Arief Budiman pursues lonely intellectual road<\/p>\n
By Dewi Anggraeni<\/p>\n
MELBOURNE (JP): Forty turbulent years after Indonesian was
\nfirst taught at the University of Melbourne, a native Indonesian
\nscholar and academic was appointed last year to chair the
\nIndonesian Studies Program.<\/p>\n
Last Thursday, in his Professorial Inaugural Lecture, critical
\nscholar Arief Budiman thanked his wife Sitti Leila Chairani,
\nalong with all the academics who had beaten the rocky path before
\nhim.<\/p>\n
To an audience of colleagues, students and friends, Arief gave
\na brief account of his modest family background, of how he had to
\nstruggle to find his way to university.<\/p>\n
He did not forget the contribution his friends had made in
\nfulfilling his academic achievements.<\/p>\n
\"With the help of many people, I was able to get my first
\nuniversity degree as a psychologist from the University of
\nIndonesia, and later on I was lucky enough to get a scholarship
\nto study at Harvard University in the United States of America,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
\"All these achievements... have been the result of the help of
\nmany people. It is a collective endeavor.\"<\/p>\n
The lecture, titled The Lonely Road of the Intellectual:
\nScholars in Indonesia, focused on democracy and scholarships in
\nIndonesia and sparked a number of questions from the audience.<\/p>\n
Arief quoted the American poet Robert Frost in The Road not
\nTaken, in depicting the path taken by some intellectuals, who
\nrefused to be seduced by power or surrender to pragmatism.<\/p>\n
Professor Charles Coppel, under whose directorship the
\nIndonesian Studies Program fell victim to the unfortunate
\nuniversity restructuring in 1987, gave an historical account of
\nthe program.<\/p>\n
The University of Melbourne was one of the first three
\nuniversities in Australia to offer Indonesian Studies. Coppel
\nsaid it began with a European senior lecturer and a native
\nspeaker lecturer. So the program has come a long way and the
\nappointment of Professor Arief Budiman is clearly a watershed, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
According to Arief, the lonely road of the intellectual in
\nIndonesia is gradually attracting more travelers.<\/p>\n
\"For the honest scholars, it is difficult to stay outside the
\nsocial problems, keep quiet and say nothing,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Arief's lecture was both universal and Indonesia-related. He
\nmentioned three types of democracy. The first was \"Top-down\"
\ndemocracy, in which power is given to the people by the ruling
\nelite, but as soon as it becomes inconvenient for the ruling
\nelite, they can withdraw their power without any fuss.<\/p>\n
The second was democracy born of the State-Elite Conflict,
\nwhich is genuine albeit temporary power inadvertently given to
\nthe people because of the rift; while the third was Bottom-up
\ndemocracy, which genuinely empowers the people politically.<\/p>\n
\"The type of democracy found in Indonesia is mostly top-down,\"
\nArief added.<\/p>\n
Arief is among a handful of scholars known for never shying
\naway from stating their stance over many political affairs. Arief
\nwas the first Indonesian to openly declare himself a Golangan
\nPutih (\"white\" group) or nonvoter, out of lack of confidence in
\nthe existing political situation.<\/p>\n
In 1994, Arief lost his teaching position at the Satya Wacana
\nChristian University in Salatiga, Central Java, following his
\nprotest over the election of the university's rector.<\/p>\n
He won the ensuing legal battle, but quit anyway. At least 50
\nlecturers of the university then tendered their resignation in
\nsupport of Arief.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/arief-budiman-pursues-lonely-intellectual-road-1447893297",
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