| Abstrak/Abstract |
Almost twenty years have passed since Indonesia transitioned to democracy. These two decades saw the rise of communal violence, vigilantism, intolerance, industrial and agrarian conflicts, hate spin, and other forms of violence – culminating to Indonesia’s descend from being “free” to “partly free” in Freedom House’s rating. This is of course a threat to democratic consolidation in Indonesia, one that needs to be addressed in a timely manner.
While many scholars and activists would focus on strengthening democratic structures – elections, separation and balance of power, free press, etc, we choose to pay attention to democracy’s cultural ingredients. We assume that in order for a democracy to mature, its structures need to be complemented with the adoption of a certain civic culture based on nonviolence. More specifically, we believe that a consolidated democracy is not one without conflicts but one where actors prefer to wage conflicts nonviolently and are skillful in it.
Accordingly, we propose a research project that examines why people choose nonviolent ways to wage conflicts, which methods they use, how effective they are, how the media shape this preference, and how nonviolence – as civic culture – play a role in consolidating Indonesia’s democracy. It builds up from, and expands, Damai Pangkal Damai (DPD), our database on nonviolent actions in Indonesia 1999-2018, which creation was funded by Hibah Riset Departemen FISIPOL 2016. There will be three main research activities: (1) media- research, with the main purpose of completing DPD, (2) case studies, in order to get detailed accounts on the principles, repertoires of action, effectiveness, and frames used in the nonviolent struggles by Kendheng activists and by the Sunda Wiwitan believers, and (3) study on media framing, to understand how the media shape one’s preference on nonviolence.
The strategic value of this research lies on its knowledge-generating and problem-solving orientations. As an extension to DPD, it continues to generate knowledge on nonviolence and the politics surrounding it. Such a commitment is important to balance the trend within the research community of constructing database on violence and conflict. In terms of being problem-solving, this research sheds light on how nonviolence can be mainstreamed into Indonesia’s civic culture, and thus serve as a key ingredient for consolidating Indonesia’s democracy. Having recorded in DPD over 8,000 entries of nonviolent actions since Reformasi, we are convinced that communities in Indonesia have great potentials to adopt a civic culture based on nonviolence. This research shall provide a solid base for designing various training, i.e. on organizing nonviolent struggles, on nonviolent policing methods, and on nonviolent journalism, which helps strengthen the communities’ preference and skills to wage conflicts nonviolently. Such contribution is crucial in this era of hate spin and pre- election political mobilization. |
