Conclusions CONCLUSIONS, SUGGESTIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS

59 the political tensions during the Cold War between the Western capitalist bloc and the communist Eastern bloc. Political tensions in Indonesia begin to subside when the Old Order collapsed and was replaced by a pro-Western order. On the other side, this is also a sign for Indonesia to start entering the globalization era. Tohari 2003 even portrays this event in the trilogy clearly. The nation’s door, at first closed to outside economic assistance and most foreign cultural influences were now being thrown wide open. National values, formulated according to passionate ideas regarding sovereignty and the preservation of culture and tradition, had subsided after a violent struggle with modernity p. 361. Gary, Shuey, and Kiely 2001 define globalization as a widely and somewhat loosely used term, intended to describe the recent and rapid process of intercontinental economic, social, and political integration. This worldwide integration allows people to communicate, travel, and invest internationally, and helps companies market their produces widely, acquire capital and human material resources more efficiently, share advanced technology, and enjoy economics of scale. While many benefits from globalization, others are hurt economically, some cultures may be harmed, and local environments may suffer p. 37. They also argue that the factors that are most often credited with driving globalization are the rapid advances in electronic information and transportation systems, the end of the Cold War with the attendant collapse of Communism, and the inherent urge of many people to trade, travel, and spread information. The concurrent spread of democracy and free markets makes politically possible that 60 which has become physically and economically possible p. 38. Through economic policies that have been integrated into the global capitalist system, the New Order has managed to recover the economic downturn in Indonesia and start a more stable government. However, the problems that arise are related to natural resource management in Indonesia. The implementation of liberal economic policies during the New Order has opened greater opportunities for foreign investors to manage natural resources in Indonesia. Such economic policies have an impact on the orientation of education where it is designed to meet the needs of the market that has been dominated by foreign interests. As a result, the education seems to have lost its orientation to build the character of anti-colonialism and imperialism. Stormquist 2002 relates the linkage between the globalization and the education. The intensified participation of economic interests in education is not accidental. First, the globalization emphasis on the creation of a skilled labor force, and, even if the connection between education and economic productivity is far from strong, educational policymakers consider themselves to be responsive to business needs by increasing pressure on educational systems. Second, as the economic area of life acquires increasing importance and, simultaneously, the public school system is found deficient, it makes sense to open the educational system to market forces and thus the market-preferred system, which is privatization. In other words, the attribution of failure to schools is also convenient to educational entrepreneurs who see schools as the new business arena p. 39. Therefore, this nation is often