GRASS-ROOTS IN INDONESIA

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30668, 6 February 1965, Page 4

GRASS-ROOTS IN INDONESIA

Indonesia. Face to Face. Ivan Southall. A. W. and A. H. Reed. 257 pp.

This book could serve the useful purpose of introducing the New Zealand reader to the people, life and conditions which combine to make up this recently independent nation. As it appears possible that we may become more closely involved in events which have their origin in Indonesia, the informed person will welcome this type of information which deals with living on-the-spot people and situations. The author attempts to come close to a wide range of Indonesian people, from Government officials to backward savages. In doing so he attempts an objective and honest report of Indonesia as it actually is. Mr Southall points to the similarities and differences between the cultures of Indonesia and New Zealand, and here the reader will find the most absorbing sections of the book. In drawing his subjectmatter together, the author has called upon the experiences of a small group of young New Zealand and Australian graduates who have worked in Indonesia for two years or more under the Volunteer Graduate Scheme, the principal aim of which is to provide technical aid, offered with sympathetic understanding. These volunteers live amongst the Indonesian people on the ruling Government rates of pay which are received by their Indonesian counterparts, and thus experience fully the social and economic conditions of the people with whom they work. Southall uses their varied experiences to present an Indonesia as seen through educated European eyes. The first impression of Djakarta appears to spring from the traffic. “The traffic is a scrimmage; it’s chaos. Bicycles, pedal-driven rickshaws and every conceivable variation of motorised vehicle weave and dart and jostle with a ceaseless blast of horns and ringing of bells. Give an Indonesian a motor-car to drive and a horn to play with, and each is a weapon of assault. Give a few score thousand Indonesians the same tools and that’s Djakarta. For two or three days the stranger is bewildered; he is in fear of his life; he stands at the roadside dumstruck.” Lack of public conveniences also present problems for the Western visitors. This is not a problem for the local population who utilise the canals, even in broad daylight. “The canals run down the middle of the main streets. The water in the canals is grey, or brown, or black, motionless or almost so. The canals are blocked with sludge and excrement floats on the surface. One doesn’t know how to breathe, or when to breathe, or if to breathe.”

These descriptions, and many others, present one side of the coin, but Indonesia is not Djarkarta. There is an impartial chapter dealing with Indonesia’s struggles with the Japanese during the war, and with its demands for independence which followed soon after. On August 17, 1945, only two days after the Japanese collapse, Indonesia challenged the return of her Dutch colonial masters. “We, the people of Indonesia, hereby proclaim the independence of Indonesia. Procedures pertaining to the transfer of powers and other matter will be undertaken efficiently in the shortest possible time.” It was not to be

as easy as all that and there followed five years of struggle with Holland before recognition was granted by the United Nations. One of those who signed the Declaration of Independence was Sukarno, a graduate of an Indonesian engineering college. Adjustment to local diets is always a problem for Westerners attempting to live in the East. Why are highlyspiced foods such a necessity? Mr Southall says, “they take the sun out of the heavens, shred it, and serve it straight." The visitor may long for a cool crisp salad and wonder why it is not available, but this requires an uncontaminated water supply and a refrigerator, neither of which are available in most parts of Indonesia. The working day is from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. during which time one officially does not eat, but it is “generally assumed” that everyone does hrve a snack. The higher ranks send out for it and the lower ranks slip out to a neighbouring stand. Education has been given considerable attention since independence. At the end of Dutch rule illiteracy was as high as 93 per cent but now, year after year, schools are increasing at the rate of about 500 a year and where proper buildings are not available, children are educated in the open air. There is an enormous hunger for education as a ladder for advancement, and the failure of a child in school examinations is considered to be a disaster.

Of the three thousand islands which combine the totality called Indonesia, it is natural that the author can mention but a few and of this

all too brief section, the chapter dealing with Bali is by far the best. It is regrettable that a glamour has developed around the name of Bali for there appears to be no doubt that her art forms, people, social customs and geography, are all superior. The population of this island is about that of New Zealand, and most of the people, about half of whom are illiterate, live in villages. Although illiteracy is widespread, this does not prevent these people from expressing themselves with delicacy and good taste. They are gracious, friendly and hospitable, and there is no doubt that the young women are exceptionally beautiful. Like many other people, they are experiencing rapid social change and old social institutions are dying. The call of the young people is: ‘“Let us go forward. Let us do it the way they do it in the films.” There is an interesting history of Flores, where a high density of population leads to a most competitive way of life. Primitive practices die hard and slavery and ritual murder still smoulder beneath the surface. We read of the experiences of a doctor in Java, and learn of the unequal distribution of wealth, goods and services through it the entire achipelago. In 1800, there were 4 million people living in Java alone; now there are 65 million, and in a generation or two these increasing numbers are going to be impossible to feed. Planting lands cannot be extended any further, and birth control is unknown. A few thousand miles to the South are undeveloped regions in Australia and New Zealand. This book provides an informative introduction to our nearest Asian neighbours who are only 11 hours flying time from Auckland.