The specifics of political processes in modern Indonesia are largely determined by the centuries-old historical and cultural past. Its main component is the political culture of Indonesia and the subcultures of the peoples inhabiting it, mainly Javanese-the dominant ethnic group in terms of numbers. The main historical stages of the formation and development of the political system of Indonesia are of particular interest in the light of traditional Indonesian views on power.
Over a long history, Javanese people have developed a special system of values, a peculiar idea of power and ruler. The cradle of Javanese civilization is a fertile arable land in central Java around the modern cities of Yogyakarta and Surakarta (Solo). The economic base of traditional Javanese culture is irrigation rice farming, while the social base is an economically independent and self-sufficient community. Irrigation rice farming required coordinated efforts by the entire village community, and a clear distribution of roles in the community. This implies the main features inherent in Javanese society: the principle of consensus and the cult of bureaucracy as the organizer of community activities.
The idea of power in Javanese culture is at odds with Western ideas. For the Javanese, power exists independently of its bearer and represents the intangible divine (cosmic) energy of sekti (skt. shakti), which permeates the universe and finds its embodiment in every manifestation of nature. Power is homogeneous in the sense that it all comes from a single source, and the power that an individual or group of people has is qualitatively no different from that of others. The amount of power in the universe is constant, only its distribution changes. Accordingly, the concentration of power in one place or in one person is associated with its reduction in another. The question of the legitimacy of the government for Javanese is illegitimate, at least in its Western sense. Since power comes from one so ...
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