Independence in education<\/p>\n
Until the fall of the New Order regime and the birth of the
\nreform movement in 1999, Indonesia's 1945 Constitution -- so
\ncalled because it was decreed on Aug.18, 1945, just a day after
\nthe country's proclamation of independence -- was without doubt
\none of the most admired documents in the country's history.<\/p>\n
Sure, it was terse, and even vague and spartan in its
\ndescription of the rights and duties of the state and its
\ncitizens. But, its proponents said, it provided for a stable
\ngovernment while seeking to promote the well-being of the common
\nman. True, too, as one of the document's formulators remarked at
\nthe time, much would depend on the \"man behind the gun\", but in
\n1945 nobody feared that anyone chosen to lead the nation would
\nabuse his or her power and steal the people's money.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, it wasn't long before all those assumptions
\nproved to be false. In 1959, president Sukarno used the 1945
\nConstitution to establish what he termed \"guided democracy\",
\nwhich was in effect a form of dictatorship, with him as president
\nfor life. A bloody leftist coup took place in 1965, which, in
\n1967, led to the dictatorial and utterly corrupt regime of
\npresident Soeharto.<\/p>\n
With the downfall of Soeharto, a fairly elected parliament,
\ncomprising the House of Representatives (DPR) and the People's
\nConsultative Assembly (MPR), sought to remedy those
\nconstitutional shortcomings. The 1945 Constitution was duly
\namended, but its preamble, which contains what might be
\nconsidered a kind of \"social contract\" -- a compromise formula
\nknown as Pancasila, to keep Indonesia's immensely diverse
\nsocietal groups united -- was maintained intact.<\/p>\n
It is on the basis of that preamble, which is, of necessity,
\nterse in its vocabulary, that the government has drawn up a draft
\nfor Indonesia's new education law that now lies before the House
\nof Representatives for deliberation. The draft is expected to be
\nsubmitted to the appropriate House Committee next month and
\npassed into law on May 2, Indonesia's National Education Day.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the spirit of democratic reform that had
\ninspired the earlier drive to amend the 1945 Constitution does
\nnot seem to have trickled down to those who drafted the new law.
\nCritics have been quick to detect in the draft a certain ambition
\non the part of the state to reestablish its old grip on the
\nprivate lives of citizens. This, of course, is evident from the
\nvery fact that the new law seeks to regulate every level of
\neducation, from kindergarten to university. Nowhere, though, is
\nthis as glaring as in the field of religious instruction and
\neducation.<\/p>\n
Besides general subjects, such as history or mathematics,
\nstudents at every level of education are entitled to receive
\nreligious instruction \"according to the faith they adhere to,
\ntaught by teachers of a religion identical to that of their own\",
\nthe draft says. Education, after all, it says in its preamble,
\nmust be aimed at \"establishing keimanan (faith) and ketakwaan
\n(piety) in Indonesians, besides imparting general skills that are
\naimed at \"promoting the intelligence of the nation.\"<\/p>\n
Bickering over terms such as ketakwaan aside -- which, in the
\nview of many, has unmistakable Islamic overtones -- there is a
\nstrong feeling among Indonesians, even the pious, that religious
\neducation (as opposed to religious instruction, which many
\nreject) should be left to the home and the family. Some critics
\neven see the religious conflicts of late as recent phenomena and
\nthe natural consequences of mandatory religious instruction for
\nall students under the Soeharto regime.<\/p>\n
Given such far-reaching, long-term consequences of making the
\nwrong decisions, let us hope that our legislators will let
\nthemselves be guided, not only by their conscience and wisdom,
\nbut by the same spirit of reform that ousted the previous
\nauthoritarian regime and brought them to their present positions
\nof power. Let's not take the education of our children, and
\nthereby, the future of the nation, lightly.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/independence-in-education-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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