Page 106 - Transformasi Masyarakat Indonesia dan Historiografi Indonesia Modern

Transformasi Masyarakat Indonesia...

litical, economic, and socio cultural fields. Hopefully, the South-
east Asian crisis will inevitably bring in its wake more demo-
cratic governments and more open economic systems in the
region as a whole.
With regard to overcoming the East and Southeast Asia
crisis, in my opinion, the principles of the ASEAN regional fo-
rum and APEC forum are very strategic. But it would be very
fruitful in the long term if the socio cultural dimension of the
Southeast Asian world are taken into account since culture is a
fundamental aspect of all major development issues. Thus it is
necessary to promote cultural democracy and cultural values
and to highlight the cultural aspects of Southeast Asian societ-
ies. Moreover, the future of the Southeast Asian world will be
increasingly shaped by an awareness of interdependency among
cultures and societies as they face global challenges.
At present, the Asian world is crossing a historical thresh-
old in technology, economic interdependence, global change,
population growth, and communication; but the correspond-
ing ethical and cultural threshold is only just beginning to be
built through increasing dialogue among cultures in the East
and Southeast Asian community. It is hoped that the countries
of Northeast and Southeast Asia are able to contribute to build-
ing a New World Order in diverse “Asian ways” in the 21 st
century.

4. The Challenge to Indonesia: A Case of Experience

Indonesia belongs to the larger part of the Southeast Asia
region. Its people, who comprise the majority of the inhabit-
ants of Southeast Asia, are supported by rich natural resources.
The contemporary economic crisis threatens even more hard-
ship for the people of Indonesia and even greater instability
and agony for the country. In terms of the relatively recent
economic history of the country, during the 1960s the Indone-
sian economy was in very unfavorable state. Poverty was en-

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