Individualism and Collectivism: An American and Indonesian Comparison and Analysis on Central and Federal Government Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lafayette College Digital Humanities Summer Scholar Program (DHSS) 2021

The Indonesian Central Government, Collectivism, and COVID-19

“In East Asian countries, often characterized as hierarchical collectivistic societies, conformity to norms is more prevalent. During the pandemic, such a tendency to conformity may be more efficient for weathering the storm. Due to the dire circumstances, facial masks were rationed to each citizen via pharmacies...In spite of the initial chaos, most citizens follow the rules and adapt to new customs.” (Lee, 2020).
The adaptation to the rules to benefit the community is an integral characteristic of a collectivist society. Preventative measures like mask-wearing, quarantining, and hand washing are all for the greater good. However, pandemic preventive procedures will “only work effectively when practiced collectively,” which emphasizes the necessity of collective action for the benefit of the group (Webster et al., 2021). A “We are responsible for each other” attitude is beneficial for defending a community against an event like COVID-19 that requires collection action (Knovva Academy, 2018).

“Because collectivistic cultures are more likely to comply with and adhere to social norms (U. Kim, et al., 1994), individualism-collectivism can indirectly contribute to people’s susceptibility to COVID-19” (Webster et al., 2021). Indonesia should have been significantly more successful with combatting the COVID-19 virus. However, as observed in the timeline, Indonesia wasted time, was secretive and inconsistent, and had some of the worst death rates in Southeast Asia. Other countries in this region were praised for their COVID-19 responses because “almost everybody wears facemasks in South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The Public was educated to wear N-95 masks everywhere even with their family.” (Lee, 2020). However, President Widodo and the Indonesian federal government were commonly criticized, especially by concerned Indonesians.

President Widodo and the Indonesian central government, considering the expected and observed differences in the handling and understanding of the pandemic in social and cultural ways, would be expected to respond to the pandemic in considerably better ways than an individualistic country like the United States. However, Indonesia and the United States reacted very similarly. Does this indicate that the government of Indonesia is individualistic despite its traditionally and historically collectivist culture? Or, does this mean there is no extension of individualism or collectivism to central or federal governments?

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