Responding Racial Discrimination in Indonesia Through Multicultural Education

Abstract

Abstract-Indonesia is an archipelagic country that has a pluralistic society that comes from various tribes, races, religions, beliefs, and has its own culture in each region. In Indonesia's diversity should be a positive value for its citizens. However, it cannot be denied that this diversity can trigger conflict, especially racial discrimination, which is always a hot issue in every conflict that occurs in various regions in Indonesia. To counter conflict due to racial discrimination, there needs to be an understanding of multiculturalism in order to raise awareness by the community about the beauty of the differences. Therefore, the understanding of multiculturalism about awareness of the value of the importance of cultural diversity can be conveyed through educational media that can be planted early which resulting the seeds of racism can be denied early and expected to be lost then to create an Indonesian civil society.

Decomposed Impact of Democracy on Indonesia’s Economic Growth

“…As an archipelagic nation, Indonesia boasts a diverse society composed of numerous ethnicities, races, religions, and beliefs, with each region having its distinct culture [40]. While this diversity ideally should serve as a source of positivity for its citizens, it's important to acknowledge that it can also fuel conflicts, notably issues related to racial discrimination [41]. This can harm prospects for sustainable and inclusive economic development and growth.…”

Communal Conflicts in West Kalimantan: The Urgency of Multicultural Education

“…Multicultural education is important to actualize to prevent and minimize conflict, especially conflicts caused by stereotypes between ethnic groups. Through actualized multicultural education in schools, it is hoped that attitudes and mindsets will be more open in understanding and appreciating diversity (Arifin, 1970;Prawitasari, 2018).…”

“…However, the series of interethnic communal cases that have occurred in West Kalimantan seem to show how the actualization of multicultural education in general in this province has not been successful, and it is full of problems; not to say that it was failed. Melita Prawitasari, for example, details several indicators of the failure of multicultural education in its actualization: first, teachers in schools are still unfamiliar with the multicultural education model, which requires them to recognize heterogeneous student cultures; second, teachers in schools do not master the outline of the structure of the material being taught and are unable to adapt it to the students' ethnic culture; and third, the low ability of teachers to prepare instruments that can stimulate students' interest, memory, and reintroduction into their respective cultural assets in the context of learning experiences that accept cultural heterogeneity (Prawitasari, 2018). This is under the assumption of H.A.R Tilaar who emphasizes multicultural education as an education model that does not require the growth of fanaticism or ethnic fundamentalism.…”

“…The image of conflict due to the stereotyping problem should be a reason for the importance of education social environment, especially in the schools to apply multicultural education model. Multicultural education is very relevant in producing students who later live in heterogeneous societies, able to appreciate differences, and live in harmony (Arifin, 1970;Prawitasari, 2018).…”