By: Amril Jambak, A Senior Researcher at Lembaga Studi Informasi Strategis Indonesia (LSISI)

Local wisdom is formed by two words, local and wisdom, so literally it means local idea that contain the value of wisdom and goodness followed by local society.

According to Gobyah, the most important value of local wisdom is inheritance of the truth from one generation to another one in particular area. Conceptually, local wisdom and local advantages are the wisdom of human that comes from traditionally internalized values, ethics, methods, and behavior.

According to Antariksa (2009), local wisdom is a part of cultural tradition of the people of a nation. It is reflected in the architeture, city plan, and determined by geographical values of the nation. This suggests that local wisdom can be the realization of tradition into physical artefact. What matters here is the implementation process of the traditions into physical artefacts that must contain the values of nature teaching how to read the potential of nature and how to write it back as a universally accepted tradition by the society, particularly in their architecture. Those are the values to harmonize human life by respecting, keeping and preserving the nature that eventually will perfect life itself.

Next, local wisdom is often freely translated as noble cultural values within society. It means that by knowing the local wisdom in an area, we can also understand the noble cultural values there. Such local wisdom must actually be inherited over generations from parents to children. Some obvious examples are the mutual cooperation (gotong royong) culture, respecting each other and what is called tepa selira (emphaty, caring and tolerance).

From all those definition above, we can then understand that local wisdom is a set of knowledge developed by the anchestors to survive the life as a part of the culture being inherited across generations. Some of this local knowledge usually appears in the old tales, legends, songs, rites, or even the local law.

Local wisdom becomes important and useful only if the local society inheriting it is willing and claiming it as a part of their life. That way, local wisdom can be dubbed as the soul of local culture. Whether or not the local wisdom has been internalized well can be seen from how every part of society’s life is guided wisely by their knowledge. This includes daily activities and interaction among the people in the society, and also some unexpected circumstances like disasters.

The next question is whether or not this local wisdom can prevent and combat radicalism and terrorism. Quoting a professor from Udayana University during a workshop on preventing terrorism in Sanur Denpasar, I Wayan Windia, the cultural values and local wisdom in some areas in Indonesia can be used as tools to prevent and combat radicalism and terrorism. Yet, the Indonesian has not yet resolved social and cultural problems so that this local wisdom has not well utilized.

She further suggested that the rule of laws in Indonesia are too many, both issued by central government and provincial or even in regency level. Yet, all those still cannot protect and keep local cultures and wisdom. She also believes that if local cultures and wisdom can be well maintained, radicalism and terrorism can be avoided or minimized.

I personally believe that local wisdom is an ample and comprehensive phenomenon. It is unlimited in which I differentiate traditional with present wisdom. Local wisdom emphasizes on the location and locality of the wisdom itself so that it is not necessarily inherited over generations. Local wisdom can be a wisdom that has just appeared in a community as a result of the interaction with nature, other society, or other cultures. Thus, local wisdom is not always traditional but it can also be current and hence it has broader meaning than traditional wisdom.

In other words, if all layers in society, government, and law enforcement officers use this local wisdom as a way to combat radicalism and terrorism, it can be an effective weapon.

Therefore, we hope the government can respond the local wisdom in appropriate manner. Local wisdom must be protected and strengthened so that it can be used as a weapon to combat radicalism and terrorism attack in NKRI.***