Bearing Together the Weight of Reality: The Mission of a Jesuit University in Nurturing an Ethic of Collaboration for the Common Good in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia Author: Paulus Bambang Irawan Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104938 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2016 Copyright is held by the author. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0). Boston College School of Theology and Ministry BEARING TOGETHER THE WEIGHT OF REALITY: THE MISSION OF A JESUIT UNIVERSITY IN NURTURING AN ETHIC OF COLLABORATION FOR THE COMMON GOOD IN POST-AUTHORITARIAN INDONESIA A Dissertation by PAULUS BAMBANG IRAWAN, S.J. submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology JANUARY 2016 © Copyright BY PAULUS BAMBANG IRAWAN, S.J. 2016 ABSTRACT Bearing Together the Weight of Reality: The Mission of a Jesuit University in Nurturing an Ethic of Collaboration for the Common Good in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia By Paulus Bambang Irawan, S.J. Director: David Hollenbach, S.J. Readers: Lisa Sowle Cahill and Andrea Vicini, S.J. This dissertation tries to show the contribution and challenge of a Jesuit university in nurturing an ethic of collaboration for the common good by responding to the problem of fragmentation in post-authoritarian Indonesia. The history of compartmentalization since Dutch colonization, the unleashing of greedy elites after the fall of the Suharto regime and the silent penetration of neoliberal ideology through commodification of higher education on one hand contribute to the decline of the massive civic movement in higher education, but on the other hand open a new form of social movement through various local initiatives (Chapter I). It is in responding to this tension that an ethic of collaboration proves to be helpful, both in initiating a strong alliance among various groups and in respecting the plurality of its manifestations. The tradition of post- Vatican II Catholic Social Teaching, especially in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis and Caritas in Veritate, provides a solid grounding for proposing such an ethic of collaboration with its three recurring important themes: solidarity, subsidiarity, and the common good (Chapter II). This normative vision of collaboration for the common good is not alien to the Indonesian world view. Three Indonesian pedagogues (Ki Hajar Dewantara, Nicolaus Driyarkara and Mochtar Buchori) not only support the possibility of a cross-cultural dialogue between an ethic of collaboration for the common good based on Post-Vatican II Catholic Social Teaching and the Indonesian virtue of gotong royong (working together), but also show how the didactic of such a vision should be started in various forms and levels of education (Chapter III). Therefore, enlightened by Ignacio Ellacuría, the historical mission of a Jesuit university in the context of a post-authoritarian society is to provide space to engage with the people’s struggle to attain its personal and communal wellbeing. This commitment to be a-different-kind-of-university is carried out through research, pedagogy and community service (Chapter IV). In so doing, Jesuit higher education in post-authoritarian Indonesia will embody the mystique of service and bears a theologal dimension in its various collaborative practices to historicize the reign of God which is in process toward its fullness (Chapter V). Dedicated to the loving memory of my father, Fransiskus Xaverius Sardi Cokro Atmojo [1935-2015] whose life embodied the commitment to education and to work across ethnic and religious boundaries Table of Contents Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................ iv A Note on Indonesian and Javanese Spellings .......................................................................... vi List of Map, Tables, and Figures ............................................................................................... vii Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1 1. Locating the Challenge of Fragmentation in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia ............................... 1 2. Reclaiming the Resources of Collaboration for the Common Good through Higher Education 4 3. The Thesis of the Dissertation .................................................................................................... 5 4. Methodology .............................................................................................................................. 7 5. Overview of the Chapters ........................................................................................................... 8 Chapter I: The Challenge of Fragmentation in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia and the Dynamic of Student Activism: A Socio-Political Analysis ........................................ 14 1. Desire for a Strong Leader in a Fragmented Nation ................................................................ 15 2. Factors of Fragmentation in Indonesian Society ...................................................................... 20 2.1. Internal Pluralism of Islam in Java: Conflicting Visions and an Ongoing Search for Building Alliances ............................................................................................................ 20 2.2. Military and the Rise of the Powerhouse State ................................................................. 33 2.3. The Rise of Predatory Elites in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia .......................................... 42 2.4. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 49 3. Higher Education and the Emergence of Public Space in Indonesia ....................................... 51 3.1. The Rise of Mahasiswa (University Student) from the Colonial Period to the Early Suharto Era ........................................................................................................................ 53 3.2. Ebbs and Flows of Student Movements during the Suharto Era ...................................... 57 3.3. Several Attempts to Build Solidarity in Disorganized Indonesia ..................................... 59 3.4. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 63 4. The Decline of a Collaborative Movement: The Challenge Ahead ......................................... 64 4.1. Massification and Commodification of Higher Education in the Post-Suharto Era ......... 66 4.2. Lack of Vision in Education ............................................................................................. 70 4.3. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 76 5. Summaries and Reflection for Reading Catholic Social Teaching .......................................... 76 Chapter II: An Ethic of Collaboration for the Common Good in Post-Vatican II Catholic Social Teaching ............................................................................ 80 1. The Legacy of Vatican II in Preparing the Space for Collaboration within the Catholic Church ....................................................................................................... 81 2. Three Themes of Collaboration in Post-Vatican II Catholic Social Teaching ......................... 89 2.1. Solidarity as Praxis of Collaboration ................................................................................ 90 2.1.1. Multilayered Notion of Solidarity ............................................................................. 91 2.1.2. Collaboration: The Praxis of Solidarity ................................................................... 103 i 2.2. Localizing Collaboration through Subsidiarity ............................................................... 106 2.2.1. Development of the Concept of Subsidiarity .......................................................... 106 2.2.2. Subsidiarity and Collaboration ................................................................................ 112 2.3. The Common Good as the Goal of Collaboration .......................................................... 115 2.3.1. Two Approaches to the Notion of the Common Good ........................................... 115 2.3.2. The Legacy of These Two Approaches in the Post-Vatican II Social Encyclicals . 120 2.3.3. The Common Good and Collaboration ................................................................... 126 3. Contributions and Challenges of an Ethic of Collaboration Based on CST in a Post- Authoritarian Society ............................................................................................................. 128 3.1. Contribution of an Ethic of Collaboration to a Post-Authoritarian Society .................... 128 3.1.1. Collaboration and the Deep Sense of “Being a People” in a Decentered Society .. 128 3.1.2. The Recognition of Non-State Actors in the Praxis of Collaboration in a Post- Authoritarian Society .............................................................................................. 130 3.2. Some Challenges for an Ethic of Collaboration Based on CST in a