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s we collectively turn the page and enter a new year, we may want to consider adding a resolution to the list we have put together at each of our offices. After all, the economy is in good shape, it’s never been better. Consumer Confidence is high, with almost all sectors of enterprise pointing upwards. Finally, the government is saying all the right things and if the new promises are kept, we’re all going to be part of the world’s Top10 economies by 2020.

All of this will translate into more jobs, better wages, more consumers buying more things. In Indonesia today, some 80 million people have a job, from just over 70 million four years ago. The rate of climb is well ahead of population growth. At the same time, the number of people looking for a job has declined, despite the fact that more women want to enter the workforce nowadays instead of becoming another young housewife. For the first time, the number of housewives has remained flat despite the growth in population. The student population has remained steady, with a marginal decline in the number of people who don’t work or have retired from the workforce.

During the same four years, the monthly income of the average breadwinner has climbed from
Rp 900,000 to Rp 1.3 million, oustripping annual inflation rates. At the top, people earning more than Rp 1.5 million has grown from 12 to 20 percent of all wage-earners. Similarly, those “main income earners” bringing between Rp 1 to 1.5 million per month has also climbed from 15 to 22 percent of all breadwinners. At the bottom end of the socio-economic strata, the E-class who spend Rp 600,000 or less per month, has declined from 25 to 18 percent of all households. Those “main income earners” earning less than Rp 500,000 per month have also declined from 17 to 9 percent of breadwinners. It is both reassuring and comforting to know that more than half of all households have more than one income earner. Even after accounting for inflation, and without belittling the everyday struggle of households living with meagre earnings, these are major achievements for Indonesia as a whole. Each of us can take a bow for the contributions we have made, big or small.

But the changing circumstances should also give us reason to pause and reconsider the way forward. It is too easy to pound the beaten path, follow the way most developed countries have progressed and thoughtlessly embrace a culture of endless consumption. Consciouslessly and subconsciously, we have learnt to define ourselves by what we have, not by who we are. Marketing, advertising and media professionals are the ones most guilty of perpetrating this continuous massaging of the brain for over 100 years now. Too many have too often abused the power of their skills to make people buy not just the
things they need, but too many that they really don’t. I should know, I’ve done that for more than two decades, a few of those years right here in Indonesia.

In the guise of meeting consumer needs, I believe I have committed many a crime against humanity. When half the human race lives in varying degrees of deprivation every day, what kind of sense does it make to promote a handbag that costs more than someone else’s annual income? Greed, a basic instinct, can only be a force for good if it can be tamed. But a group of rich people from the richest country in the world who can unabashedly seek to abolish healthcare for the poorest while seeking tax cuts for themselves, cannot be worthy of emulation.

They are the same people who have promoted a culture of shameless greed that led to the near-collapse of the world’s financial system. They are the same people who would urge unending and meaningless consumption, knowing that we are running out of fossil fuels while committing carnage on our environmental future.

They are the same people who spread fear and hatred, damaging what little prospects there are for peace and harmony. The ones who get hurt the most are the weakest sections of our societies, around our increasingly borderless world.

It isn’t enough for the rest of us to throw up our hands in collective surrender. Each of us have the power to influence the person next to us, to at least talk about what is right and what is wrong. It is one thing to satisfy a customer by meeting a need, it’s quite another to prey on the weak. Bankers and legislators who make consumer loans possible, ought to be congratulated. On the other hand, predatory pricing and unqualified access should not go unpunished. While I would readily agree that people should have the right to smoke if they wish to, who could possibly argue that they can be promoted to impressionable youth? What on earth is a “slimming tea” good for, other than encouraging lethargy? Is there a line that can easily be drawn between “UV-proof” and “skin-whitening” creams available so readily? I should think so. One meets a real healthcare need, the other preys on a human weakness. It really isn’t that difficult to separate the issues.

There’s enough business to build, money to be made, without demeaning ourselves. Those who have the privilege of education, the ability to lead, are the ones who need to set the examples. Here’s why. We should remind ourselves that more than 50 percent of the entire workforce as well as three out of four housewives in this country haven’t got past middle school. That’s as good a reality check as any. The majority of consumers are prey for even the ordinary predator. As we enter the first week of a new decade, it’s worth asking ourselves what we’re really doing at the workplace. And if it’s worth it.

These observations are based on Roy Morgan Single Source. It is the country’s largest syndicated survey with over 25,000 respondents annually, projected to reflect 90 percent of the population over the age of 14. Over 15 major industries, over 150 product categories are measured every week. Interviews are conducted not only in the cities, but towns and villages around the country.

The writer can be contacted at debnath.guharoy@roymorgan.com