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NEWS & AGENDA
The Kindness of Indonesian Society - Part 2
Jalal – Founder and Commissioner, WISESA Social Enterprise
Zainal Abidin – Empowerment Activist, Dompet Dhuafa
It's important to remember that because the questions from the much-quoted Gallup survey were based on money donations, donations during social work, and helping strangers in the month prior to being surveyed, the highest kindness of Indonesians in the world actually shows that Indonesians are it often shows his generosity. The answers to the questions do not indicate that Indonesians are the ones who donate the most, spend the most time on social work, or help the most people.
It is often stated in several analyzes that the actual amount of money that can be donated in Indonesia is very large; and the amount that has been collected so far is still very far from the existing potential. What happened when COVID-19 began to spread shows that in certain situations, Indonesian people are indeed more generous.
Provision of food for those affected, providing assistance to the poor who are sick and their families, mutual cooperation in the procurement of personal protective equipment and other medical equipment, providing loans or reducing and even eliminating debt, and various other ways that the Indonesian people take to each other. And, of course, that helped the Indonesian government.
However, it is often acknowledged that gifts by the Indonesian people are mainly related to religious motivation, such as helping people who are in distress. The success of Dompet Dhuafa in the early period, as well as the success of Kita Bisa up to now, is very much related to the perception of the distress condition. When offered the opportunity to help, which is slightly less clear in relation to this difficult condition, the Indonesian people seem to be receding in generosity.
If there is a collection of funds for victims of natural disasters due to floods and landslides, people will flock to donate. Those who have the ability to handle disaster situations often even go directly to volunteer. However, when a fundraising campaign was carried out to repair damaged watersheds so that floods and landslides in that area would not happen again in the future, the public response was not enthusiastic enough.
It's the same with health cases. Indonesian people easily lend help to those – unknown persons – who are sick. Fundraising campaigns for various health problems that are serious and require high costs are often greeted with enthusiasm from the community. Hundreds of millions of rupiah can be collected in a short time. However, when trying to ask for community participation to support the improvement of health facilities and infrastructure, especially promotive and preventive initiatives so that people's suffering can be prevented, suddenly support becomes difficult to obtain.
Of course, the role of education and awareness raising is needed so that the Indonesian people can see that because "prevention is better than cure", as instilled in our minds since childhood, then donating money, time, and other resources to prevent various economic, social and environmental situations bad situation should be seen as better than providing help when the bad situation has already happened. We are indeed much easier to feel sorry for the bad conditions that we see, but collectively we are not smart and strategic enough to make decisions to prevent the recurrence of bad conditions in the future.
Islam, the religion followed by the majority of Indonesian people, teaches how important it is to maintain cleanliness and health, and places great emphasis on the importance of protecting and improving the environment. However, most Muslims in Indonesia have not seen the act of donating resources for cleanliness, health, and the environment as an act that is motivated by adherence to the teachings of their religion. Therefore, a more comprehensive religious education, with an emphasis on preventing evil from happening, should be emphasized.
However, other measures are also needed. Back to the Doing Good Index 2020 research, Indonesia was placed in the Doing Okay cluster, up one cluster compared to the previous two years' research which placed us in Not Doing Enough. What can make us move up to the Doing Better cluster, which is occupied by Vietnam and the Philippines? Or even, how do we get to the top cluster, Doing Well, which is occupied by Singapore and Taiwan? The research tells us that there are four strategies we need to pursue. The four strategies will be the subject of the next article.
Source: Kontan