Si Kabayan & Debat Rostow vs Frank-Amin (1): Refleksi Jelang HUT Kemerdekaan RI

Oleh GWS, lulusan Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) yang pernah didapuk menjadi direktur utama sebuah BUMN dan kini memimpin sebuah perusahaan teknologi. Aktif menuangkan tulisan dan pemikirannya tentang isu keindonesiaan, kebangsaan, dan kemajuan negara, meski dengan nama samaran.

Coba bayangkan sebentar: Anda adalah Kabayan yang sedang duduk di tepi Danau Toba sambil menyeruput kopi Lintong, berusaha melupakan angka mengerikan judi online (judol) Rp1.200 triliun yang baru saja merusak ketenangan healing-nya.

Matahari pagi baru terbit, kabut tipis masih menyelimuti permukaan danau, dan untuk pertama kalinya dalam berbulan-bulan, pikiran Kabayan mulai kosong dari diagram kompleksitas ekonomi.

Tapi ketenangan itu buyar ketika ponselnya berdering dengan nada yang aneh—melodi klasik Mozart yang tidak pernah dia set sebagai ringtone.

"Halo?" jawab Kabayan bingung.

"Good morning, Mr. Kabayan," suara dengan aksen Inggris aristokratik terdengar dari seberang. "This is Professor Archibald Cambridge from the Institute for Historical Economic Debates, Oxford. We have a rather unusual invitation for you."

Kabayan hampir menjatuhkan ponsel ke danau. "Eh, Oxford? Salah sambung kali, Prof. Saya cuma petani yang lagi healing."

"Oh no, not a mistake at all. We've been following your remarkable journey—from Vietnamese factories to Korean chaebols, from Harvard's Growth Lab to spiritual consultations with Indonesia's founding fathers. Quite extraordinary empirical research, I must say."

Professor Cambridge melanjutkan dengan antusias:

"We're organizing a special historical debate—a resurrection, if you will—between two giants of development theory: Walt Whitman Rostow and Andre Gunder Frank, with Samir Amin as co-debater. The topic: 'Why Nations Remain Poor: Modernization vs Dependency Theory.' We need someone with real-world experience to moderate."

Kabayan menggaruk kepala. "Prof, saya tidak yakin cocok jadi moderator debat akademik. Saya lebih cocok jadi tukang ketik mindmap."

"Precisely why we need you, dear fellow," jawab sang profesor dengan hangat.

"These debates are usually dominated by academics who've never set foot in a rice field or factory floor. You've experienced development theory in practice—from Vietnamese export-oriented industrialization to Korean state-guided capitalism."

Yang membuat Kabayan tertarik:

"The debate will be held in a neutral venue—the International Institute for Development Studies in Geneva. All expenses paid, of course. And there's something rather special about this debate—it's being organized by the spirits of economic thought, much like your consultations with Indonesia's founding fathers."

"Maksudnya, Prof?"

"Well, technically speaking, both Rostow and Frank have passed away. But in the realm of ideas, they're quite alive and eager to continue their intellectual battle with new evidence from the past three decades."

Dua hari kemudian, Kabayan menemukan dirinya di pesawat Swiss Air jurusan Geneva, masih bingung bagaimana dia bisa berada di situ.

Tiket first class yang tiba-tiba muncul di email, passport yang misterius diperpanjang otomatis, dan visa Schengen yang entah bagaimana sudah ada di passport-nya.

Di sebelahnya duduk seorang pria berusia 70-an dengan kumis tebal dan mata yang tajam. Pria itu tersenyum sambil memperkenalkan diri:

"Excuse me, aren't you the Indonesian fellow who's been studying economic complexity? I'm Walt Rostow—well, the intellectual spirit of Walt Rostow, to be precise."

Kabayan nyaris tersedak kopi penerbangan. "Pak Rostow? Yang nulis 'The Stages of Economic Growth'?"

"The very same. Though I prefer the subtitle: 'A Non-Communist Manifesto.' Still relevant, wouldn't you say, given China's rather capitalist approach to development these days?"

Rostow menjelaskan dengan semangat sebelum seorang pria dengan aksen Jerman-Amerika bergabung dari seberang lorong:

"Nonsense, Walt. China proves my dependency theory perfectly—they succeeded precisely by consciously rejecting modernization recipes and forging independent paths beyond the center-periphery trap."

Kabayan menoleh ke pria berjanggut tipis itu: "Andre Frank, I presume?"

"Indeed. And let me tell you, young man," Frank melanjutkan dengan nada serius, "your analysis of Indonesia's failure to move beyond raw material exports is textbook dependency theory. You're trapped in the periphery, feeding the center with commodities while importing manufactured goods."

Setibanya di Geneva, ketiga tokoh itu—Rostow, Frank, dan Kabayan—berkumpul di lounge VIP bandara sambil menunggu Samir Amin yang terlambat penerbangan dari Dakar.

Rostow membuka percakapan sambil menyeruput Brandy dengan elegan: "Kabayan, I've read about your diagnosis of Indonesia's four pillars of failure. Interesting, but you're missing the fundamental point—Indonesia simply hasn't completed the prerequisites for take-off."

"Maksudnya, Pak?"

"My five stages are sequential, you see," Rostow menjelaskan sambil menggambar diagram di serbet kertas.

"Traditional society, preconditions for take-off, take-off itself, drive to maturity, and age of high mass consumption. Indonesia is stuck between traditional society and preconditions. You need more education, infrastructure, and institutional development."

Frank menggeram dari seberang meja: "Rubbish, Walt! Indonesia isn't 'stuck' in some natural progression—it's deliberately kept in the periphery by global capitalist structures."

Dia menunjuk ke arah jendela yang menghadap kota Geneva: "They export palm oil and import smartphones. Classic colonial relationship disguised as 'free trade.'"

Kabayan merenung sejenak: "Tapi Pak Frank, Vietnam berhasil keluar dari pola itu. Mereka dulu pengekspor beras, sekarang eksportir elektronik senilai US$134 miliar."

Frank menjawab dengan semangat: "Precisely because they fought a war against the center and established an independent development path! Ho Chi Minh understood that political independence means nothing without economic independence."

Rostow menggeleng sambil tertawa: "No, no, Andre. Vietnam succeeded because it finally embraced my modernization model after 1986. Doi Moi was nothing but delayed acceptance of market economics and foreign investment—classic preconditions for take-off."

Kabayan mulai merasa seperti anak STM yang nyasar di seminar ekonomi tingkat doktoral.

Sore itu, Samir Amin tiba dengan wajah lelah tapi mata berbinar. Ekonom asal Mesir yang menghabiskan hidupnya mempelajari pembangunan Afrika ini langsung bergabung dalam diskusi setelah memesan Espresso ganda.

"Mes amis," kata Amin dengan aksen Prancis yang kental, "saya terlambat karena melihat kondisi terkini Afrika. Dan apa yang saya lihat membuktikan teori dependency dengan sangat jelas—50 tahun kemerdekaan politik, tapi struktur ekonomi kolonial masih utuh."

Kabayan tertarik: "Seperti apa, Pak Amin?"

"Afrika mengekspor 60% kakao dunia tapi hanya mengolah 5% menjadi cokelat. Mengekspor 70% emas dunia tapi tidak punya satu pun pusat pengolahan emas," Amin menjelaskan sambil mengepalkan tangan. "Persis seperti Indonesia dengan sawit dan nikel."

Rostow berargumen dengan tenang: "But Samir, that's simply comparative advantage at work. Let African countries focus on what they do best—resource extraction—while importing manufactured goods from countries with better technology and capital."

Amin memukul meja sampai cangkir Espresso bergetar: "Exactly the problem, Walt! Comparative advantage is a trap when it condemns entire continents to remain raw material exporters forever. Indonesia has been exporting raw materials for 400 years—first to Dutch colonialists, now to global markets. Same structure, different flag."

Kabayan membatin: "Lama-lama kita jadi SPBU dunia, tapi tetap miskin."***

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