Saturday, August 23, 2014

SUTAN SJAHRIR: Political Ethos And The Classical Spirit

In two of his letters from the Cipinang jail and from Boven Digul, where he was sent to exile, Sjahrir qouted some lines from the German poet Friedrich Shiller (1723-96). The original qoute reads ' und setzt ihr nicht das leben ein, nie wird euch das leben gewonnen sein' ('life that is not put at stake will never be won'). He claimed to qoute these beautiful lines only from memory, so that we may presume that he cherished these lines and that they were very meaningful in his life.
Politics was not a matter of investing financial capital in pursuit of a larger gain, as those whose conduct money politic nowadays in Indonesia tend to believe.
Neither was politics the art of possible, as we learn from Otto von Bismarck from Prussia.
Apparently, for Sjahrir politics was not a pragmatic matter, involving just one objective and a way to achieve it by applying an instrumental rationallty or Zweckrationalitat, as taught by Max Weber.
If politics in Sjahrir opinion was none of this, what did he consider politics to be like ? According to my interpretation, the qoute from Friedrich Schiller froms part of the answer. Politics for Sjahrir would mean " das leben einsetzen und dadurch das leben gewinnen"- putting at stake and thereby winning it.
Putting one's life at stake could also be an attitude and action of people who are heedless of risks. But Sjahrir reminds us that in politics life is put at stake to be gained,
After japan's capilutation, Sjahrir noted with concern that the youth was caught betwen recklessness on the hand and uncertainty on the other.
The slogan ' Independence or Death' could in fact become a psycholigical trap. Knowing that full indenpendence had not yet been achieved, while the oppirtunity to die had not shown up yet either, those young people vacillated in an indecisive restlessness. According to Sjahrir this resulted from the fact the young people has been drilled in marching and fighting during the Japanese occupation, but were never trained in leadership.
Actually, the organizational germs of the PSI were there since 1932, when Sjahrir and Hatta returned from their studies in the Netherlands.
Both agreed to build the so-called National Indonesia Education ( PNI-Baru, which aimed to educate political cadres, so that these cadres could carry on the struggle of nationalists, in case its leaders were jailed or exiled.
An interesting and important question is: why did Sjahrir choose socialism? Seen from a historical perspective, socialism was leftist political ideal, which at that time was representative of progressive thought among the indonesia intelligentsia in the face of colonialism, which was considered to be a further development of capitalism. Naturally, people who declined colonialism tended to reject capitalism as its predecessor.
On the other hand, Sjahrir also observed the difference betwen democratic socialism as developed in European and in Asian countries, primarily in Indonesia. This disparity was reflected in two main factors, namely the attitude towards colonilism and who they look at industrialization.
Very likeky Sjahrir himself was aware from the start that his politic with such heavy moral load would not prevail in a short time, merely because they would  be fairly unbearable and not always understood. However, politics in Sjahrir's sense is not just a project, not just a programme, but life itself. His political party has lost, defeated by political ethos providing us with the conviction that human dignity and classical spirit may not alywas win.
But no doubt, will never be defeated completely forever. In this sense Sjahrir has fulfilled his promise; he has put life at stake and has won it.

0 comments:

Post a Comment