Normal

KOMPAS/KARTONO RYADI

"Angkatan Bersenjata " newspapers include the heads of the banned newspapers in their reports dated January 21, 1978.

Today's Indonesia is often compared favorably with the New Order era. The differences are frequently exaggerated. To sharpen the contrast with the present conditions, the New Order era is depicted as a fearful time.

Great risk is frequently cited by those who criticized the government in the New Order era. They were kidnapped, tortured, or killed. Critical mass media was banned. All of that did happen. However, this did not only happen during the New Order era.

During the New Order era itself, comparisons were made with the previous period. The New Order regime dubbed its predecessor the “Old Order”. It was said to be chaotic at the time. People were starving, while state officials were busy spreading political slogans. The nation was divided because of politics. Similar to post-New Order.

What distinguishes the New Order from the period before or after it is the frequency, scale, or level of state atrocities against the people. If so, this is a difference in the level or extent of state crimes. Not an absolute difference between that moment and now.

The face of every era has many sides. Remarkably, state atrocities are only one of several facets of the New Order. Kidnappings, murders, and bans by the New Order state apparatus did not happen every day. Not every month. Not every year for 32 years. The other side of the New Order era was the people's repeated opposition to authority, no matter how serious the risks.

DOKUMENTASI HARIAN KOMPAS

President Soeharto

On the sidelines of the suppression of the state there was also another aspect to the New Order, namely massive infrastructure development. The influx of foreign capital spurred industry, urban development, schools, malls, in addition to environmental damage. The economy grew sustainably. Also middle class and cosmopolitan lifestyles. The daily life of the New Order was complex and full of contradictions. Not monochrome.

So was the colonial period. Colorful and far different from the popular image in nationalist posters, speeches, or films. The colonial period was full of violence, but it did not only encompass the suffering of the people being oppressed by white rulers. The fall of the Dutch East Indies to Japan (1942) is remembered as the end of normal times.

Dutch East Indies colonialism seems absurd to most of us today. How could a few white people control local communities in such a vast area? Why did the colonized people, who were much larger in number, not fight every day and in every inch of the colony?

Their job was to crack down on fellow citizens who wanted to rebel! Similar in many other colonies, including East Timor.

On the contrary. It was common for colonized people to aspire to work for the colonial government. Some were even proud to be intelligence officers, soldiers, prosecutors, or colonial police. Their job was to crack down on fellow citizens who wanted to rebel! Similar in many other colonies, including East Timor.

Were they pro-Dutch colonialists? Traitors? That was a typical question of the later generation who from birth were raised with a high dose of nationalist slogans. Such a question was unthinkable in its time. The idea of nationalism was still foreign to the general public.

The colonial population was just trying to live as best as they could. They built a legitimate career in their day. No different from today's young people, they took advantage of the available job opportunities and prestigious positions of their time.

Kitchen utensils, home furnishings, medicine, and clothing from Europe attracted the colonized people. Their speech was sprinkled with Dutch terms. It was not that they wanted to be Dutch. That was the lifestyle trend of its era that continues today, which is expanded by lifestyles sourced from East Asia, North America, and the Middle East. Now English and Arabic terms are scattered in the Indonesian language.

Colonial society was no less or more abnormal than our daily life today in a capitalist society. Colonialism and capitalism are both systems of structural exploitation of the weak by the strong. However, when successful, both systems are accepted by the general public as normal.

The colonial population was divided into social classes. Despite its racist form, colonial policy was not solely based on differences in ancestry, but on the level of modernity. There were races that were considered more civilized than other races thanks to modern education. Besides Europe, that which was considered modern included Japan, Turkey, and Siam. Ethnic Chinese and Arab people were equated with indigenous people.

After Indonesia's independence, a modern level of education did not become the basis for social discrimination. What was more decisive was a fiction of colonial heritage, namely indigeneity. During the New Order era, those who were considered more in favor of Pancasila were given special rights. Now it is those who are considered the most devout in religion. Or have normal sexual orientations.

At the beginning of the 20th century, it was unimaginable that an indigenous citizen would one day become the head of state in this region. The region was united at a fixed price by colonial military power. At the beginning of the 21st century, it is considered normal for Indonesian elections to always produce male presidents. Religion is always the same. Also ethnicity. All of this may seem absurd in the early 22nd century.

Colonialism goes against modern reasoning. The educated people of the Dutch East Indies were aware. However, not many were ready or interested in attacking colonialism at any cost. Today's scholars are certainly aware of the evils of capitalism. However, there is no anti-capitalist revolutionary spirit among them.

Every society is shaped by a set of norms that benefit its elite. The norms limit the general public's awareness of reality and what is "normal". Everything else is considered abnormal, unrealistic, or unreasonable. The fate of a regime depends on the magic power of standard norms.

Society is educated to deny, ignore, or forget various contradictions, including the contradiction of school lessons, news in the media, sermons in places of worship, or official speeches with the realities of everyday life.

The norms are formed through coaching. Society is educated to deny, ignore, or forget various contradictions, including the contradiction of school lessons, news in the media, sermons in places of worship, or official speeches with the realities of everyday life.

Social contradictions can be denied, but they cannot be eliminated. From time to time they come to the surface and disrupt social stability. When they explode and change society, their citizens are trained to learn a new life with a new normal. What used to be considered normal will then appear abnormal.

KOMPAS/YUNIADHI AGUNG

Ariel Heryanto

ARIEL HERYANTO,Professor Emeritus from Monash University, Australia

(This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo)