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| Addressing the Causes of Instability: Finding Solutions |
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According to some observers, the crises facing Indonesia are to be expected in a country living through such a fundamental transition, and so need not raise excessive alarm. Yet the time lag between the existence of problems and their eventual solution causes severe distress and insecurity among the country’s population.
Finding solutions to Indonesia’s current instability is not easy and is fundamentally bound up with the problem of trying to understand Indonesia’s past and present. In order to develop ideas for constructive change, it is important to understand all the dimensions of the current crisis, and to decide how to limit further deterioration, to address the most basic and pressing problems, and to begin to prepare for the near and longer term future.
Some commentators question whether solutions can be found in the framework of the constitutional, structural, territorial and ideological status quo, and suggest that a major rethinking of the current state will be required in order to move forward. This most fundamental question of the territorial integrity of the Indonesian state delimits the strategies that can be considered to promote the security of the Indonesian people. As such, the first issue addressed in this report is whether it is likely and desirable for Indonesia to remain a unitary state, and if not, what options are possible.
Many different actors have a role to play in addressing the security of the people of Indonesia and in changing conditions for the better. These actors include the government of Indonesia, international organizations and donors, and local and international NGOs as well as individual Indonesians committed to peace building. The recommendations below are directed at all of these groups of actors and are integrated into a brief examination of the causes of insecurity in Indonesia.
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