Hadnagy's Lesson Learned: Social Engineering Analysis in Road Development at Mesuji Regency

Abstract

Land acquisition is usually the biggest obstacle in infrastructural development activities in many areas in Indonesia, which in turn boast potential deterioration to the development. Thus, one of the strategies used by the Indonesian government to reduce the tension is by using the social engineering approach. It is seen as one of the pertinent approaches in development, particularly when development implementation is potent to cause social clashes. Mesuji Regency, a relatively new regency, is one of the perfect examples when the regency’s small budget has to accommodate the acceleration of infrastructure with possibility of social conflict in hand, due to the regency’s road widening activities. To solve this, Mesuji Regency Government performed a social engineering process that is quite interesting to study. This study analyzes the social engineering process that occurs in the regency based on the Hadnagy’s social engineering principles. The study uses qualitative-descriptive approach to present the government’s social engineering approach. The results showed that the government used two approaches in carrying out social engineering namely the influence approach by applying the concession, authority, and social impact principles and the manipulation approach by using increased susceptibility principle.
 Keywords: development studies, land acquisition, Mesuji regency, social engineering