It is no longer an extraordinary news and maybe it has even become somewhat out-of-date in that there were several institutions, international or national, which predicted Indonesia in 2030 as one of the largest countries in the world in terms of economic power.
Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC), for example, in early 2017 released its prediction: Indonesia in 2030 will develop as a country in the fifth place which will be very strong in the economic field. Above it there will be Japan, then India, and after that the United States. At the top is China. Long before that, in 2012, McKinsey & Company said Indonesia\'s position at that time would be in the seventh largest country in the world.
However, the prediction remains interesting to be raised. Because, it can be ascertained -- to get there -- Indonesia must face a number of challenges. All of them do not merely refer to matters relating to the economy. The challenges also come from social, educational, and even religious aspects.
Reading the challenges
Without neglecting the challenges that are related directly to the economy, other issues that can hamper or even thwart undoubtedly should also closely be watched as seriously as possible and their solution is sought systematically and holistically. One of the fundamental problems that has plagued Indonesia since the New Order until now is the still strong level of corrupt attitude and behavior.
Transparency International in February 2018 showed that the 2017 Corruption Perception Index in Indonesia was still ranked 96th out of the 180 countries surveyed. The score was 37, the same as the previous year, and up one point from 2015 which had a score of 36. This shows that the corruption index in Indonesia has not experienced a significant improvement.
This shows how difficult it is to eradicate corruption. In the midst of bureaucratic reform with its Integrity Zone and in the midst of the rising intensity of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to launch its red-handed arrest operations and others, it turns out that the results are still far from expected. Corruption eradication is indeed very closely related to mental changes that are fully supported by the existing system.
Failure to do so will have a detrimental effect on the welfare of the community and the people as a whole. Moreover, it is almost certain that it will also disrupt security, even the collapse of Indonesia. Even, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (2014) study stated that corruption in a country will disrupt international security. The rise of corruption will invite certain groups, especially extremists, to react to it in their own way, including by means of violence and terrorism.
On this side, radicalism is also a challenge that needs to be anticipated. The results of research by the Center for the Study of Islam and Society (PPIM) of UIN Jakarta and several other institutions, which were recorded in Muslim Youth Millennials: Conservatism, Identity Hybridization, and Radicalism Challenges (2018), said that young generation of educated Muslim millennials tended to embrace
conservative religious attitudes and behavior, with a communal, scriptural, and puritan style. In fact, they are the ones who will replace us to lead our beloved country later.
Radicalism and extremism should inevitably be taken seriously because the symptoms in that direction are already visible and can continue to strengthen. Partisan politics, which prioritizes ethnicity and or manipulates religion, continues to grow in many regions.
In fact this partisan politics is inspired and based, at least having similarity -- consciously or not -- with fascism. This politics will suppress all differences and forbid almost anything that is against a certain value or does not support its bearers.
Another no less crucial challenge is the social morality, which currently seems to fade so clearly. Starting from the culture of queuing up to having responsible attitude is nearly just in the discourse. Moreover, these noble values are made as nothing more than protection against certain people and groups to affirm themselves and groups, whose true attitude and behavior are far opposite to those values. Ironically, they sometimes present themselves as devout adherents of a religion, or precisely carry out religious rituals consistently.
All these challenges certainly need to be responded to through a thorough settlement. If not, it will metamorphose as a threat that might hamper the achievement of Indonesia as one of the countries with the strongest economies in the world, that are just and prosperous. Even, it is not impossible, it will backfire that will destroy everything.
Significance of education
Responding to all these challenges, the only option is to make education as a whole as education; as an effort to transform attitudes and behavior, mindset and scientific development. Education cannot be perceived simply as a kind of a course that only transfers knowledge and/or sharpens skills. Through education, people, society, and the Indonesian nation are accompanied to become a whole person and personality as becoming the ideals of the nation\'s founders, who are mandated in the Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution.
On that side, religion is not sufficiently introduced in separate pieces. Religious education is absolutely transformed as the values whose "Alpha-Omega" are noble morality. Values -- not just a symbol – of religion is the soul of the entire educational process that is always in a position of continuous dialogue with locality, reality, and life along with all its intricacies.
Given the very central role of education, all related components, ranging from human resources, learning processes, materials, to evaluations, are fully required to reflect the values and noble character of education. Starting from the minister who takes care of education to the canteen servants in the educational institutions, there is no choice but as an example that has the grounding of the values of noble morality.
The same is applicable for other aspects. Through that, the next generation of Indonesia in 2030 is expected to be able to maintain the Republic of Indonesia as one of the big countries, which is strong economically and able to spread justice, prosperity and peace for the nation and others. (Abd A’la, Professor of the Faculty of Civility and Humanities of the Sunan Ampel State Islamic University)
