Fifteen years have passed since Indonesia embarked on reformasi following the fall of Soeharto in 1998. That year a Yogyakarta theatre company performed Samuel Beckett's Endgame to mark the end of the old dictator and to challenge Indonesian audiences to reflect on the absurdity of the long Soeharto years. Not only had Soeharto clung to political life like the play's central character, the wheelchair bound, overbearing and blind tyrant Hamm, but also like Hamm he had disabled much of Indonesian life around him.
This year, the company performed Endgame again using a new Indonesian translation from the original French. The play's director focused not on Soeharto but on Indonesia today 15 years on and what he sees as the laughable state of Indonesia's absurd democracy, a plaything of celebrity politicians and corrupt political parties. The conversations in the play, said the director, are as funny as the situation the country is facing. 'We see the 1998 movement falling into a silly whirlpool.'
The director also conceded, however, that there are bright spots amid the everyday insanity and cause for 'sober optimism'. I agree. Despite all the challenges, Indonesia is a far better place than when I first visited in 1969, just after Soeharto took over, and again today, 15 years after his departure.
Reformasi has not delivered in many ways; impunity prevails and serious issues such as Papua are being mismanaged. Indonesia has not seen 1000 flowers bloom but its garden hosts some attractive blooms and its spring has been much better news than the transitions in the Middle East. In particular, the general sense of openness, creativity, and freedom that exists is a very distinctive and refreshing change from the old days when basically only one man, Soeharto, enjoyed freedom of opinion, expression and assembly.
Many examples in support of this sober optimism can be given. That a politically charged Endgame could be produced and discussed publicly is itself evidence of this change.
Positive Indonesian reaction to the recent speech to the UN by the young Pakistani Muslim girl Malala is another. A leading Jakarta paper strongly endorsed her calls for education especially for girls, while pointing out that the number of female students at Indonesia's top universities exceeds that of males. It also called for an end to remaining book censorship laws in Indonesia and reminded readers that both Sukarno and Soeharto adopted what it called 'the Taliban way' regarding books, burning and banning texts and imprisoning writers 'because the government loathed differences of opinion or ideas'.
In the context of Malala's advocacy, another striking example of ongoing reformasi is the reform of the school system currently being undertaken in Indonesia. As Indonesia has the long break mid-year like Europe, the new school year has just commenced. It has attracted more than usual comment because, in addition to increasing compulsory schooling from nine to 12 years and injecting more funding into education, the government is trialling a new school curriculum and methodology.
The principal aim of the reform is to 'develop creativity, curiosity, the ability to form questions and to form a critical stance necessary for a well-developed life and for life-long learning'. It seeks to do this by dropping subjects in favour of themes and by integrating learning.
First graders, for example, will use eight thematic books in a year, one per month, such us Myself, My Hobbies, My Family, Caring about Creatures. The 'Myself' reader features Udin who, besides his family, has friends like Edo from Papua, Beni from North Sumatra, Lani, an ethnic Chinese, and Siti, a little girl who wears a headscarf. Active learning and self-expression will be stimulated by working together, telling stories, solving maths problems, making up songs and the like.
Critics including teachers complain the reform is rushed and that teachers have not been given sufficient time and training in the new approach. Catholic schools say they will not introduce the new curriculum until 2014. There is no doubt that teachers will make or break the initiative. My point, however, is not to elaborate on the new system but to point out what a break it represents with the past.
Like Australia's Gonski reforms, Indonesia's initiatives are designed to give its economy a competitive edge by upgrading its human resources. But the changes also have the potential to radically transform Indonesia in other ways. Future generations who have been encouraged to think for themselves, to question and to criticise will be very different citizens to their forbears who have been formed in more doctrinaire traditions — cultural, religious, military and otherwise.
May these initiatives also contribute to the ongoing reformasi of Indonesia, including democratisation, and the blossoming of its great potential.
Pat Walsh is currently visiting Jakarta. He co-founded Inside Indonesia magazine thirty years ago this year.