral fiber is a problem of entire society. The values which get priority in a society will be reflected in all spheres of society, whether it is politics, business, industry or education. If society respects wealth more than knowledge, then tendency to accumulate wealth by any means will get encouraged. If society respects power more than wisdom, then tendency to acquire power by any means will be justifiable.  

Thus, if we think that the political system alone is responsible for this crisis, we are mistaken. No political system develops in vacuum. It is a sub-system of the entire social system. If we think that a certain group of people or a political institution is responsible for this crisis, we are also wrong. A crisis of values in our society is so pervasive that a single group of people can hardly create such a mess. If we think that one individual is responsible for this crisis, as many people accused Soeharto alone of being the source of all problems, we are terribly wrong. No single individual can cause such a widespread crisis.  Rather, the crisis is caused by a combination of various factors. 

Next: Factors Contributing to the Crisis of Values