What are the meaning of hegemony and governmentality? The real application of hegemony done by the government existed in Gramsci’s own country, Italy. Benito Mussolini, known as Italian prime minister (1922–43) and the first of 20th-century Europe's fascist dictators successfully develop the idea of fascism though it curtailed the liberty of most Italians. Gramsci revealed that this phenomenon happened as the effect of hegemonic government led by Mussolini at that time. The culture of fascism developed rapidly to the most of Italians because Mussolini used his power as the ruler to dominate the people who were inferior to him. As the one who was superior he easily injected his ideology into every Italians mind to keep his dominance in the society.
Foucault’s idea of governmentality was raised when he studied the genealogy. Foucault had a great attention to “governmentality,” the array of political arrangements, past and present, within which individuals have not simply been dominated subjects but have been able in some measure to govern, to be, and to create themselves. He expanded the scope (and lessened the bite) of genealogy. No longer focused exclusively on the dynamics of power-knowledge, it came to encompass the broader dynamics of human reflection, of the posing of questions and the seeking of answers, of “problematization.” It could thus chart the possibilities, past and present, of ethics—the “reflective practice of freedom”—a domain in which human beings could exercise their power to conceive and test the modes of domination and subjectivation under which they happened to live.
The notion of hegemony and governmentality also existed in Indonesia, especially in the New Order era. Whether in a conscious condition or not, Soeharto as the leader of the New Order applied Gramsci’s hegemony and Foucault’s governmentality in running the government. The hegemony and governmentality done by the New Order is related to the communism in Indonesia, Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in particular. The anti-communism sentiment emerged in Indonesia is considered as the effect of the hegemony and governmentality.
As explained previously, hegemony is the combination of coercion and consent in order to dominate the inferior. New Order era led by Soeharto had an inharmonic relationship with communists in Indonesia because he was the one who commanded the “holocaust” of many people that was accused as the members on PKI. Though they did not have any participation in the organization, but if the military considered them as communists, they would be murdered. Soeharto accused PKI as the actors of the September 30th coup while the PKI itself assumed that Soeharto himself as the actor. By using his power as a president of Indonesia he run the hegemonic government by giving a bad stigma to communism. As one example, a film about the September 30th coup that was set up by PKI was always presented in all TV channels once a year, every September 30th. By using the media of television which use audio-video, the “doctrine” to mark the bad stigma to communism would be much easier in “hypnotizing” the people who watched it. The film has a tendency to blame communism that caused the dead of the generals. Television as the media to run the hegemony may become the best way to justify the “fact” that September 30th was done by PKI so communism should be blamed and avoided. The issue that brought the anti-communism sentiment contained in the film that was presented in the television which was the domain of the authorized government somehow becomes the “coercion” because all the television channels broadcasted the film and the people has no choice to watch the other programs so they watch it. The act of watching is considered as the “consent” because the people will also enjoy the film since it is strongly related to the history of Indonesia itself.
In the sense of governmentality, one example that strong enough is the content of the history books always brought the anti-communism sentiment when it arrived to the discussion about the September 30th coup. The history books included the books for elementary school, junior high school, high school, and even university. The anti-communism sentiment was taught in the educational field so it represented the governmentality that produces conforming citizens through educational system. The “brainwashing” of the people since they were still in their early ages becomes an effective way to spread the bad stigma to communism. Thus, the attempt to raise the anti-communism sentiment will appear in the mind of the people since they are still young and even children. The education is also the domain of the government, so the New Order as the government in charge at that time played a great role in influencing the people, especially in raising the anti-communism sentiment. Another way to wash the brain was connected to the September 30th film broadcasted by the TV station. Every student was ordered to write a report about the film that contained anti-communism sentiment, so the students were controlled to hate communism through the report they wrote that had to be submitted in the school.
As the effect of those two applications, the anti-communism sentiment is developed rapidly in the Indonesian society though the New Order is no longer in charge.
It happens because the way the New Order influence the people is very effective which used television and educational system media. However, television and education are two big media that hardly be separated from the progress of society in manifesting the culture in it.
Foucault’s idea of governmentality was raised when he studied the genealogy. Foucault had a great attention to “governmentality,” the array of political arrangements, past and present, within which individuals have not simply been dominated subjects but have been able in some measure to govern, to be, and to create themselves. He expanded the scope (and lessened the bite) of genealogy. No longer focused exclusively on the dynamics of power-knowledge, it came to encompass the broader dynamics of human reflection, of the posing of questions and the seeking of answers, of “problematization.” It could thus chart the possibilities, past and present, of ethics—the “reflective practice of freedom”—a domain in which human beings could exercise their power to conceive and test the modes of domination and subjectivation under which they happened to live.
The notion of hegemony and governmentality also existed in Indonesia, especially in the New Order era. Whether in a conscious condition or not, Soeharto as the leader of the New Order applied Gramsci’s hegemony and Foucault’s governmentality in running the government. The hegemony and governmentality done by the New Order is related to the communism in Indonesia, Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in particular. The anti-communism sentiment emerged in Indonesia is considered as the effect of the hegemony and governmentality.
As explained previously, hegemony is the combination of coercion and consent in order to dominate the inferior. New Order era led by Soeharto had an inharmonic relationship with communists in Indonesia because he was the one who commanded the “holocaust” of many people that was accused as the members on PKI. Though they did not have any participation in the organization, but if the military considered them as communists, they would be murdered. Soeharto accused PKI as the actors of the September 30th coup while the PKI itself assumed that Soeharto himself as the actor. By using his power as a president of Indonesia he run the hegemonic government by giving a bad stigma to communism. As one example, a film about the September 30th coup that was set up by PKI was always presented in all TV channels once a year, every September 30th. By using the media of television which use audio-video, the “doctrine” to mark the bad stigma to communism would be much easier in “hypnotizing” the people who watched it. The film has a tendency to blame communism that caused the dead of the generals. Television as the media to run the hegemony may become the best way to justify the “fact” that September 30th was done by PKI so communism should be blamed and avoided. The issue that brought the anti-communism sentiment contained in the film that was presented in the television which was the domain of the authorized government somehow becomes the “coercion” because all the television channels broadcasted the film and the people has no choice to watch the other programs so they watch it. The act of watching is considered as the “consent” because the people will also enjoy the film since it is strongly related to the history of Indonesia itself.
In the sense of governmentality, one example that strong enough is the content of the history books always brought the anti-communism sentiment when it arrived to the discussion about the September 30th coup. The history books included the books for elementary school, junior high school, high school, and even university. The anti-communism sentiment was taught in the educational field so it represented the governmentality that produces conforming citizens through educational system. The “brainwashing” of the people since they were still in their early ages becomes an effective way to spread the bad stigma to communism. Thus, the attempt to raise the anti-communism sentiment will appear in the mind of the people since they are still young and even children. The education is also the domain of the government, so the New Order as the government in charge at that time played a great role in influencing the people, especially in raising the anti-communism sentiment. Another way to wash the brain was connected to the September 30th film broadcasted by the TV station. Every student was ordered to write a report about the film that contained anti-communism sentiment, so the students were controlled to hate communism through the report they wrote that had to be submitted in the school.
As the effect of those two applications, the anti-communism sentiment is developed rapidly in the Indonesian society though the New Order is no longer in charge.
It happens because the way the New Order influence the people is very effective which used television and educational system media. However, television and education are two big media that hardly be separated from the progress of society in manifesting the culture in it.
