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1. Older Persons in Southeast Asia: From Liability to Asset
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Older Persons in Southeast Asia: From Liability to Asset 3 1 OLDER PERSONS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA From Liability to Asset Aris Ananta and Evi Nurvidya Arifin Disappearing Filial Piety? Ipan (not a real name), in his forties, was caught in a complex dilemma. He had an offer of a more promising job in Samarinda, the capital city of the province of East Kalimantan, Indonesia, than his job in Bandung, the capital city of the province of West Java. He had been living with his wife and two young children in Bandung, a four-hour flight and two-hour drive to Samarinda. Ipan lived in an extended household with four generations, including Ipan’s grandmother-in-law, 84, and mother-inlaw , 68. Ipan’s wife ran a home industry and, therefore, could help her mother take care of the grandmother, and bring the children up on her own. Her mother, in turn, helped take care of her children (one aged five, and the other, two). The dilemma was whether Ipan should move to Samarinda for a better income, together with his family, leaving his mother-in-law alone, or move to Samarinda on his own, permitting his wife and children to be with her maternal parents? Should they continue co-residing with his older “mothers” in Samarinda? His mother-in-law was reluctant to move 4 Aris Ananta and Evi Nurvidya Arifin as she wanted to spend her golden years in the house she used to live in and in the society where she used to belong. She was not brave enough to handle the required adjustments should she move to Samarinda, which is ethnically and sociologically different from Bandung. More importantly, she wanted to continue taking care of her octogenarian mother. Finally, Ipan decided to accept the job and move to Samarinda without his family for several months. Later on, he and his wife made a hard decision to leave the mother and grandmother in Bandung. An unmarried brother of Ipan’s wife moved into the house to keep two older women company. Ipan and his family have changed the way of taking care of the older persons: now through a distant, more formal care. Ipan is not from a poor family. Ipan and his wife are still able to finance and take care of their parents. His older mother and grandmother are not abandoned. With the availability of advanced technology in communication, particularly the capacity to send short message through a mobile phone, Ipan’s wife managed to exchange news continuously with her mother and grandmother. Ipan’s case is just an illustrative vignette of the current mobile generation that has broader job opportunities in a large country such as Indonesia, and at the same time, benefits from technological change, particularly in communication and transportation. It is an example of a complex dilemma pitting an adult child’s filial duty against his future career, and bringing about changes in the living arrangement and financing of older parents in a large country where the percentage of older persons is still relatively low. The norms have also changed in a country such as Korea, where filial piety was deeply practised and which is now one of the ageing societies in East Asia. As part of the transition into adulthood, many family members have moved out and are no longer living in the same household or even in the same neighbourhood for many reasons. Intergenerational relationships have become more egalitarian. Adult children can afford less support for their parents than their parents for their grandparents. The informal, family-centred care of older persons has been shifting towards formal, government-initiated public services. The question is how long Koreans can sustain their filial piety, perhaps in a more modern way, particularly in terms of taking care of older persons (Sung 2005). Filial piety, a part of the cultures of the peoples of China, Japan, and Korea, is a general concept that can be viewed in six major aspects: respect for the parents, filial responsibility, harmonization of the family, repayment of a debt to the parents, affection for the parents, and sacrifice for the [3.237.186.170] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 20:49 GMT) Older Persons in Southeast Asia: From Liability to Asset 5 parents (Sung 1998). This concept of filial piety is also taught in different ways in each Southeast Asian country. In Thailand, Soonthorndhada in Chapter 3 mentions that Buddhism, which is the dominant religion there, teaches children to respect...