In the New Year of 2007, we learnt that Adam Air Flight 574 was missing. The flight carried 102 people from Surabaya to Manado. Nobody survived from the flight. It was a horrible incidence that not only due to the loss of lives but also to the blatant disregard to safety rules and regulations. During subsequent investigation on Adam Air, it was found that the airline had ignored more than 50 safety complaints and found bribing the pilots and maintenance crews to breach regulations. The incidence resulted in the downgrade of all Indonesian airlines from safe to unsafe based on international standard. The downgrade further shows that the Indonesian Aviation Authority has lost its credibility and considered failed to enforce and maintain safe flights.
This incidence describes the importance and implications of social capital, which is the topic of OMC XIV. The importance of social capital can be felt easier when the society is lacking of it. For us that fly regularly, the Adam Air incidence makes us very concern and even avoids using Indonesian based airlines altogether. The incidence has broken our trust on the ability of the Indonesian Aviation Authority to maintain safety. The social contract between us has been violated and the social capital has been depleted.
The implication of the lack of social capital is devastatingly bad. In this case, both the US and EU have declared that the flight system in Indonesia unsafe. These actions will result in the reduction in business activities, mountains of extra regulations and testing, higher cost of doing business and implementing regulations, and most importantly the long and hard road to gain the reputation back. This is because most people will remember the ugly but not the good, the failure but not the success, and the hurt-angry feelings but not the joyous feeling.
Most Indonesians do not trust the government or business institutions. This is because the track records have been marred with corruption and dishonesty. Without enough social capital, both government and businesses will need much more resources to function and grow properly. Unfortunately, we in the church also did not have stellar track records either. The church became impotent because it cannot conduct its priestly and prophetic duties.
We learn from the bible that God always gives a second chance. David, Job, Adam, Abraham, Moses, and the rest of biblical heroes had disappointed God and in essence broke the social covenant with their societies. However, God still used them in His redemptive plan. The Indonesian church has been given a second chance when God raises servant leaders such as Ahok, Esther Jusuf, and others. We cannot waste this opportunity to gain the trust back from Indonesians by serving and suffering together. We need to be the proponent of building social capital to unlock the extra resources used by the government and businesses and to open Indonesia for truth and transformation.