597143

research-article2015
CSE0010.1177/2047173415597143Citizenship, Social and Economics EducationMalihah

Thematic review

Citizenship, Social and

An ideal Indonesian in an Economics Education

2015, Vol. 14(2) 148­–156
© The Author(s) 2015
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Personal character and values

DOI: 10.1177/2047173415597143
cse.sagepub.com

required to realise a projected

2045 ‘Golden Indonesia’

Elly Malihah
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Indonesia

Abstract
The goal of this article is to examine the way character education and multicultural values’ education
can contribute to a perfect and transformed Indonesia by 2045. At this time (i.e. 2045), the Republic of
Indonesia will be 100 years old. The presence of an ideal Indonesian will contribute to high national growth
and development. This will depend on the understanding of multiculturalism and cooperative attitudes of
the future Indonesian citizens. In such a situation, a variety of methods, media and instruments need to
be prepared in order to achieve the country’s 2045 dream, among the various aspects which must be
considered is character and multicultural values’ education. Both forms of education should not be limited
to mere conceptualisation, but should lead to an understanding of personality traits in an Indonesian context
and of course taking in consideration the globalisation aspect. Early research on contemporary and future
Indonesia generates a clear overview of the Indonesian traits. Based on this, the present study investigates
two groups comprising 100 respondents, divided into pessimistic and optimistic respondents. The pessimistic
respondents are of the view that a competitive Indonesia will depend on today’s generation and their
character. While, on the contrary, the optimistic respondents indicate that a competitive Indonesia is that
which will be able to compete with other nations in this rapidly changing world. However, it is concluded
that both groups are optimistic to the new birth of a great Indonesia, if good character and well-planned
multicultural education is in place and of course well taught to students.

Keywords
competitiveness, culture, Indonesia, multi-culture, and multicultural education

Introduction
Various events occurring in Indonesia recently have raised concerns of disintegration among
Indonesians. These events are street brawls, interreligious fights, interethnic fights and actions of

Corresponding author:
Elly Malihah, Faculty of Social Sciences Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Jalan Dr. Setiabudhi No.229 Bandung
40154, Indonesia.
Email: ellyms@upi.edu; ellymaililah@gmail.com
Malihah 149

terror, drug abuses, killings, robberies, corruption and other perturbing cases. Obviously, this range
of events should not be ignored because they might have a bad impact on the nation. They might
result in a crisis of trust in the social system and distrust in the government.
It is widely acknowledged that Indonesians have a multiplicity of different backgrounds.
Indonesia is a country with many social differences because in this country, there is a multiplicity
of different ethnic groups, languages, traditions, religions and faiths, in addition to sharply differ-
ent socio-economic backgrounds.
Sharp background differences have the potential to spark both social and interpersonal conflicts
that will further develop into more latent and overt complicated conflicts. These complications
might lead to what is termed ‘social entropy’. Social and cultural divergences have the potential to
generate conflicts which might lead to separatist movements. Consequently, the national integra-
tion is at stake. Other countries will have distrust in Indonesia.
Some scholars view that conflicts have negative, positive and neutral senses. In this study, how-
ever, conflicts are considered to be negative because they are related to violence and destruction.
The traditionalists view ‘conflict’ as negative, counterproductive and destructive so that their
appearances are to be repressed, but the behaviourists view conflicts as essentially the nature of
man living in a social world. Their definition limits the concept of conflict to the extent that it is
only something neutral and not harmful. The interactionists, however, view that conflicts are useful
for bringing about important changes in life. Conflicts are essential for human beings (Malihah,
2011, Opini Pikiran Rakyat).
The emergence of a range of violent actions in Indonesia constitutes the basis of my discus-
sion about the meaning of conflict that applies in this country, particularly when we refer to vari-
ous violent actions as reported in the media ranging from separatists, communal violence and
religious conflicts. However, such conflicts have continued to drop in count; for instance,
according to Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights (ADH)
(2015), there were no conflicts in 2007, even though religious and rebel movements continued
to exist in some areas of Indonesia. In Aceh, for example, there has been an implementation of
the 2005 Memorandum of Understanding, while in Papua region, the separatist movement has
reduced number of attacks, and in Maluku Islands, there were no reports of conflict-related casu-
alties during 2006 (Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights
‘ADH’, 2015). With the current democratic process, violence and conflicts are expected to
diminish from the archipelago. Marshall and Cole (2014) categorise conflicts in types as either
episodes of international, civil, ethnic, communal and genocidal violence and warfare. To under-
stand the situation, this study involved 100 students as subjects who facilitate the identification
of the characteristics of an ideal Indonesian for the Golden period of 2045.

Research method
This study uses a qualitative method, namely, phenomenology, a research method which aims to
describe situations. In this regard, this study attempts to describe the characteristics of the ideal
Indonesian man as expected by Indonesian people. Nonetheless, for the sake of convenient data
presentations, the distribution of the respondents’ answers was quantified in terms of percentages,
and these trends were discussed in more details qualitatively. As for the data collection method, this
study uses open-ended questionnaires for 100 students at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia.

Findings and discussion

This study attempts to answer three questions about (1) a description of a contemporary Indonesian,
(2) a description of an ideal Indonesian for the projected golden period of 2045 and (3) steps
required to materialise the creation of an ideal Indonesian by those optimistic of positive change.
150 Citizenship, Social and Economics Education 14(2)

Table 1.  Students’ perception of a contemporary Indonesians.

No. Attitudes Number of Participants

1 Positive 11
2 Negative 80
3 Neutral/balanced 9
Sum 100

Source: Malihah (2012) Studi Tentang Gambaran Umum Manusia Indonesia, survey pada Mahasiswa Universitas
Pendidikan Indonesia: Unpublished Research Findings.

A description of contemporary Indonesians

This study reveals that most students depict current Indonesian people negatively as indicated in
Table 1.
Indonesia just like other Asian countries has continuously blamed history, for instance, when
Japan and Netherlands are compared, it is concluded that Japanese are more of brothers than the
Netherlands which occupied Indonesia for a period of over 300 years plus. Indonesia is faced with
several challenges ranging from the negative perceptions of the citizens to poverty and other devel-
opment challenges. Among the negative things Indonesia faces today are corruption, consumerism
behaviour, widespread Westernisation of the people’s life style, abandoning own culture, poor time
managers, poorly developed human resources and over dependence on other countries, easily
influenced behaviour and moral crisis, eroded self-identity and lack of nationalism among others.
The following is a piece of information from the respondent as a sample of the responses reflecting
the people’s negative and positive views and or perceptions.
One of the respondents appears negative in the description of today’s Indonesia. She says,

Today’s Indonesian tends to be egoist or individualistic. Most of us, Indonesians today, seek for personal
satisfaction and seem not to care about others. This has led to widespread crime, corruption, poverty, and
unemployment which have become the government’s unsolved challenges we face today. The present
Indonesian is also too consumptive, making the country highly dependent on other countries. Hedonistic
behaviors have also become one of the cultural elements among most of us. If this goes unchecked,
Indonesia will find it hard to be a developed country; because, no matter how many development projects
are implemented, it will be a waste of time due to the people’s degraded morals.

In contrast, some respondents had positive views about Indonesians, describing them as techno-
logically literate, open-minded, willing to change, self-acceptance, highly literate, independent,
able to adapt too and ready to face the challenges of globalisation, have the freedom expression,
are of good quality, are optimistic, are self-confident and they love domestic products (in other
words, they support national growth and development). In specific, the following response shows
a positive description of an ideal Indonesian:

At present, a perfect Indonesian does wish for a better change. Is not confused of what can be better
change. Thus, they ask right questions on ‘how to bring about such change?’ This means there is chance
for potential Indonesians to lead a better change or bring about positive development to country. This is
evident in various new inventions made by Indonesian people or people of Indonesian origin. Such
inventions are a proof that there intelligent Indonesians. The strength of Indonesia today, is its population
which, if well nurtured and properly managed, can lead to national growth and development.

This implies that not all Indonesians are individualistic and that not all seek for personal satis-
faction but there are those concerned of other people’s condition. Some of the respondents neither
Malihah 151

responded negatively nor positively, but they decided to take a neutral stand, and among the
responses depicting neutral views about an ideal Indonesian is the following:

Nowadays, globalization affects the whole world; including Indonesia. Great revolutions are happening in
all aspects of life; telecommunication, technology, transportation, economy, etcetera. These revolutions
result in the cultural changes people face today. People who used to work conventionally in every field
now use modern and sophisticated tools and equipments. Each of us today than before is required to be a
cosmopolitan (a person who is a citizen of the world). There are many positive and negative effects of such
revolutions; ranging from conflicts to consumptive behaviors (spending money unwisely).

Depending on the above descriptions of an ideal Indonesian, I classify their characteristics into
several traits which include the following:

•• Self-centred, lacking collectiveness (egotistical and indifferent);

•• Lacking patience and trust in god;
•• Lacking social and religious values (justifying all means);
•• Lacking nationalism;
•• Lacking self-appreciation (tending to love foreign products);
•• Lacking tenacity in pursuing self-development;
•• Lacking self-confidence (easily provoked);
•• Inconsistent (tending to be hypocritical).

A description of negative Indonesian characteristics has, in fact, been stated by Mochtar Lubis
(1978), namely, hypocritical, unwilling to assume responsibility, feudalistic, superstitious, artistic,
meek, wasteful, not hardworking, impatient, envious and full of hatred, imitator, cruel, impulsive,
tending to run amuck, tending to kill, burn, betray, oppress, blackmail, deceive, steal, corrupt and
be insensible.
It appears that the negative traits of Indonesian people put forward by Mochtar Lubis (1978)
were also found in the respondents’ answers (2012). The existence of these common traits implies
that Lubis’ opinion is still relevant today in the sense that it is still useful to describe the negative
traits of current Indonesian people. Lubis’ (1978) opinion raised many questions and even criti-
cisms. However, if people had not debated the negative traits and if they had attempted to discover
the solutions of how to reduce the negative traits, today we would have got the solutions and we
would have been able to overcome current social problems involving people who tend to be
anarchistic.

A description of expectations for the ideal traits of gold Indonesian people (2045)
This study shows the traits of gold Indonesian people of 2045 as follows: Table 2 indicates that
76% of the respondents expressed optimistic traits about Indonesian people for 2045, although
they observe that current Indonesians tend to exhibit negative traits. However, the respondents
predicted that Indonesian babies born in 2045 will have positive traits. This prediction suggests
that it is important for Indonesians to keep positive traits; at least people should be willing to
change starting with themselves. If this is the case, the respondents whose ages currently range
from 17 to 19 years will turn to be 50–52 years old in 2045; in other words, they will be at produc-
tive ages. Thus, at this time, they are expected to be able to respond to challenges and to prove that
the Indonesian people being described will not be valid once they are in 2045 when they probably
hold important positions in the government or companies. Meanwhile, along the way, they will be
parents who have to guide their children.
152 Citizenship, Social and Economics Education 14(2)

Table 2.  A description of gold Indonesia people (2045).

No. Description Number Percentage (%)

1 Optimistic (+) 76 76
2 Pessimistic (−) 14 14
  Total 100 100

Source: Malihah (2012) Studi Tentang Gambaran Umum Manusia Indonesia, survey pada Mahasiswa Universitas Pendidikan
Indonesia: Unpublished Research Findings.

The following notes present a sample response about optimistic characteristics of Indonesian
people in the future:

Higher level of nationalism, higher technology literacy; not merely using technology but also changing
technology, Social relationship and interaction become an important and primary thing, People change
into environment-loving and environment-caring individuals, and Corruption-free society, moral
degradation of young generations has diminished.

Meanwhile, the following response indicates apparently negative characteristics of Indonesian

people as follows:

Considering the characters of people nowadays, the situation is unlikely to change. Indonesian will still be
individualists who do not care about environment, do not care about national intelligence, and even more
dependent on technology. It is even said that in 2045, technological advancement will far surpass human
intelligence. Many people predict that human will be superior being in 2045. In actuality, Indonesian has
a wish or expectation to be a developed country (a prominent nation) in 2045. This was stated by Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, the President of Indonesia. This is a step towards hopes for the future Indonesian
people.

This study indicates that on the one hand there have appeared perceptions of negative traits
about current Indonesian people, but on the other hand, there have also appeared hopes for positive
traits of future Indonesian people, namely, dignity, excellence, morality, faith, intelligence, nation-
alism, patriotism and global competence. In order to materialise those traits in Indonesian people,
efforts need to be made, namely, Indonesian people have to take measures towards the expected
character of Indonesian people. Thus, the expected Indonesian people are formulated as people
with an Indonesian identity who possess excellent manners, intelligence, nationalism and are able
to compete globally.
Such a view is in accordance with Emile Durkheim’s (1961) insight as quoted by Ratna
Megawangi (2004: 15) from Friedman Thomas (1999) as follows:

Society must have before it an ideal toward which it reaches. It must have some good to achieve, an
original contribution to bring to … mankind. When individual activity does not know where take hold, it
turns against itself. When the moral forces of society remain unemployed, when they are not engaged in
some work accomplish, when deviate from their moral sense and are used up in a morbid and harmful
manner. (pp. 12–14)

The following response reveals a respondent’s answer on the measures that should be taken to
materialise the expected traits of Indonesian people:

It requires a leader that can truly be an example for the people, who is always optimistic in everything; no
matter how hard they process may be, such a lead should be optimistic that can lead change. There should
Malihah 153

be value of the local efforts, not merely counting on the help other countries. Reshaping of the people’s
moral is one way to prevent national disintegration.

In the process of realising such values, education should be considered a right channel that can
nurture and instil religious values, moral values, nationalism and Indonesian cultural values trans-
mitting the positive values of a multicultural society.

Education to overcome the crisis of morality

There are a number of educational fields that aim to nurture morality and personality. Among these
fields that aim to develop personality in the core curricula in universities are Religious Education,
Civics, Pancasila Education, Basic Social and Cultural Education, Science Education, Physical
Education, Multicultural Education and Conflict Resolution Education. In addition to those
courses, curriculum developers have designed what is called ‘character education’ which is inte-
grated into all courses and all aspects of life.
It has been widely acknowledged that such courses as Personality Development and Living in
the Social World along with Multicultural Education and Character Education constitute strategic
steps into the formation of the gold generation. Nevertheless, what is more important is that those
courses should not merely address the courses’ objectives in superficial ways. That is, the students
are expected to be able to help themselves to become people with excellent characters, instead of
only understanding definitions and concepts. The Ministry of Education has attempted to imple-
ment its character building strategies through socialisation, education, empowerment, familiarisa-
tion and cooperation.
The Ministry’s decision to adopt a far-reaching course of action that aims to prepare the
Indonesian gold generation for 2045 is a significant step for accelerating the nation’s human
resources development.
In fact, the theme proposed by the Ministry to commemorate the Education National Day is
‘The Awakening of the Indonesian Gold Generation’. This theme is actually in accordance with the
Ministry’s plans to prepare for the Indonesian 100th Anniversary. This year, therefore, marks as a
starting jump for the Gold Generation Period. There is a strong possibility for the jump to occur
because within the period of 2010 and 2035, Indonesia has a demographic bonus where the number
of its productive population is at the peak compared to that of children and old people (Muhammad
Nuh, the Ministry of Education Bulletin, 2012: 3rd edition, III, July: 4).
Furthermore, the bulletin explains that the Government has prepared a grand design to make the
most of the demographic bonus. The Government is nurturing children under 6 through the Early
Age Education Program. Meanwhile, children who are between 6 and 15 years of age are provided
with quality education. Finally, the Universal Middle Education has also been administered since
2013 so that children who are between 15 and 18 years of age attend the programme. After these
students graduate from the programme, they can go to universities when they are 16–22 years old.
This demographic bonus will be a significant contributing factor for the national development
if it is properly managed. However, if it is inappropriately managed, it will bring an adverse effect
on the Government. In other words, it can lead to a huge burden on the economy. That is why,
concerned ministries including that of education, health, and the bureau of statistics have worked
hand in hand to manage population explosion. The government has designed measures to shape the
young generation ‘youths in specific’ into future responsible citizens. According to Wirjawan
(2009) the first phase of 20-years, Indonesia must ensure that one to two percent of the population
gets the best tertiary education both locally and abroad so that they will become locomotives of the
change. This should taking in consideration the demographic bonus as indicated below:
154 Citizenship, Social and Economics Education 14(2)

Figure 1.  Human Resources.

Source: Menko Perekonomian (Santoso, 2011).

Establishing a synergy of the multicultural society

In terms of the existing variety within the society, it is acknowledged that the local cultural values
need to be nurtured along with the national and global cultures. This nurturing is intended to make
people adopt a global perspective without abandoning their own ethnic and national identities.
Multicultural education as course in university is expected to be able to respond to the challenges
of a multicultural society and to encourage the students to be culturally aware individuals.
There are a number of ways to establish a positive synergy in a multicultural society in order to
strengthen people’s national identity in facing global challenges as follows.
Diversity is the nature of a society; people have to be aware that there is no society without
differences.
People need to be aware of sociability which refers to the capability of every individual in a
society to keep balance between social rights and obligations in every action, so that they come up
with activities for their common good. Their ability to work in such organisations embodies their
collective intelligence that needs to be developed. The success or failure of economic and political
development is determined by the people’s sociability (Wirutomo, 2001: 22).
Establish cross-cultural understanding and communication with an open dialogue: mutual
understanding and communication is expected to reduce racial prejudices which often lead to cul-
ture shock and conflicts. Suradinata (2008: 27) mentions the urgent need for people to establish
openness to develop people’s potential and strength. Openness is increasingly significant for plu-
ralistic society, particularly to promote mutual understanding, respect and cooperation among dif-
ferent cultures.
Developing Positive Minds in a pluralistic society: In a pluralistic community, it is important to
develop positive minds because with positive minds, people are able to reduce prejudices towards
people from different cultures. In addition, by thinking positively, they are in a position to radiate
positive energy that will motivate them to produce positive results. This is supported by Shepherd
Malihah 155

(2009) who says, ‘I choose to use a positive approach in doing things. I’d never think of myself as
a protester, but rather as an eye witness for a harmonious life’ (p. 168). Those who make them-
selves eye witnesses will find a solution to every problem they face. On the other hand, those who
will not will usually find it difficult to solve their problems, and such people will not get out of
confusion and will keep blaming and condemning others. Naturally, a negative approach generates
a destructive effect, whereas a positive approach yields good results. Thus, developing a golden
generation of 2045 may be achieved by thinking optimistically and by avoiding negative thoughts.
Building Networks: Establishing relations and expanding networks among different cultures
with the principle of mutual benefits and respects will reduce the negative impact of pluralism.
This principle needs to be developed: ‘one million friends and zero enemy’.

Conclusion
On the one hand, this study has shown the traits of current Indonesians which tend to be negative;
on the other hand, this study has also revealed the expected traits of Indonesians for the future
which tend to be more optimistic that hopefully will enable Indonesians to fix the negative traits in
the 100th Indonesian golden anniversary in 2045.
Education is believed to be the best solution to reduce negative traits and to overcome moral
crises. In addition, through education, intellectual, emotional, spatial, kinetic and spiritual intelli-
gence may be enhanced to develop human capabilities.
The implementation of character education should be our common responsibility. It is all the
national elements that are obliged to assume the responsibility to create a society with good man-
ners and attitudes. Thus, character education and multicultural education should be viewed as a
process rather than an event. The two kinds of education should be correctly implemented, not just
a lip service.
In addition, synergy is needed to develop a multicultural society because our society consists of
various cultural backgrounds. By establishing synergy among cultures, we are in a position to
develop cross-cultural understanding among local, national and global cultures. Through cross-
cultural understanding, Indonesians will be prepared to face globalisation.
The most important issue in moulding the golden generation of Indonesians for 2045 is how to
develop a leadership model. That is, government officials and local leaders should be able to show
good examples of leadership in all walks of life.

Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit
sectors.

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