Inspirasi Ramadhan Bagi Indonesia

Alhamdulillah, Ramadhan is coming in few days, mungkin itu bahasa lokal disini sebagai ekspresi kedatangan bulan mulia dalam kalender Umat Islam. Tidak terasa ini adalah Ramadhan ketiga saya di tanah perantauan ujung selatan dunia. Dalam obrolan santai saya dengan Istri seringkali kita merasa bahwa di tanah rantau ini waktu berlalu terasa lebih cepat dibandingkan ketika kita menjalani kehidupan di “zamrud khatulistiwa”. Pun teman saya merasakan hal yang serupa. Pada suatu kali dalam sebuah acara kumpul-kumpul orang Indonesia, dia sempat “berteori” bahwa cepatnya kehidupan di Negara Kangguru ini karena secara geografis tanah yang kita injak sangat dekat dengan ujung dunia. Apapun itu, yang pasti pepatah Arab mengingatkan, al-waktu kassyaif idza lam taqtoahu qhataaka, “waktu bagaikan pedang, apabila kita tidak memotongnya [menggunakan waktu dengan sebaik-baiknya], maka kita akan dipotongnya [waktu akan menyia-nyiakan kita].

Dengan menggunakan qiyas-an yang sama, manfaatkanlah segala kemuliaan, dan “discount” pahala dan kebaikan langit selama bulan Ramadhan, unless, kata orang sini, kita akan melewati bulan ini dengan hampa, dan kesia-siaan. Sebuah hadits memperingatkan kita bahwa “berapa banyak orang berpuasa yang tidak mendapatkan apa-apa kecuali haus dan lapar”.

Para ulama besar kita, sebagai pewaris para nabi (al-ulama warosatul anbiyaa) telah meniti jalan keshalehan untuk diikuti sehingga puasa kita tidak terjebak kedalam rutinitas hampa, tanpa makna, dan pahala. Imam Al-Ghazali, salah satunya, penulis magnum opus “ihya ulumuddin” (menghidupkan kembali agama) dalam salah satu tulisannya “Inner Dimensions of Islamic Worship” menerangkan tiga derajat (tingkatan) berpuasa, yaitu shaum umuum (puasa umum), shaum khusus (puasa khusus), dan shaum khususil khusus (puasa paling khusus). Tiga derajat ini dinisbatkan kepada sifat-sifat orang yang berpuasa. Mereka yang berpuasa sekadar menahan diri dari makan dan minum, maka puasa orang seperti ini sangat umum dan hanya sebatas menahan diri dari perbuatan yang membatalkan puasa secara dzahir. Lain lagi dengan orang saleh, mereka meningkatkan kualitas dan tingkatan puasa dengan menahan semua organ tubuh dari perbuatan-perbuatan yang bisa menjerumuskan kedalam kubangan dosa. Bagi mereka organ-organ tubuh bisa menjadi pintu masuk yang menggerogoti keabsahan puasa. Mata, telinga, mulut, kemaluan, tangan, kaki, dan semua unsur badan berpotensi membawa krikil-krikil dosa jasmaniah dan merusak kualitas puasa.

Selanjutnya puasa paling khusus. Puasa model ini dikerjakan oleh Para Nabi, Hamba Allah yang dekat dengan-Nya. Menurut al-Ghazali, hanya sedikit orang yang sampai pada tahap ini. Tingkatan ini sudah menaklukkan tantangan jasadiyah, dan hanya mengalihkan pikirannya untuk Sang Maha Pencipta. Jikalau terlintas sedikit tentang orientasi duniawi dalam alam pikirannya, maka dianggap menurunkan derajat tingkat ketiga ini. Dalam bahasa Al-Ghazali, “Bila dalam diri kita telah tumbuh kerinduan untuk bertemu dengan Allah SWT, dan bila keinginan kita untuk mendapatkan makrifat tentang keinginan-Nya nyata dan lebih kuat daripada nafsu makan dan seksual, Anda berarti telah menggandrungi taman makrifat ketimbang surga pemuas nafsu indrawi”.

Anggaplah bahwa puasa tingkatan ketiga adalah perjalanan spiritual kita di anak tangga ke seribu. Untuk mendaki jalan kesana, kita harus melalui anak tangga kesatu, kedua, dan seterusnya. Al-Ghazali memberikan cara bagaimana kita memulai perjalanan spiritual untuk mencapai derajat puasa orang-orang shaleh. Pertama, Menghindari dari penglihatan yang dibenci oleh Allah SWT. Sebuah hadith menggambarkan pandangan mata sebagai “panah beracun milik syetan”. Jika kita melepaskan anak panah ini dengan penuh nafsu, maka kita memberi ruang syetan menggerogoti keimanan kita.

Kedua, Menjaga dan memelihara ucapan. Dengan indah sebuah hadith menggambarkan puasa sebagai “a shield” atau perisai. Perisai dari perkataan sia-sia, dusta, mengumpat, menyebarkan fitnah, berkata kasar dan keji, dan melontarkan kata-kata permusuhan. “Jika ada orang yang menyerang dan memakimu, katakanlah: Aku sedang berpuasa! Aku sedang berpuasa!”. Benarlah firman sang Pencipta, “Hamba-hamba Tuhan Yang Maha Pengasih adalah orang-orang yang berjalan di atas muka bumi dengan rendah hati dan apabila orang jahil menyapa mereka, mereka mengucapkan kata-kata yang baik.” (QS. Al Furqaan: 63). Lawanlah sikap pengecut dan penuh kedengkian, dengan akhlak mulia. Lawanlah kata-kata dan prilaku kasar dengan kata-kata mulia dan penuh kebaikan. Diceritakan dalam al-Qur’an bagaimana Allah memerintahkan Nabi Musa dan Harun untuk menghadap Fir’aun dan tetap menjaga tutur kata yang lemah lembut (qaulan layyinan), “Pergilah kamu berdua kepada Fir’aun, sebab dia memerintah dengan sewenang-wenang. Kemudian berkatalah kamu berdua kepadanya dengan perkataan yang lemah lembut (qaulan layyinan) semoga dia akan menjadi ingat atau menjadi takut [kepada Tuhan]” (Q.S. 20: 43-44). Di ayat yang lain dikatakan, “Tidaklah sama kebaikan dan kejahatan. Lawanlah kejahatan dengan sesuatu yang lebih baik, maka orang yang di antara engkau dan dia ada permusuhan itu akan menjadi seolah-olah kawan yang sangat akrab” (Q.S. Fushilat [41]: 34). Nabi memperingatkan kita, “man yuhramu al-rifqu yuhramu al-khair” (siapa yang jauh dari sikap lemah lembut ia jauh dari kebaikan” (HR. Muslim). Dikatakan dalam hadith yang lain, “sesungguhnya Allah yang Maha Lembut menyukai kelembutan. Kelembutan yang menghasilkan sesuatu yang tidak dihasilkan oleh kekerasan” (HR. Muslim).

Ketiga, Menjaga pendengaran. Menjaga pendengaran dari segala sesuatu yang tercela; karena setiap sesuatu yang dilarang untuk diucapkan juga dilarang untuk didengarkan. Al-Qur’an tidak membedakan antara orang yang suka mendengar (yang haram) dengan mereka yang suka memakan (yang haram), "Mereka gemar mendengar kebohongan dan memakan yang tiada halal." (QS.5: 42). Cara terbaik adalah menjauhi pengumpat atau berdiam diri. 'Jika engkau (tetap duduk bersama mereka), sungguh, engkaupun seperti mereka ..." (Q.s. 4: 140). Itulah mengapa Nabi Muhammad memperingatkan kita, "Yang mengumpat dan pendengarnya, berserikat dalam dosa." (HR. At Tirmidzi).

Kelima, Menjaga Sikap Perilaku. Setiap bagian dari organ kita bagaikan satu kesatuan yang mengukur baik atau tidaknya perilaku kita. Mereka masing-masing akan bersaksi dihadapan pengadilan langit apa yang telah mereka lakukan didunia ini. Alangkah baiknya jika kita resapi syair lagu almarhum Chrisye. 

“Akan datang hari

Mulut dikunci

Kata tak ada lagi

Akan tiba masa

Tak ada suara

Dari mulut kita

Berkata tangan kita

Tentang apa yang dilakukannya

Berkata kaki kita

Kemana saja dia melangkahnya

Tidak tahu kita

Bila harinya

Tanggung jawab, tiba...

Rabbana

Tangan kami

Kaki kami

Mulut kami

Mata hati kami

Luruskanlah

Kukuhkanlah

Di jalan cahaya

Sempurna

Mohon karunia

Kepada kami

HambaMu

Yang hina”

Keenam, Menghindari memenuhi kepuasan jasmaniah secara berlebihan. Ketujuh, Menuju Allah SWT dengan Rasa takut dan Pengharapan. Puasa, kata seorang bijak, harus menghadirkan hati kita seolah olah berayun antara takut (khauf) dan harap (raja’). Tiada ada yang mengetahui apakah amal kita diterima atau tidak, kecuali Sang Pencipta Hati dan Sang Pembuka Rahasia Hati. Diceritakan, Dari al Hasan bin Abil Hasan al Bashri, bahwa suatu ketika melintaslah sekelompok orang sambil tertawa terbahak bahak. Hasan al Bashri lalu berkata, 'Allah swt. telah menjadikan Ramadhan sebagai bulan perlombaan. Di saat mana Para hamba Nya saling berlomba dalam beribadah. Beberapa di antara mereka sampai ke titik final lebih dahulu dan menang, sementara yang lain tertinggal dan kalah. Sungguh menakjubkan mendapati orang yang masih dapat tertawa terbahak bahak dan bermain di antara (keadaan) ketika mereka yang beruntung memperoleh kemenangan, dan mereka yang merugi memperoleh kesia-siaan. Demi Allah, apabila hijab tertutup, mereka yang berbuat baik akan dipenuhi (pahala) perbuatan baiknya, dan mereka yang berbuat cela juga dipenuhi oleh kejahatan yang diperbuatnya." Dari al Ahnaf bin Qais, bahwa suatu ketika seseorang berkata kepadanya, "Engkau telah tua; berpuasa akan dapat melemahkanmu." Tetapi al Ahnaf bahkan menjawab, "Dengan berpuasa, sebenarnya aku sedang mempersiapkan diri untuk perjalanan panjang. Bersabar dalam menaati Allah SWT. tentu akan lebih mudah daripada menanggung siksa Nya."

Demikianlah shaum Ramadhan mengajarkan kita untuk meniti anak tangga menuju kesadaran spiritualitas tertinggi. Tingkatan yang harus melalui jalan-jalan keshalehan sebagaimana dijelaskan oleh Imam Al-Ghazali. Harapan kita semua, Ibadah Shaum Ramadhan memberikan inspirasi untuk kebaikan di Negara Kita. Haji Abdul Karim Malik Amrullah (HAMKA) mengibaratkan Indonesia sebagai sebongkah tanah surga yang Tuhan lemparkan ke dunia. Akan lebih baik, jika tanah surga ini dihuni oleh orang-orang dengan akhlak surgawi.

Wallohu ‘alam bishowab.

Sydney, 22 Mei 2017

Yudi Ahmad Faisal

Ibnu Khaldun di Mata Barat

Pagi itu cuaca dingin seperti telah menjadi bagian dari hidup di London, orang-orang memulai kelas pertama kalinya setelah seminggu kebelakang melakukan orientasi perkuliahan. Seorang dosen, doktor lulusan Oxford University, langsung memerintahkan mahasiswa untuk membaca artikel berjudul “Ibn Khaldun: the Last Greek and the First Annaliste Historian”, artikel tersebut dikategorikan essential readings dalam mata kuliah Historiography, atau studi tentang sejarah. Artinya seolah-olah kurikulum tersebut mau mengatakan bahwa membaca karya Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406 M) dalam bidang sejarah dan sosiologi adalah persyaratan wajib untuk memahami studi tentang sejarah dan sosiologi.

Dalam ilmu social (social sciences), memahami asal muasal sesuatu sangat sentral peranannya untuk memahami dan mengintrepretasikan realitas sosial yang berkembang. Dalam kategori tersebut, Ibn Khaldun memberikan sumbangsih yang luar biasa, atau bahkan mungkin memberikan fondasi awal bagi studi sejarah dan sosiologi, sehingga tidak aneh jika di abad ke-19 banyak sarjana barat yang menyebut Ibn Khaldun sebagai the founding father of sociology. Bahkan sarjana-sarjana barat kenamaan seperti Becker dan Barnes dalam karya mereka “Social Thought from Lore to Science”, yang pertama kali dipublikasikan tahun 1938, menyebut Ibn Khaldun sebagai peletak batu pertama studi sejarah sosiologi dengan pendekatan sains modern. Bahkan banyak juga sarjana barat maupun timur melakukan komparasi pemikiran Ibn Khaldun dengan pemikiran barat kenamaan yang lahir belakangan sekitar abad 17 dan seterusnya seperti Auguste Comte, Karl Marx, Engels, Marx Webber, Durkheim, dll. Dengan kesimpulan bahwa ada “kemungkinan” para sarjana barat kenamaan tersebut dipengaruhi pemikiran Ibn Khaldun.

Tradisi keilmuan adalah tradisi yang berkelanjutan, dan tidak pernah terputus. Dalam bahasa teori social chain, perkembangan ilmu pengetahuan kontemporer dipengaruhi oleh pencapaian ilmu pengetahun di masa lalu. Kalau dilihat dari konteks tersebut, sangat mungkin pemikiran Ibn Khaldun memberikan sumbangsih bagi perkembangan sains sosial di barat. Pada abad 17, nama Ibn Khaldun muncul pertama di Eropa. Sebuah biography of Ibn Khaldun di terbitkan dalam D’Herbelot’s Bibliothèque Orientale tahun 1697. Seratus tahun kemudian sekitar abad 18, Silvestre de Sacy menerjemahkan dan mempublikasikan karya Ibn Khaldun Mukaddimah, kedalam bahasa Perancis (Baali, 1986). Dari sini kemudian dunia barat mulai berkenalan, mengkaji, dan mengadopsi pemikiran-pemikiran Ibn Khaldun dibidang ilmu-ilmu sosial.

Waktu menunjukkan pukul 5 pm GMT, seperti biasa si biru yang ditempatkan di lantai basement menunggu majikannya untuk ditunggangi menuju Tufnell Park. Dalam perjalanan pulang dengan menelusuri jalan Camden Road, Kentish Town, dan Junction Road, saya dikejutkan oleh seorang pengendara motor yang menabrak pejalan kaki, keduanya terjatuh, dan tanpa merasakan rasa sakit, si pengendara motor yang juga ikut terjatuh dan menabrak pagar pembatas jalan langsung berlari menuju korban untuk memastikan kondisinya baik-baik saja. Sebuah pemandangan yang membanggakan, si penabrak bertanggung jawab atas apa yang telah dilakukannya dan tidak pergi begitu saja, atau istilah bahasa Indonesianya “tabrak lari”. Apakah memang realitas sosial masyarakat barat seperti ini? ber-etika dan bertanggung jawab, ataukah ini hanya kasuistis dan tidak mencerminkan secara umum? ataukah ini hanya kondisi dimana yang ditabrak adalah orang barat lagi, seandainya yang ditabrak orang asia atau arab apakah kondisinya akan sama seperti itu?

Untuk memahami fakta sosial seperti diatas, Ibn Khaldun memberikan sumbangsih dua metodologi ilmu sosial yaitu ‘ilm al-’umra¯n al-basharı¯ (the science of human social organization) dan ‘ilm al-ijtima¯ ’ al-insa¯nı¯ (the science of human society) untuk mengkaji setiap aspek dalam masyarakat dan kehidupan sosial. Bagi para pemerhati masalah kemasyarakatan dan ilmu-ilmu sosial di tanah air ataupun didunia muslim, sudah saatnya kita menghargai kontribusi sarjana muslim klasik dengan mengkaji kembali beribu-ribu magnumopus yang pernah disumbangkan oleh sarjana-sarjana muslim dalam banyak bidang. Renaissance di barat tidak akan pernah terjadi jika tidak terjadi suatu masa yang dinamakan orang barat sebagai the dark middle of ages atau the golden age of Islamic civilisations dalam sejarah muslim.

Wallahu a’lam bishowab.
Yudi Ahmad Faisal


References

Baali, Fuad (1986) Ilm al-Umran and Sociology: A Comparative Study. Annals of the Faculty of Arts, 36th Monograph, Vol. 7. Kuwait: Kuwait University.

Syed Farid Alatas, Ibn Khaldu¯n and Contemporary Sociology, International Sociology, November 2006, Vol 21(6): 782–795, International Sociological Association

Debates on Commercial Society

Arsip Tulisan Yudi Ahmad Faisal (2012)

"Economic life is difficult or impossible to distinguish from the rest of life, and one’s freedom to buy or sell or lend or travel or work is difficult to distinguish from the rest of one’s freedom" 

Emma Rothschild

The concept of a commercially-oriented society has been hugely debate throughout history. Commercial society is often believed to veil a real freedom that has never been achieved in human history, but questions remain in our mind regarding the degree of such freedom and its relation to how commercial a society is and the conditions such as commercial society.


This essay will start with definitions of the key concepts of freedom and commercial society. This section is critical since the essay’s arguments and understanding will be heavily based on such definitions. Then, the next section will deal with the dialogue between the ideal and the reality of the concepts. In general, the essay hypothesizes that to some extents current commercial society jeopardizes the real freedom, because the line that separates the economic realm and the political realm – as proposed by Adam Smith - is virtually vague. This argument is based on an assumption that there is an unfair market structure that is widely practiced by the commercial societies. This market structure leads a vast transformation of the nature of the relation between various agents in this kind of societies, i.e. workers, and capital providers, which ordinary people are hardly able to understand. Controlling of that structure in the hands of relatively few people tends to create domination and power that spreads from the realm of economic to political. In extreme cases, the economic power is able to control the politic realm. As a result, freedom from and freedom to seem difficult to imply because of high constraints and domination by hands a few people over the majority.


Freedom from and Freedom to

Freedom is an abstract idea that has been a central topic of debate throughout human history. There are different definitions with regards to this notion. Throughout generations, the word freedom seems to be a magic word that accompanies human history to achieve enlightenment and modernity. The word is also very difficult to be explained and depicted since diverse definitions occur with their philosophical and historical backgrounds.


In general, freedom does not exist in an independent entity, but must be related to other external factors. In an analogical definition, it contains colour which has many spectrums. Each spectrum reveals on its perspective. To support this idea, Isaiah Berlin, for example, constructs two kinds of freedom, negative freedom and positive freedom. Negative freedom is a freedom from constraints, restriction, external impediments, and intervention (Schmidtz et al, 2010:3); in other words, it connotes that a man who is categorized as a free man must not be subject to exploitation, domination, repression, or other forms of humiliation. The second is positive freedom. It connotes freedom to do something, to do what he or she wants based on their capacity, talents, abilities, and resources. Thus, the connection between the two is being free to do something and being unrestricted in achieving it (Schmidtz et al, 2010:3). Berlin’s idea places freedom as a very important concept of quality that cannot be disturbed and jeopardized by any external forces.


Meanwhile, T.H. Green observes that freedom is not merely freedom from any restrictions, but it should be related to a notion of responsibility: “we do not mean a freedom that can be enjoyed by one man at a cost of a loss of freedom to others” (Schmidtz et al, 2010:8). Green’s idea, it can be argued has similarity with Herbert Spencer who said that it is unjustified to possess a property without constraints, because at some point it will lead one party to abuse the other party’s rights (Rosen, et al, p.195). Constraints here could mean many things: it might be a form of limitation of someone’s freedom, or it might be related to the interest of the community. As a result, freedom in the above explanation is related to other consequences.


Both kinds of Berlin’s freedom (freedom from and freedom to) are very essential to be implemented in the communal life. An individual is part of a society, hence, freedom must be considered on a collective aspect. As a result, the active participations of individual in making a symbiotic relationship between individual and society are inevitable. Because of that, participation of any member of a society in all aspects of life that affects their life in essence must be considered as a profound principle to secure the real freedom of individual members of a society.


Commercial Society
The proponents of Commercial Society argue that it is a profound achievement of human history. It was born from the womb of capitalism. It often refers to the West which is widely assumed very advanced in many aspects especially economic sphere. If we reflect on the past, the age of reason has triggered a scientific revolution that leads to technological progress and inventions. When capitalist economic theory incorporates with technology, it creates machineries that produce massive goods and services which are not only provided to a small community, but to a global community. It sets up an engine of growth through financial institutions to boost economic interconnections by developing appropriate infrastructures i.e. land transportation, airplane industry, telecommunication system. In such a situation the classical burden of the economy – scarcity - has seemingly been resolved (Schmidtz et al, 2010:Ch.4). Above all, the commercial society creates extraordinary affluence (Rasmussen, 2008:162).


In commercial society as often argued, people are freer. They have many alternatives to choose whatever they want: they can choose a thousand of alternative jobs, they can live longer through health technology, they can make any commercial transactions without constraints, finally they live in an abundant world in all aspects of life (Schmidtz et al, 2010:Ch.4). As result, this society more or less creates economic prosperity, prevents exploitation of deliberate limitations of social life, leads to triumphs of liberty and freedom (Schmidtz et al, 2010:Ch.4).


Finally, to achieve real freedom, commercial society needs certain prerequisites. These pre-conditions has been drawn by Adam Smith that it should be a clear division between economic realm and political realm (Grayling, 2008:153).


The Reality of Commercial Society and Its Relation to Freedom

So far, the arguments about the commercial society that brings real freedom take a very optimistic view of the future. In that view, Smith believed that capitalism is a good system for a human being. In that sense, it is obvious that Smith is typical of an enlightenment leader who had a very energetic effort in a sense of the ideal (Grayling, 2008: 148), although the practical aspects of such an idea are sometimes difficult to be implemented.


In general, the arguments of commercial society only unfold surface and visible effects, and it seldom touches very complicated consequences within current commercial society itself. The opponents of commercial society often argue that Smith’s argument on this society seems a kind of cost-benefit analysis, not an essence or a philosophical foundation (Rasmussen, 2008:160). It might be argued that the assessment on commercial society relies heavily on the commercial approach. It other words, it only sees the unprecedented accumulation of wealth, which is believed creates prosperity in the form of money that potentially leads to freedom. Even though the proponents of commercial societies are not directly pointing out that the explosion of wealth increased positive liberty, but their arguments arrives in a conclusion that average people can and generally do live far richer, freer than average people in pre-commercial societies (e.g. Schmidtz et al, 2010:126). The other consequences that might be occurred are rarely stated by the proponents of commercial society, which potentially tend to undermine the real freedom of society.


The real capitalism that has been dreamed by Adam Smith is different from the capitalism that is currently implemented. In an apologetic assessment, he stated that the commercial society is far from perfect, but it is better than all other forms of society which he considered less perfect from commercial society (Rasmussen, 2008:159). Of course such an assessment was in a situation of Smith’s era in which the economic structure was not as complex as today.


For Adam Smith, capitalism can only happen in a society that has a clear division between the economic realm and the political realm (Grayling, 2008:153). Smith strongly argues that the capitalists who dominate the market are not automatically entitled to power in a political realm (Grayling, 2008:153). This is a result of Smith’s criticism on the former system of pre-commercial societies where the economic realm and the economic realm were not clearly separated (Grayling, 2008:154). Before Smith wrote An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations in 1776, social realities depicted that there were a very common situation that a dominance power in the market controlled the society through financial interests, speculations, concentration of properties, accumulations of vast wealth in the hands of a relative few (Grayling, 2008:150). He was very concerned on his social environment especially when the government incorporated with big merchants to create an illegal symbiotic relationship in the economic field in form of exclusive trading rights, regulations which profited a few group of merchants (Grayling, 2008:152). That was an unaccepted condition that must be replaced by an alternative structure. By doing separation of two realms, he expected to create a rule of the game that must be attained to avoid certain privileges that in the future potentially jeopardize the harmony of a society.


In such a condition, the capitalists who controlled the market were believed exercising their power and influences in the political realm which resulted on the monopoly and jeopardized the real freedom of those societies.


Smith supports a freedom which contains responsibilities and constraints. It is clear when he states that in a political realm, a government has three main roles: “national defence, the protection of each member society from the injustice or oppression of any other, and the erection and maintenance of those public works and public institutions (including education) that would not repay the expense of any private enterpriser” (Grayling, 2008:153). Even tough, there is a rule of game in commercial society that they must not usually be interference by any government, but if it contains an injustice that potentially oppresses ordinary people then the government must act to protect the interest of its people. As a consequence, the real freedom can only happen in a commercial society that has obtained certain prerequisites: a clear division of economic realm and political realm. In that sense, I would agree that this kind of societies is the best way to achieve prosperity of human beings in the realm of economy, but the above idea is still far away from our situation.


In our current time, what has been worrying by Smith seemingly metamorphoses into sophisticated forms. It is not only a matter of illegal symbiotic relationship between the two realms, but economic realm has seemly been achieved the highest place in the social structure. In other words, the economic realm is often considered as the chief consideration in a greater level of human relation.


There are many aspects that can be used to examine the practice of current commercial society in relation to the real freedom. One of them, which is considered very important and relevant case for the purpose of this essay, is the freedom to compete in labour markets and to the exchange and contract. Emma Rothschild makes a good point about the freedom of economic life which is considered as a very important in the entire life of human being, “Economic life is difficult or impossible to distinguish from the rest of life, and one’s freedom to buy or sell or lend or travel or work is difficult to distinguish from the rest of one’s freedom.” (Rasmussen, 2008:167). Because of the greater part of human life is economic in character, thus ensuring and securing economic freedom is an important key to ensuring the real freedom of human life.


One of the arguments about commercial societies that it provides people an access to markets particularly labour markets (e.g. Rasmussen, 2008:167). This situation is believed as a crucial step of freeing human being from constraints and brings human being to economic freedom such as the freedom to compete in labour and product markets and to the exchange and contract (Rasmussen, 2008:167). Furthermore, they argue that people can freely choose a million of jobs they want. In that situation, it is argued that abundant of jobs thus creates the real freedom. Unfortunately, the argument of free access to markets is not accompanied by the argument about the real relation between markets and labour.


Some of counter arguments on the impact of labour market has been provided by Rousseau, for example, when he stated that the structure of commercial society influences its people to have little social or personal unite, this happens because of the prevalence of great inequalities and because of the weakness and ignorance produced by reliance on commercial relations only. (Rasmussen, 2008:26). In other words, he mentioned that the great dependent on commercial factors, i.e. commodity, money, technology, has created people ignorance even on their own nature. He has been step further by arguing the impact of commercial society, but there is an important spot that did not mentioned by Rousseau that is the relation between labourers and capital providers. This relation is very important, since both of them is believed as the essence of industrial society and is considered as a factor production in the theory of economics.


Market through capital providers needs labour to produce goods and services. Market will provide capital, and the labour will provide effort, skills, and entrepreneurship. The fair relationship between the two will support the existence of a commercial society because of the consent of the governed is a prerequisite of a legitimate trade (Schimidtz et al, 2008:129). In that sense, the real freedom is not merely as a matter of what workers can chose different works freely in the market, but also as a matter of essence relationship between them or what workers can express and get an equal treatment within the commercial societies.


There is inextricable connection between workers and capital providers. The relation between the two is not always as harmonious as imagine by the economic theory. In a complex situation, the structure of industry seems not allowing the labours to play in an equal function in that structure. Most of economic institutions that derive commercial society have a strict hierarchy of top-down control. In this hierarchy, a worker often becomes a subordinate position. In that position, it is difficult for workers to express their freedom in that environment and furthermore in the society. The result is even more devastating that had imagined by Rousseau. The people’s weaknesses are not merely affected by their reliance on commodity and technology, but also on their defencelessness on the oppression of the capital providers. In other words, the freedom from and freedom to are seemingly difficult to be achieved. In the above situation, the real freedom of ordinary people looks seems fragile and artificial.


The real commercial society is hardly to be achieved, if governments ignore to protect the interest of the majority. In a situation where there are exploitative activities in the market, according to Rousseau can be settled neither through state intervention nor through any kind of invisible hand (Rasmussen, 2008:27). At this point, I would argue that such exploitation can be resolved by state interventions. As earlier argued by Adam Smith when he states that the state has functions among others is the protection of each member society from the injustice or oppression of any other. The commercial society which is imagined by Adam Smith is a perfect commercial society in which there is no distortion, exploitation, oppression among the agents of the society. If this market becomes imperfect, then the government should take place to neutralize such an abuse of power.


In a poorest condition of commercial societies, the situation is even worsts. The lack of government’s interest to protect the majority tends a few elite would create a sophisticated way to control the workers. One of its ways is to control money. Money is an important element to describe the existence of commercial society, but the discussion about it is beyond the focus of this essay. Just a very brief explanation is needed to support an argument about one of the ways to jeopardize the freedom of majority is that the inventions of commercial society in the form of economic institutions, i.e. banking sector, capital market, and money market, has created unprecedented accumulation of money in a relatively few people. Financial institutions have a right to create money through a very complicated process that is hardly to be understood by ordinary people. The emergence of the financial institutions’ domination is inextricable to be explained with reference to the government position. Niall Ferguson who wrote the Cash Nexus: Money and Power in the Modern World, 1700 – 2000 even extremely opines that there is a symbiotic relationship between government, parliaments, national debts, central banks and even stock markets. The relationship is the square of power which the great western empires have been based (Ferguson, 2001:15).


Conclusion

The idea that the amount of real freedom possessed by ordinary people tends to vary in proportion with how commercial their society is is inevitable. The achievement of commercial society is undeniable in the forms of affluence than pre-commercial society. In the reality, exercising this idea tends endangering human beings, unless there is a certain proposition to be obtained to secure rule of the game. The chief of that proposition is the separation of the economic realm and the political realm.

If the line that separates these two realms is vague, then it would create mishandling this kind of societies that ends with the domination of a few hand people over the majority.


References

- A. Grayling (intr.), 2008, the Ideas that Made the Modern World, Encyclopædia

- D. Schmidtz and J. Brennan, 2010, A Brief History of Liberty, UK:Wiley-Blackwell

- D. C. Rasmussen, 2008, The Problems and Promises of Commercial Society: Adam Smith’s Response to Rousseau, Pennsylvania: the Pennsylvania State University Press

- M. Rosen & J. Wolff (eds.), 1999, Political Thought, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Britannica, Inc.

- Niall Ferguson, 2001, the Cash Nexus: Money and Power in the Modern World, 1700 – 2000, New York: Basic Books

What is Meaning?

Arsip Tulisan Yudi Ahmad Faisal

This essay argues that language in its essence has no exclusive right to create its own meaning. In other words, language spontaneously exists because of its attachment to external existences out of its own structure that makes language meaningful. These external vehicles are defined as a context where it experiences. As a result, language and context have a firm relationship that formulates and reveals the meaning through a dynamic process of their fusion.

The basic assumption that is inevitable in the discussion of understanding the meaning of language is the context that language attached itself. Based on that assumption, language by itself is a dynamic in nature in which it has evolved throughout the human history. Because of that, to understand the meaning, one must understand a context where the language is commonly used and experienced.

Furthermore, understanding language without engaging into a particular context is considerably problematic to understand the essential meaning of it. In the one side, language tries to approach meaning of a context, but on the other side it is kept away from a primary objective to its existence. Between language and context, there is a vital element that considerably exists in conveying context into a meaning. This is what so-called as a mind. Mind comprehends the meaning of a reality through language. This meaning is not subject to any logical or any grammatical judgments, it exists considerably in defining, interpreting, and understanding process of human being. As a result, these tree elements – language, context, and mind – are factors that should be figure out its natural relation to dismantle the mystery of the language’s meaning.

Language, Context, and Mind in understanding A Meaning

To illustrate how language interrelated with its context, one can consider an example of a statement that mentions: this is a key. One knows the key because it exists in his or her experience. And what is called a key, if there is no key. The second is an extreme example that signifies the importance of the context of language in which it is related. The case also exemplifies how language in the form of words becomes useless and meaningless if it does not refer to a particular context. How one knows that thing is a key? In such a case, word tries to approach the meaning of context. It represents that context, but it is not an integral part of such an external thing.

How context becomes an inseparable part of understanding the meaning of language? It can be observed from the fact that language is a dynamic existence which lives and flows according to times and circumstances. As time goes on, new words are coming in a certain circumstances, and the rest are leaving. Some of them are changing its basic meaning in a particular context and some of them are the same. Even tough, it is no sure whether there is comprehensive survey to clarify how much words are coming and changing or not, but it is enough to say that language is relied on an inevitable situation that understanding a language can be obtained through experiencing on such a particular situation. Because of that, to understand language is to understand how it is used in the real experience in which the origin and usage of language are consciously experienced1. Because of that it is essential to take into consideration two separate important things the words and the context. Both are inseparably interrelated. Each governs and affects the others in formulating a meaning that dwells in our mind. And finally, this meaning comes out from our own abstract idea. This argument has been introduced for example by John Locke2. The mind always tries to make a balance between language and its context. A dialogical relationship between language and context seems hardly to be achieved if there is no mind that seizes the connection between the two.

It can be argued that the idea of meaning lying within the mind becomes stronger if the context relentlessly strengthens that idea. But, one should take into consideration that language is sometimes meaningless if its context reveals the opposite fact. For example, when one says that war is for peace, but factual situations reveal adverse contexts. In such a situation, mind will judge that thing based on its own consideration in giving a meaning. The decision could become two different meanings. The first could be that every war is actually not for peace but for another illicit purposes then language becomes useless and meaningless. The second could be that the war is useful to apply peace and democracy in unstable regions then language becomes useful and meaningful. It can be understood for the above examples that language by itself seems not capable to mean true or false in a very exact way, event tough there is verifiable observation that tries to give a meaning on it. It can be argued that an incapable capacity of language occurs because the existence of mind that makes an understanding becomes relative.

Another explanation to sustain the above argument, when someone is pronouncing words, he or she is not merely focused on that words and expect those words reveal its essential meaning, rather the imagination spot in their mind will trace a concrete or an abstract objects that are associated to that words. Hence, the meaning reveals after their mind finds out appropriate objects. These objects seem the chief reason for the existence of the meaning after those things passed their subconscious experiences. As a result, the experience of understanding a meaning might be different from one person to another because it involves a personal consciousness driven by exercising his or her mind. Applying this argument seems that the meaning is kind of a private thing that is only happened to a particular person, or in other words, the meaning of a word is a kind of projection in which it could be different with another understanding that might occur. In this situation, it is understandable that the relativism notion with regard to the meaning of a word has appeared.

It has been argued that a dialogical relationship between language and context reveals facts. These facts are not logically verified based on certain scientific measurements, but those are deliberately existed by our mind. When language signifies the meaning of an object, it gives a name and a definition to that object. Prior to that, an object initially does not have any meaning, or in other words, not exist because it has no meaning. Hence when language describes it and gives a name of it, it becomes meaningful. Meaningful refers to something which is not representative of true or false.

As language pictures facts, it is representative of a structure of reality. Sometimes someone’s reality is not depicted in a very accurate way. The question of true or false in answering the essential meaning seems not appropriate in the discussion of one’s projection on the meaning of a particular context. Because it is all about projection hence the relativism context appears in discussing the essential meaning. Relativism comes out from a consequence when the meaning is recognized from a context, but that context does not necessarily convey the meaning. It also appears in our own mind consciously without any interference from the outsiders.

The above explanation seems similar to the idea of logical positivists to some extent. This approach is hardly to believe something which is beyond a logical overseen, for example the statement that says God creates human being. Such a statement would be useless based on the logical positivist approach. But, the paper has argued that the above arguments are seemingly appropriate for an explanation of language from the physical point of view, because of that it does not relevant to extent the arguments to a metaphysical stand point that occupies a sacred realm, for example religion. The paper would say the judgment of religion is not based on physical appearance of language rather it is based on belief in which it does not need any scientific observation and evidence.

Conclusion

The essay has argued that understanding the meaning of language must be related to a particular context in which that languages experiences and expresses itself. Without engaging into that context, one would face problematic situations in grasping the meaning.

Between language and context, there is a mind as a vital element that considerably exists in conveying context into a meaning. Mind consciously comprehends the meaning of a reality through language. This meaning is not subject to any logical or any grammatical judgments, it exists considerably in defining, interpreting, and understanding process of human being. As a result, these tree elements: language, context, and mind are key factors in understanding the meaning.

References

Locke, John. 1690. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book 3, Chapters 1 and 2,

Wittgenstein, Ludwig, Philosophical Investigation, p. 1 – 203.

Review Buku "Spiritual Economies: Islam, Globalization, and the Afterlife of Development"

Review Buku Arsip 2011 (Yudi Ahmad Faisal)


Insight the Book

Contemporary Indonesia shows many facets of religious experience with different attitudes towards modernity. Some of them realize modernity as an inevitable human achievement, while the others stand in a way to replace it. There is no linear way to depict the complexity of religious attitudes in the modern Indonesia to the notion of modernity. A book which is entitled “Spiritual Economies: Islam, Globalization, and the Afterlife of Development” analyses one of the religious resurgence patterns that is argued can be part of neoliberalism and globalization.

The author of this book elaborates the term spiritual economies in three different stages. Firstly, he conceptualizes the complex notion of neoliberalism and globalization into mere practical aspects that are limited to several concrete policies: economic liberalization, political liberalization, and privatization. By doing this limitation, he could develop an argument that spiritual reform supports such policies. Secondly, he develops a thesis that the spiritual economies is contrary to “occult economies” thesis, which portrays religious resurgence is kind of a refuge as a result of progressive modernization. Meanwhile, the spiritual economies argue that mobilization of religious principles is not subjected to alienate oneself into a set of practices outside the framework of neoliberalism rather it is designed to “transform oneself into a different type of being” (Asad, 1993 and Weber, 2002 in Rudnyckyj). Spiritual economies hence identifies religion as an intrinsic spirit of a new economic culture, neoliberalism. Finally, he proposes three different propositions to depict spiritual economies’ concept.

He formulates his argument of an assemblage of Islamic and capitalist tenets in the contemporary Indonesia from an ethnographic research in contemporary Indonesia, particularly in a training institution which defines itself as a spiritual and emotional training that held by a commercial-based entity[1] named ESQ (Emotional and Spiritual Quotient), which actively offer their “spiritual” services to state-owned companies, government institutions, and private business entities. This training is assumed by the author generates spiritual reformers who later become proponents of initiatives that utilize the Islamic principles with modern principles of management to improve the quality of Indonesia in the global era. The author develops assumptions which are generally extracted from the prevailing belief of training’s trainers and participants who depict the multidimensional crisis in Indonesia, for instance, corruption, ineffectiveness, lack of accountability and transparency, and fairness is caused by a separation of religious ethics from the economic practices. From these studies he defines that religious subjects who are represented by the participants of the training could become productive economic subjects. As a result, it is understandable when he compares this study with another social fact that shows the rigidity of religious revival towards the notion of modernity.

While the book sees this new religious movement as it is, I would like to examine the pattern of this movement from the different point of view. It is interestingly to say that, in the one side, the movement consider themselves as part of modernity by cultivating spirituality in the form of a unique training, but in the other side, they involve in a process of rationalization and experience the problem of meaningless[2]. They deliberately associate some of Quranic verses with modern scientific achievements, and management principles. By doing so, they involve in a process of rationalization of religious doctrine to address the problem of its meaningless when it deals with current economic environment. As a result, this movement is actually a kind of reaction against cultural and social differentiation but in the homogenous way as it does not contravene the established structure of modernity in the forms of economic globalization and neoliberalism. Rational responses of religious doctrines to new circumstances situate religious sources, i.e. Quranic verses, related to other interpretations. This kind of apologetic movement tries to rejuvenate the religious doctrine to be fit with economic globalization principles. In the case of ESQ training, they often use particular Quranic verses to support some theories, for instance, the governance’s theory of accountability, responsibility, and fairness. It seems that particular Quranic verses are inherent with such theories.

It can be argued that the author constructs his argument in the framework of Marx Webber’s work[3], which analysed that religion and modernization stand in a symbiotic relationship. A that time, Weber’s thesis was contrary to the main assumption of secularization that often remarked religion and modernity were contradictive. The main thesis of this book seems reawakening of Weber’s study that the religious resurgences in the case of Indonesia is not contrary to modernity, but it is part of it and significantly contribute to the enhancement of the neoliberalism’s policies.

His argument on spiritual economies concept is articulated in three different propositions: (1) objectifying spirituality as a site of management and intervention, (2) reconfiguring work as a form of worship and religious duty, and (3) inculcating ethics of individual accountability that are deemed commensurability with neoliberal norms of transparency, productivity, and rationalization for purposes of profit (Rudnyckyj, p.131-32). These three components are very critical in his thesis because the idea of integration between Islam and neoliberalism is heavily based on these conceptions. The first proposition formulates spirituality as an object to be utilized in the light of modern management framework. “Activating” the spirituality is thus a core element in which ESQ training operated. The main intention of this activation process is to direct the participants to be more concern on self-management by transforming their work into a kind of religious devotion. This first element is seen as a foundation to other propositions. The next proposition reconfigures “labor as a form of religious worship”. The workplace is therefore conceived as a worship field. In explaining the second component, the author makes a comparison with Marx Weber’s work Protestant Ethics and Spirit of Capitalism. He argues that protestant ethics which were conducive to modern capitalist economy took place in a kind of contingencies and unintentional. Meanwhile, the spiritual ethics in the case of spiritual economies are intentionally developed by design. The situation exemplifies that the spiritual economies at the same time combine morality, political, and economic reform. The final proposition is “the inculcation of ethics of individual accountability that are commensurable with neoliberal norms of transparency and efficiency”. Hence, moral and spiritual cultivations are not end of the training stage, but it is as a beginning to eliminate major obstacles including corruption that were facing, particularly by the research site, Krakatau Steel, and generally by the nation.


To connect the idea that religious principles fit with the neoliberalism, the author at first conceptualizes neoliberalism as concrete notions in the forms of particular economic policies, and secondly asserts that the spiritual reform seeks subjective common grounds with neoliberalism. Neoliberalism term is decisively limited by the author to merely practical aspects that, as developed by the author, portray neoliberalism. He therefore uses the concept is contrary with neoliberalism’s notion developed by Foucault (2008; 318 in Rudnyckyj) and Hoffman (2006 in Rudnyckyj). He further argues that three practical aspects of neoliberalism in the forms of economic liberalization, political liberation, and privatization inevitably influenced his research site, Krakatau Steel, a government business enterprise in Steel production. The implications of such policies, for instances, reducing of tariff on imported steel, reducing state subsidies would eventually affect the existence of this company. This situation becomes a point of departure to formulate his idea about a moderate spiritual reform movement that is not opposed the neoliberalism as represented by such policies. He argues that spiritual reform tries to transform their workplace becomes a worship place to gain after-life reward. Hence, they do not challenge such policies rather they see it as an opportunity to enhance their “spirituality”. By this situation, it is understandable when the author situates religious principles as the inner spirit that enhances the existence of neoliberalism’s principles.

Salam

Yudi Ahmad Faisal

References[1] ESQ is a commercial based business that ears their income from the participant contribution that varies from 200 GBP to 300 GBP per training. http://www.esqway165.com/id/


[2] Turner, S., Bryan, Politics and Culture in Islamic Globalism, in R. Robertson and W.R. Garret (eds) Religion and Global Order. Religion and the Political Order, 1991, pp.161-81


[3] Protestant Ethics and Spirit of Capitalism

A Philosophical Discussion on “What is” and “What Ought to” In Economic Propositions

Arsip Tulisan 2011 (Yudi Ahmad Faisal)

This essay will highlight and critically examine some of the central philosophical questions facing the modern economist that are the relationship between the positive and the normative propositions. A positive proposition could be roughly defined as a body of systematized knowledge concerning “what is”, meanwhile a normative discussing criteria of “what ought to be”.

The analytical approach of this essay will use the dictum of David Hume (1711–1776), as explained by some influential modern scholars in the field, in distinguishing between ‘is’ propositions, and ‘ought’ propositions. According to Hausman (2008:3), the interest in philosophical questions concerning economics has increased progressively. One of the major discussions in the economics’ debate is the relationship between how economics ought to be done with how economics actually is done.

Philosophical thought is thus very central in the economic sphere. It can be argued that the current economics seems to be formally separated from philosophy and becomes a specialised discipline in its own right, in the belief that the current concern of economics is more concrete and practical. Since then economics is made highly abstract and theoretical claims, while also becoming less respectful of philosophical thinking. It is often argued that philosophy stands accused by contemporary economists of being irrelevant, abstract, and a disinterested study (ibid, p.16). However, in the discussion of “what is” and “what ought to”, philosophy carries a very important role in making evaluative judgments, and generating values on every aspect of economic problems that seem not to be emphasized on a positivistic approach. In that sense, philosophy serves as an intellectual foundation of the economic discipline. In other words, philosophy searches into substantive areas of economics, and provides value judgments in formulating the body knowledge of economics.

David Hume on “what is” and “what ought to” from the Economic Context
According to Hardin (2007:8), Hume, based on his work’s a Treatise of Human Nature, famously asserts that the truth cannot be deduced from empirical facts – an ought from an is. Furthermore, another moral philosopher such as R.M. Hare, also argued to support Hume’s work that normative conclusion cannot be validly derived from a set of positive premises, for instance with regard to government and private economic agent policies on what ought to do or not do. Empirical fact is used after at least one normative premise having been made in constructing normative propositions (Roy, 1991:17). In other words, after having empirical studies on economic problem answered, logical approaches have reached its highest work. After it there is argued no further scope for logical and mathematical reasoning to work, only subjective approaches through economist own realm can be utilized towards the subject on economic issues (ibid, p.18).


A Basic View on Hume’s Propositions
Based on the Hume’s dictum, it can be argued that the normative and the positive have no direct inter-related connection. Even though both are possibly connected, but the term normative in Hume’s view seems not automatically detached from the positive, and vice versa. From the perspective of economics, the term positive could appear to be independent principle of any particular ethical positions or normative judgments, or it can possibly be an objective science, which can predict an economic phenomenon precisely by descriptions and explanations on certain economic issues. Furthermore, positive economics, to some extent, could be the chief supplement in resolving normative debates. In that sense, the positive economics becomes a primary judgment on every single economic problem which is experienced by a society.

On the other side, the normative seems to become a subjective position of economic agent, for instances, government, private, or individual in issuing policies to resolve any economic issues. By doing so, the normative economics appears to be a primary consideration in any economic problems as its counterpart. Even though the normative judgment is sometimes weakened by the fact that the provided propositions are not introduced obviously, but in the form of general concepts, which are still debatable. As a result, in the normative side, the vague unanimity often appears and leads to the desire of logical analysis based on empirical evidences. At this point, the economic discussion is thus replaced from the normative to the logical analysis. Hence, economic propositions should evidently define concepts and then operate them in a logically correct manner. What is correct and what false can be discussed with the logical methodology, while conflicting interests can be recognized, never solved scientifically.

Apart from the assumption that the positive economics has no direct relation with the normative one, a number of economic policies derived from empirical studies could be claimed to contain normative judgments. Economics deals with the attitude on how to do the best decision to allocate scarce resources between alternative ends. In this matter, propositions involving “ought to” are in the central position to make judgments based on various alternatives provided by the positivistic approach. Economics seems to have difficulties to execute directly the predictions, and explanations of mathematical investigation of an economic phenomenon without getting influences from hidden factors derived from the normative point of view. For instance, the assumption of “if a government cuts education budget, national economy will be less risky for the next years when it deals with deficit problems”. The assumption is based on a particular investigation and estimation on the relationship between national budget and government spending using mathematical and statistical approaches. The statement “the national economy will be less risky for the next years by cutting educational budget” is derived from economists own assumptions, which are often not based on objective mathematical analysis, because there are many alternatives that are probably taken in managing deficit problems rather than cut educational budget, for instances, military and war spending, banking bailout, or tax increase.

In issuing particular economic policies, the economists often cultivate certain assumptions that may differ from another economist. In fact, not every government in the world prefers to implement the difficult decision to cut educational budget. The decision would be possibly grounded on certain factors beyond the positive explanation. As a result, the normative position is inevitable in the realm of economics.


Based on the above explanation, the position of the normative is not independent from the positive rather both approaches have dependency each other in deriving certain issues on economy. The normative is also not merely value judgments that cannot be verified empirically. It appears after the positivistic analysis is performed. Every judgment of policy makers is essentially in the nature of a theoretical relationship between human subjective values and empirical evidences. Even though the causal relationship between the two seems not always be obviously indicated as exemplified by the decision of a government to cut educational budget. As a result, subjectivity and rationality are thus considered to have a symbiotic relationship.

From the above point of view, it is essential to notice that positive economics seems not become defined in terms of the impact on normative goals, or vice versa nor economics seems not entirely neutral and independent of any particular ethical-position or normative judgments. The normative preference of economists is not to be taken as given which has similar preference with other economists in another region. Furthermore, value judgments seem not always consistent with positive judgments. As a result, it can be argued that the relation between positive and normative economics could not be predicted, it randomly happens based on particular preferences of each economist. Since then value judgments has often become crucial. In other words, the decision on economic issues practically takes place following an economist analyses on what is the current phenomenon. However, scientific investigation on what “is” could not completely predict what may happen in the future rather it passes after intermingled with value judgments on what “ought to be”. Hence, the notion of independency of normative from positive or vice versa is progressively challenged.


Thus, the discussion is further shifted to the necessity of using the moral philosophy considerations in this paradigm for allocation and distribution of resources. However, it does not reject the positivist analysis. The latter provides the map of current economy, while the former gives value judgments on how the economy will run in the future. The moral filter seems preferred as a complement of market mechanism which commonly uses the positivist mechanism in issuing policies of allocation and distribution resources. For instance, in deciding economic budget, a government at the very beginning would probably examine the current economic phenomenon, but then its follow up would depend on particular preferences of policy makers. Hence, the decision would probably in line with the result of examination, or vice versa. Because of that the next question that should be addressed by the economists is a kind of moral filter which harmonizes between self-interest and social interest. If there is no synchronization between these two interests, it will appear dissatisfaction on certain economic policies which will result on a conflict of interest.


Conclusion
Based on the Hume’s dictum, it can be argued that the positive economics, which derived from “what is”, seems to be an independent principle of any particular ethical position or normative judgments. Hence, it influences greatly the structure of normative economics. However, based on certain explanation, the normative is neither in the inferior position, nor absolute independent from the positive as contrary assumed by the positivistic approach, instead, both of those are thus considered synonymous, or having a symbiotic relationship.

In the debate between the positive and the normative, philosophy serves as a value judgment of the economic discipline. It serves as a foundation in the economic realm, and often concerns with ethical issues or subjective judgments that are often abandoned by positivistic realm. In the above discussion, it is obvious that the philosophy is not abstract or irrelevant, but it contributes to the final decision on economic policies. Meanwhile, positive economics seems to come out with results based on empirical studies. These results do not always lead to positivistic own decisions, but it often allows a decision to be made by the normative, which is considerably equipped by philosophical considerations. This could be categorized to what so called “subjective” judgment based on Hume’s dictum.

Philosophy appears to make a bridge in connecting the question of what extent ethical values are involved in economic reasoning, human considerations, social interest, and self interest. As a result, philosophy is often involved in formulating economic assumptions and propositions.


References Roy, Subroto, 1991, Philosophy of Economics: On the Scope of Reason in Economic Inquiry, NY: Routledge
Hausman, Daniel M., 2008, the Philosophy of Economics: An Anthology, 3rd Edition, NY: Cambridge University Press
Hardin, Russel, 2007, David Hume: Moral and Political Theorist, NY: Oxford University Press

Cultural Dimensions of LPD Micro-finance in Bali

Arsip Tulisan 2011 (Yudi Ahmad Faisal)

There have been many researches about the influence of culture on a business. A local culture often plays a significant role in developing a basic structure of a particular business. Thus, it can be argued that a business is not neutral from the cultural encouragement. Hofstede (2001) argued that a culture plays to conceptualize the practice of business in the world. One of the business players that is significantly affected by this cultural inspiration is microfinance institution. Its responsiveness and sensitivity to the local culture could be found in its operation.



Bali province in Indonesia, where the tradition is strongly embedded in daily life of its society, has a microfinance system which operates in accordance to its cultural dimensions. Lembaga Perkreditan Desa (LPD) or the village community bank is a microfinance institution owned and governed by the customary village (banjar) has inclusive in outreach, which covering almost all the Balinese villages and the vast majority of its population (Seibel, 2008:1). Those cultural dimensions which influence the basic structure of the institution are firmly centred on collectivism, and power distance with regards to Hofstede’s theory.



This paper is aimed to demonstrate the implementation of microfinance in Bali, especially how does the cultural dimensions influence the basic structure and the daily operation of LPD. Furthermore, the analytical approach of this paper will use the theory of individualism–collectivism and power distance of Geert Hofstede. The theories are helpful in describing the characteristics of Balinese culture in conceptualizing and constructing the business model of the microfinance institution.



The LPD and Customary Village (Banjar)

LPD is a microfinance institution, which is administrated by a specific law in Bali Province, owned, financed, and governed by the customary village. Its position serves as an economic engine to stimulate the business activity within a village. Thus, it has been an integral part of Balinese society in improving their economic life. The main purpose of establishing a network of LPDs is to preserve and strengthen the customary village as the communal space of Balinese economic life, culture, and religion (Seibel, 2008:3).This purpose preserves as a point of departure to considerably claim that LPD is not merely commercial business entity, but it is the main element of the society to actively engage in the modern life without separating its cultural dimensions.



It can be argued that in Balinese context, customary village is a community organization that considerably preserves the social cohesion of the community and culture altogether. As a fundamental civil unit in the region, customary village operates its administration system in decentralization, democratic, and cooperative manners. As similar to other villages in the modern Indonesia, customary village has a local leader who commonly possesses double functions, to implement the state administration system and to facilitate the society in applying local wisdoms and traditions. The nature of this village is different from one to another. In one case, its community includes both indigenous and migrant, and in other case its community strictly forms its membership from people who are born in that village (Vipriyanti, 2008:4).



Balinese customary village embeds local wisdoms as a social norm that must be considerably preserved by all members of its society. Local wisdoms are thus part of Balinese society in developing every aspect of social advancement including economy and business. According to Geertz (1980:8), local wisdom plays a significant role in developing human resources within a local context. Its deeply rooted cultural element enables a society to empower the community to gain a specific benefit. As a result, local wisdom can be classified as a social capital, which is very helpful in the process of development.



Individualism-Collectivism

According to Hofstede (2001:209), individualism emphasizes on the autonomy of a person. Individualists are motivated by their own preferences, needs, and rights, giving priority to a personal rather than to a group goal. And commonly, it often regarded as the characteristic of a modernizing society.



The notion of individualism is a contrast with collectivism that emphasizes the common goals and objectives of a group. In collectivist cultures the most important values place emphasis on the dependency of the individual with respect to in-groups (Trompenaars, 1994:52). Contrary to individualism, collectivism is often pointed on more traditional society, a society which is mainly motivated by the norms and duties imposed by the collective entity. Furthermore, the role relationships that include in-group members are perceived as more respectful, and intimate than they are in individualistic cultures.



The relationship between the individual and the collectivity in human society is not only a matter of ways of living together. It is closely linked with societal norms – in the sense of value systems of major groups of the population. It, therefore, influences both people’s mental programming and the structure and functioning of many institutions aside from the family; educational, religious, and even political (Hofsted 2001:210).



Power Distance

Power distance is defined as the degree to which power differentials within society and organizations are accepted (Hofstede 2001:79). In cultures with small power distance, people expect and accept power relations that are more consultative or democratic. People relate to one another more as equals regardless of formal positions. Subordinates are more comfortable with and demand the right to contribute to and critique the decisions of those in power. In cultures with large power distance, the less powerful accepts power relations that are autocratic or paternalistic. Subordinates acknowledge the power of others based on their formal, hierarchical positions (Hofstede, 2001:83).



Local Culture and LPD’s Model

It can be argued that Balinese people preserve local wisdom to strengthen their social cohesion. One of their social cohesions relies on the notion of togetherness. In the context of Hofstede’s theory, this value system can be categorized as a collectivist system which forms a collectivist society. The harmony among society’s members are thus as a result of their willingness to live within local wisdoms. Some scholars such as Geertz (1980:46) argued that local value system often creates beneficial values to actively engage in the modern life. The notion of mutual help (gotong-royong), for instance, creates a strong solidarity that substantially differsthe traditional society from its modern counterpart. This togetherness spirit is firmly based on collective interests.



This notion of mutual help has been successfully used by the LPD in developing its local banking concept, especially how this microfinance institution replaces the physical collateral in allocating funding. Unlike the concept of collateral of commercial banking that relies on the physical collateral of its borrowers, the collateral that is developed by the LPD relies on social protection. In the business model of LPD, the concept of collateral has been changed from tangible to intangible collateral. This idea is a result of utilizing social solidarity namely gotong-royong (mutual help) and trustworthiness in the new collateral model[1].



Social protection, which is rooted from the local wisdom, is often argued as a mechanism to limit social cost as a result of illegal individualistic behaviour. Furthermore, social surveillance enables the effectiveness of controlling system in the daily life of a society (Vipriyanti, 2008:6). It function is to limit the magnitude of social corruption that undermines the existence of the microfinance institution.



Bali society still adopts social stratification. Each member of society possesses particular position that enables he or she to utilize this particular title to gain a position within society. Essentially, this social hierarchy represents power distribution among society. Those who possess high rank titles are often elected as a leader. This mechanism makes sense when it deals with the obligation of a leader to govern their people. In traditional society, a leader needs a strong position that enables him to take considerable decisions in every aspect of social activities. Thus, a leader from high rank status is often elected in order to secure such function. This structure can be categorized as large power distance based on Hofstede’s theory. In relation to microfinance operation within a village, a leader of customary village acts as a supervisor to encourage the borrowers to settle their debt. In case of a particular borrower refuses to settle his or her debt, a sanction will be enforced to them by a society’s leader. The sanction is not only related to social, but also to the spiritual one namely karma (Hobart et al. 2001: 68). The social control of LPD can be so successful in inducing defaulters to repay their loans (Seibel, 2008:16).



Though the above explanation has shown the impact of cultural dimensions in the operation of microfinance, some studies reveal a sceptical view. According to Ledgerwood (2006:271), a culture by itself has no significant contribution to the performance of the institution. The studies on the influence of culture to microfinance excessively emphasize the cultural context of the microfinance operation. According to him, the most influential factor that creates the sustainable existence of microfinance is a modern management application. Even though some cultural dimensions are appropriate to utilize certain kind of banking mechanisms, the microfinance is hard to be successful without engaging its operation into management modern. As a result, the modern management considerably participates in maintaining the sustainability of microfinance’s performance in the customary village.



The proponent of this view always relates to a business process as a result of management application in reducing the technical error in managing the microfinance institution. Thus, management is often seen as an important tool in organizing various elements and resources to accomplish desired goals and objectives effectively. Furthermore, they often emphasize the argumentation on certain microfinance failures that have raised the issues of poor management and inadequate corporate governance among microfinance institutions (Lascelles, 2008:5). The ability of microfinance to adapt rapid change is argued as the greatest risk which is facing by this financial institution. The survey unveils a strong scepticism about the ability of many microfinance institutions to adapt to new demands while still retaining their social and cultural objectives. By retaining the culture dimension excessively, the industry is often seen to be lacking in professionalism and management skills. As a result, this could be a source of deficiencies of the development of microfinance institutions in many parts of the world (Lascelles, 2008:5).



Local culture and modern management inevitably contribute to the development of the basic structure of microfinance. Local wisdom is a fact which is utilized by the institution to create a unique form of collateral and social surveillance. Such norms create a new banking model that differs with its mainstream counterpart. Commonly, the collateral requested by a commercial bank is always related to physical collateral. This system in practice has created many obstacles, especially for those who have any ability to run a business with no appropriate collateral. In a modern banking terminology, such party is called as an un-bankable person. Culturally speaking, the physical collateral is appropriate to be applied in commercial banking in the urban community since the social cohesion is often absent in the modern society. It can be argued that individualist culture is responsible in creating such a system. In that system, a bank has no choice to protect its fund in term of default unless it asks and holds procedurally an evidence of property ownership from a borrower.



Contrary to the modern system, the conventional collateral is not compulsory to be imposed to a borrower in the mechanism of microfinance institution, because it has been changed by the group protection system. The protection value of such collateral is replaced by a social protection that based on mutual help and trustworthiness. By using this system, the obstacles of an un-bankable borrower can be resolved.


Conclusion

Cultural analysis can provide valuable knowledge about local mechanisms that can be useful to a business institution. Culture attributes – social cohesion and trustworthiness – are often valuable to become strategic tools to manage commercial entities. Such knowledge demonstrates that cultures have built a social capital which microfinance institutions can easily use and avoid significant mistakes.



In collectivist society, social dependency can be used as a social capital that is very constructive in developing a business model of microfinance institution. The collectivist society in Bali often uses social norms as alternative to reduce social cost that generated by individualistic behaviors.



The implementation of this model is easy to be achieved in the collectivist society that is grounded on group’s interests. The notion of unity creates a new concept of collateral and governance. As a result, the collectivism notion of Bali society strongly influences the operation of its microfinance institution namely LPD. As a result, it is obvious that the influence of cultures produces significant differences in the conceptualization, understanding and practice of a business institution.












References

Books

Geertz, C., (1980), Negara: the Theater State in Nineteenth Century Bali, Princeton: Princeton University Press



Hobart, A., Urs Ramseyer, Leemann A., (2001), the People of Bali, Oxford: Willey-Blackwell



Hofstede, Geert, (2001), Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations across Nations, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.



Ledgerwood, Joanna, (2006), Transforming Microfinance Institutions: Providing Full Financial Services to the Poor, Washington: IBRD and the World Bank



Trompenaars, E. (1994) Riding the Waves of Culture, London: Nicholas Brealey



Journals and Papers

Lascelles, D., (2008), Microfinance Banana Skins 2008: Risk in a Booming Industry, Center for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI), New York. http://www.microfinancegateway.org/files/47464_file_CSFI_Microfinance_FINAL.pdf (accessed December 05, 2010)



Seibel, Hans Dieter, (2008),DesaPakraman and LembagaPerkreditanDesa in Bali: A study of the relationship between customary governance, customary village development, economic development

and LPD development, ProFI Working Paper Series WP 03/2008.



Vipriyanti, NyomanUtari, (2008), BanjarAdat and Local Wisdom: Community Management for Public Space Sustainability in Bali Province, presented in IASC 2008 12th Bienniel Conference, July 14 – 18, 2008




[1] Technically speaking, LPD will allocate a loan to a group in which all group members are responsible to make sure that the loan will be settled in an agreed date. It is no need for the group members to provide tangible collateral because the group is acted as social collateral. This mechanism is hard to be applied, unless there is a notion of trustworthiness in society that preserves such cohesion.