Arief Budiman, a too-honest scholar<\/p>\n
By Yenni Kwok<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): "Maybe I am too honest," Arief Budiman, a
\nscholar known for his critical commentaries on social and
\npolitical issues, said recently after learning his plan to go to
\nAustralia might be delayed by up to six months.<\/p>\n
To obtain an Australian visa for his new job at Melbourne
\nUniversity, Arief had to list the serious diseases he has had.
\nMany people would dismiss this, lie about illnesses they had had
\nbut recovered from.<\/p>\n
Not Arief. The prodemocracy activist wrote he had tuberculosis
\nin 1969. The consequence: he needs to find his lung X-ray from
\nlast year to compare with his most recent one to get the visa in
\ntime to go to Melbourne this month. If not, he will have to wait
\nsix months for a new X-ray.<\/p>\n
When asked about the 56-year-old Arief, Leila Budiman, his
\nwife of 29 years, said: "He never hides what is in his heart."<\/p>\n
He also never hides what he believes in, namely democracy.
\nThis has cost him dearly on several occasions, including losing
\nhis job at Satya Wacana Christian University in Salatiga, Central
\nJava.<\/p>\n
The trouble began during a protest on the private university's
\ncampus in 1995. Students and faculty members demonstrated against
\nthe "unfair" election of a dean in which the candidate who polled
\nthe most votes was not appointed.<\/p>\n
Arief, then a lecturer at the university, joined the protest
\nin its later stages. He did not deny that the university could
\noverride the election results but he could not agree with the
\ndecision. He said: "University institutions have to be
\ndemocratic."<\/p>\n
The protest provoked great media and public attention; hordes
\nof reporters descended on the campus, seeking his opinions. The
\nfocus on him, Arief believes, gave the university authorities the
\nincorrect impression that he was the protest's leader. He was
\nlater fired.<\/p>\n
"Arief was a martyr," said Nico L. Kana, a former colleague
\nat the university.<\/p>\n
Arief joked that as his salary was so low he did not
\nexperience too great a financial loss by being sacked. Since then
\nhe has supported himself mainly by writing for the media,
\nincluding The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Following the dismissal Arief applied to both local and
\noverseas universities for work. Last year Melbourne University
\noffered him its Indonesian studies chair.<\/p>\n
Controversy never seems to be far from Arief's life.<\/p>\n
It started when he signed Manifesto Kebudayaan (the Cultural
\nManifesto) in 1962, to reject the communists' growing influence
\nin the arts. His younger brother, the late Soe Hok Gie, was
\nalready a student activist, though Arief says they were not that
\nclose.<\/p>\n
Protest<\/p>\n
A psychology student at the University of Indonesia in
\nJakarta, Arief joined the student protests against first
\npresident Sukarno's administration in 1966. After Hok Gie died in
\nan accident on Mt. Semeru in East Java, his friends asked Arief
\nto join more protests and take over his brother's role.<\/p>\n
Thus began Arief's involvement in the anticorruption campaign.
\nFor protesting the establishment of Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, a
\nproject initiated by the late First Lady Tien Soeharto, he was
\nsent to prison for one month.<\/p>\n
He was also among those who initiated a campaign to boycott
\nthe general elections, known here as Golput (from Golongan Putih,
\nmeaning "white group").<\/p>\n
Arief's belief in democracy stems from the famous quote of
\nBritish philosopher Lord Acton, "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute
\npower corrupts absolutely."<\/p>\n
Being of Chinese descent, he is particularly worried about the
\nsuppression and abuse of minorities. He trumpets democracy
\nbecause "democracy protects people's rights."<\/p>\n
Unrest<\/p>\n
Arief is very concerned about the recent spate of unrest
\nrocking the country and, in some cases, targeting Christians and
\nChinese. He believes the solution to the problems lies in
\ndemocracy and freedom of expression.<\/p>\n
There is a major "structural weakness", which he defines as
\nthe inability of state institutions to solve disputes fairly.
\nThey choose, instead, to resort to force.<\/p>\n
"The lower class, mostly farmers and laborers, are the ones
\nwho have to face injustices. Poor farmers have their land taken.
\nLaborers have their salaries cut," he said.<\/p>\n
The few times they tried to organize themselves to demand
\ntheir rights they were quickly crushed by the authorities, who
\nbranded them communists. However, if they turn their frustration
\ninto Moslem-oriented grievances, Arief believes, they escape the
\ncommunist label.<\/p>\n
Arief reckons that churches in Java are seen as the natural
\nground of the middle class and a substantial number of Chinese.
\nThus conflicts arising from socioeconomic disparity will often
\ndeteriorate into religious and ethnic violence.<\/p>\n
Government officials have blamed the unrest on "intellectual
\nactors.<\/p>\n
Arief does not dismiss this explanation. However he also
\nshares Moslem scholar Amien Rais' opinion that the structural
\nweakness has made Indonesia as inflammable as a bed of dry grass.<\/p>\n
Born Soe Hok Djien, Arief was given his Indonesian name in the
\nmid-1960s by Leila, then his girlfriend, during the government's
\ncampaign to change Chinese names to Indonesian ones. Initially
\nreluctant to change his original name, Arief was finally
\nconvinced to do so. He asked Leila to choose his new name.<\/p>\n
Leila chose the West Sumatran Arief, which, like Djien means
\nwise. Budiman means one who is virtuous.<\/p>\n
When he learned the meaning of his name he felt it was too
\nsloganistic and that he would have chosen something more simple
\nif he had known the meaning when it was chosen.<\/p>\n
His actions however appear to have reflected the hope Leila
\nput in his name. Their gateless, bamboo-woven house in Salatiga
\nis open to anyone.<\/p>\n
His compassion has won the hearts of many people. Says Nico,
\n"Everyone knows Arief, even the pedicab drivers."<\/p>\n
And people take care of Arief and his family as much as he
\ntakes care of them. He was once intimidated after he protested
\nthe construction of a public officials' house on a fertile paddy
\nfield around his house. His neighbors quickly volunteered to
\nguard his house for a few days.<\/p>\n
"Arief is a democratic person, in both his actions and his
\nwords," said Goenawan Mohamad, a long-time friend and former
\neditor of the banned Tempo.<\/p>\n
"Arief is willing to hear people challenge his views and
\nideas, which he frankly acknowledges are influenced by Marxism
\nand socialism," Goenawan said.<\/p>\n
Arief will be missed when he leaves for Melbourne. "We need
\npeople like him here," Goenawan said.<\/p>\n
Arief himself said he would not lose touch with Indonesia. "I
\nwill be traveling back and forth between Australia and Indonesia.
\nI will still be active, only the place will be different."<\/p>",
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