Juwono warns against too much freedom<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Education and Culture Juwono
\nSudarsono said on Wednesday the country had gone too far too fast
\nin its search for political freedom and called for some
\nrestrictions to minimize the possibility of bloodshed during the
\nJune general election.<\/p>\n
Juwono said he had asked the government to ban outdoor rallies
\nand restrict campaigning to indoors in the run-up to the June 7
\npoll.<\/p>\n
\"I have asked the home affairs minister (Syarwan Hamid) to
\nconsider our recommendations... that campaigning should be
\nlimited to closed public buildings and that street rallies should
\nbe banned,\" he told a meeting of the Indonesia-Australia Business
\nCouncil.<\/p>\n
The council invited Juwono to speak on the current social and
\npolitical events.<\/p>\n
People hope the June election and a subsequent presidential
\nelection will usher in a new era of democracy and freedom in the
\nnation after 32-years of autocratic, army-backed rule by former
\npresident Soeharto.<\/p>\n
Pushed by growing demands for political reform, his successor,
\nPresident B.J. Habibie, promised to hold general and presidential
\nelections in 1999 instead of waiting until 2003, when the nation
\nwas next scheduled to go to the polls.<\/p>\n
But Juwono said that civil strife in recent months showed that
\nIndonesia still lacked the necessary social and economic
\nfoundations for political freedom.<\/p>\n
\"The pendulum has swung too far in favor of political
\nopenness,\" Juwono said.<\/p>\n
Juwono said that the nation was \"perhaps moving from the
\nChinese model of government to the Indian model of democracy\".<\/p>\n
\"(We are moving) from a period when the government was
\ncentralized with very firm control exercised through the
\nmilitary, the bureaucracy and one dominant political party,
\ntoward one that will be very open, very loose and very unfocused.<\/p>\n
\"I am of course more pessimistic than my colleagues...because
\nI have seen in the past few months that in that respect I think
\nperhaps we have gone too far too fast.<\/p>\n
\"The desire for political democracy and openness is juxtaposed
\nwith a period of endemic economic deprivation. I think that
\ncombination is about the most dangerous possible for political
\nstability.\"<\/p>\n
Juwono said that intermittent violence between ethnic and
\nreligious groups was inevitable when a country was in a period of
\ntransition, uncertainty and had wide economic disparities.<\/p>\n
Juwono also said that he would \"persuade\" Habibie to
\nreconsider banning students from studying abroad before the age
\nof 18 to prevent their national ties and loyalties from being
\neroded.<\/p>\n
\"(But in the 1989 law on national education) I do not see any
\narticle that specifically bans students from studying abroad...so
\nbased on the letter of the law...my own feeling is that I could
\nperhaps persuade the President to reconsider (the ban).\"<\/p>\n
Citing a cartoon in Kompas daily, Juwono pointed out that
\nHabibie and one of his sons were both educated in Germany. (byg)<\/p>",
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