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Indonesia THE EMERGING NATIONAL CULTURE
Living Environments
The government of Indonesia saw itself in the early
1990s as
having a responsibility to advance a national culture, a
project
that was linked to requirements of national development
and
political integration. Government mandates aside, however,
as more
and more of the Indonesian population sought employment in
large,
poorly integrated cities consisting of diverse ethnic
groups, the
concept of a national culture had great appeal as a way of
regulating these changing urban environments. Although the
central
government attempted to guide the formation of this
culture through
education curricula, national holiday celebrations, and
careful
control of the national media (popular art, television,
and print
media), this emerging culture came about only partly
through
central planning
(see The Media
, ch. 4). Evidence of an
Indonesian
national culture also appeared in the far less controlled
layout
and social organization of cities; routines of social
interaction
using the official national language, Bahasa Indonesia;
patterns of
eating and preparing food; the viewing of team sports,
such as
soccer, badminton, and volleyball; motion pictures; and
material
displays of wealth.
In most cities, the heart of the urban culture was a
commercial
sector surrounding a central square. Although the Dutch
left a
legacy of a basic civil architecture and street plans for
many
cities in Java and a few in Sumatra and Bali, most cities
failed to
experience a level of improved urban design and services
commensurate with their tremendous population growth. As a
result,
many cities had a rural character, with very simple
sanitation,
housing, and transportation facilities. Jakarta, Surabaya,
and
Medan were among the few cities that had modern-looking
business
districts; in smaller cities, the typical commercial
building was
still the small, tin-roofed Chinese store with removable
wooden
doors opening out onto the street.
Indonesian cities in the late twentieth century were
internally
segmented in complex, overlapping ways that differentiated
ethnic
groups, income levels, and professional specializations.
There were
some neighborhoods that tended to house well-to-do
business owners,
foreign diplomats, and high-level government officials,
whereas
other areas tended to be home to migrant communities from
the rural
areas. However, the boundaries between one area and
another were
often far from clear. For example, although many
well-to-do and
mid-level civil servants and white collar workers were
often
presented in motion pictures and television as more
closely
identified with the national culture than with any ethnic
group,
affiliations actually cut across class lines in complex
and
shifting ways
(see Social Classes
, this ch.). Indeed, many
recent
migrants retained strong ties to their ethnic homelands,
viewing
their stay in the cities as temporary.
Data as of November 1992
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