Social Economic Gap and Inovation

By: Suroto

My name is Suroto, I am a chairman of the National Association of Socio-Economic Cadres (NASSEC), a "think-tank"  organization for socio-economy that aims to encourage of social and economic cadres and develop a variety of new innovations in the field of socio-economic and including cooperatives.

Now I am also involved in several pilot cooperatives. Being chairman of the multi-stakeholder cooperative that we initiated together social activists at the national level, vice chairman at the secondary consumer co-operative, and also initiated cooperative media.  Since I was a student I was also active in the organization of cooperatives and cooperative studies group until now.

Twenty years ago I was a young man like you.  Now I'm getting old.  In the discussion this time I just want to share my experience and talk with you all how should young people play a role to build a better world, more justice, sustainable, and peaceful.

The reasons for the cooperative is to build the future. Cooperative built and developed is to build systems a better future. So the involvement of young people is important. You all are the main resources are dynamic and progressive to overhaul current unequal system.

The world is now split into two asymmetrical, the world's assets are currently only a handful of rich people to pile on. The world also over a hundred years ago to the present is still split into two. Consisting of unholly elites above and suffering of many  poor people more under a competitive environment in the wild. The current world economic pie is only half occupied by 1 per cent of the population. In Indonesia the single-family dwellings in the cart without land ownership. While there is one family that controlled the land area of ​​South Korea. I see the same conditions in other countries in other parts of the world we call the third world ( I don’t know where is the first and second? J ).

This is a bad sign of a social economic system that works this time. This is a big problem not only because it would threaten the future, but the problem importance for prevention efforts made so far really does not show sincerity and honesty.

State leaders, opinion leaders, leaders of social activists in various parts of the world has long been aware of these problems and have repeatedly seek and provide solutions. But we can see clearly, the world did not change its structure. The gap occurs between the richest and the poorest and the north and south. Municipalities and regions.

Social economic pyramid still work in a pattern that can hardly be said to stagnate. Infidelity politicians in and the rich people made an plutocarchi (olygarchy and plutocracy) system. They control a national asset, and also the world's assets in almost no significant changes how shifts in the ideological has repeatedly shifted from right to left and from the right to repeatedly guess.

This system should not be allowed, the system must be overhauled as fundamental. The world needs young people reformist. Those who have concern for humanity and want to overhaul the status quo. And you are a necessity that future.

You, me and young people around the world have the same responsibility to make the structural changes that have crippled. As a cooperative activists we have a responsibility to do a fundamental change. Our future we can not leave it to someone else, it is our decisive and we alone must do the effort to help themselves together to save the future world.

Now, and future is in the hands of young people. We must declare to the world that the social reforms that can be done to create a democracy in the workplace through cooperatives and fundamental changes in the regulation of social and economic problems and community in general.

We must give a strong message that the social reforms to be made to set up shop owned and managed together by producers, consumers, and workers. Through ownership of the bank to its customers. Workers0-owned manufacturing industry. Houses are built and managed by residents. The mass media are owned and managed by the public. Hospital owne by the people. We must fight and  jointly that the social dimension of economic solidarity also  a cooperative is an important infrastructure for the improvement of the world !. The world's need for equality can coexist as brothers. There is no brotherhood without equality. And more important than that all is provide concrete examples in the field and not just talk. Cooperator should be walk to talk, not an argue.

We must do to fight regulations limiting the ratio of salary, stock ownership by the workers in the company, and remodel all rules that exclude cooperative, sub-ordinated cooperatives and cooperative elimination in the modern business area.

Back to the past experience. It's just to share my experience alone. Since I was a student, I've led a student co-operative. Cooperatives in its structure that only allows students become members. The cooperative is not well developed for nearly 25 years. Members only come to learn entrepreneurship unsich! and those who just have have sipirit  as a servant of capitalist. 

What I did and my young colleague to see this reality at that time? We made a great discourse, that the basic philosophy of the cooperative is to everyone without discrimination. Then, we did a massive changed and now it has turned into a pure consumer cooperatives that are open to anyone. Students, professors, workers, communities around the cooperative is a member and sits on an equal footing to get benefit and advance from cooperative.

This cooperative has changed completely, not just open the membership of social status backgrounds are diverse, but also understanding cooperative knowledge through cooperative educational activities are held regularly. I saw the last store has grown from a storefront into four shops whose building their  assets in billions of rupiahs and other services business unit, and one of them is the development of a cooperative study group and community empowerment . To see more you can visit the website: www.kopkun.com and www.kopkuninstitute.org

From this experience we want to say to you, that young people it is not an exclusive group that is preoccupied with his own game. We must open ourselves to see things around us and should not be deprived of our social roots.

When iI was active as a student, there is one learning project that we can do together internationaly. We wrote a book which was facilitated by the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) in collaboration with the University of Victoria with a print book "Youth Reinventing Co-operative". Hopefully, this meeting could produce real work full collaboration.

Cooperatives have brought me in depth. Turns past I can not avoid its influence. I to this day still with movement. My interesting on co-operative must be a manifested. When the regulation of cooperatives established by the Government and Parliament of epistemological defect I feel called and involved in the struggle to do the cancellation the  Law of Cooperatives in front of the Constitutional Court. This effort has been successful and provide additional sooth spirit that we will keep bringing impact for a better future. This is a strong signal that if we have the will we must have given way.

We are not only need good regulation, but regulation is good for the growth and development of cooperatives has been a long time away. Youngsters are boundless energy and a lot provide great support for the creation of regulatory changes and government policies. This is for the preservation of the world.

Friends, times have changed and people anywhere in the world have now started demanding change. Professor Ferdinand Tonnies, 1884 has estimated that the future of the public system will be back to give recognition of the importance of common universal values ​​and want to work with are no longer demanding a profit but for the benefit of all parties. We must catch the strong signal changes that occur at this time for changes to be implemented as intended and are not held hostage by the power back autocracy and plutocracy. Era of crowdsourcing  now, and digital era now, must strive for the interchanges and a system that is fair to all.

Some of my recommendations for a sustainable project of this meeting are:

1. Develop cooperative solidarity among youth in Asia and the Pacific concretely with interwoven connectedness organization significantly by utilizing advances in technology; start with a simple project to build the site and measure the approximate time and vision might be reached;

2. Sort the category field of interest of each activists such as; advocating regulations and government policies, development of joint projects, strategic collaborations, research and development.

3. Establish informal relationships with closely while respecting differences existing capabilities and establish regular meetings with report an increase in concrete projects.

The world in which we live today is a house together and brotherhood will occur will only be realized because of the tangle of solidarity equivalent.

Bali, 23 September 2016

ICA AP YOUTH CAMP

Suroto

Chairman of NASSEC