Researchers call for simpler permit procedures<\/p>\n
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Researchers rebuffed the government's
\ninsistence on retaining the bureaucratic procedures for research
\npermits in this era of reform.<\/p>\n
They said the procedures, which sometimes needed up to a year,
\nwere a waste of time and did not bode well with Indonesia's
\nambition to become a technology powerhouse.<\/p>\n
Muhadjir Darwin, researcher at the Center of Demographic
\nStudies of Gadjah Mada University and Mochammad Maksum, Director
\nof Gadjah Mada University's Center for Rural and Regional
\nDevelopment Studies called on the government to dump the
\nregulations.<\/p>\n
Darwin and Maksum pointed out that the regulations were no
\nlonger suitable for present-day Indonesia because they were made
\nby the authoritarian New Order government.<\/p>\n
"The complicated bureaucratic procedures needed to conduct
\nresearch should be dropped," said Darwin.<\/p>\n
"In fact, we don't need such official permits at all to
\nconduct any scientific research in the country. Conducting
\nresearch is a public right. No one, including the government, has
\nthe right to place any restrictions on it."<\/p>\n
The government's policy on research permit came under public
\nscrutiny following the arrest of six German students conducting a
\ndemographic research in a slum area in Central Jakarta last week
\non the grounds they had no permit.<\/p>\n
The complicated procedures apply to both local and foreign
\nresearchers.<\/p>\n
Darwin said the process did not cost that much money but it
\ninvolved complicated procedures that involved numerous
\ninstitutions. "It is exhausting and a waste of time."<\/p>\n
As Darwin has experienced, it needs at least two weeks to
\nobtain a single letter of permit to conduct a research at a
\nsingle site in a single province. If more sites and provinces
\nwere involved, the time needed to obtain the letter will be
\nlonger.<\/p>\n
For a single research at a single site, the researcher will
\nsometimes have to deal with no less than five institutions to
\nobtain the permit: the local village chief, sub-district
\nadministration, police, military command and local planning
\nboard.<\/p>\n
The policy, legacy of the New Order regime, was initially
\naimed at making sure that the research would not end up in
\nchallenging state ideology or undermining state policy.<\/p>\n
"So it is no longer needed now," Darwin said.<\/p>\n
In reality, he said, the bureaucratic procedures were a mere
\nformality because the permit can be bought. Government
\nbureaucrats often do not read the research proposal. They just
\nstamp the proposal mechanically in return for money.<\/p>\n
But clever researchers can easily fool the bureaucrat by not
\nspecifying the subject matter they will study whenever it deals
\nwith a "sensitive" issue.<\/p>\n
"Now, what the government should do is to encourage scientists
\nto do more research, which it can use as input in policy making,"
\nDarwin said.<\/p>\n
Mochammad Maksum also had lots of stories to tell about
\nprocurement of research permits.<\/p>\n
The role of the military was obvious when Maksum conducted a
\nresearch on a plantation in South Sumatra in 1992.<\/p>\n
His team had all the necessary permits but officers from the
\nnow defunct coordinating agency for national stability and
\nsecurity (Bakortanas) in Jakarta ordered local authorities to
\nevict them from the research site.<\/p>\n
He also had another story of a bureaucratic hurdle for
\nresearchers, especially foreign researchers. He told about a
\nBritish scientist who conducted research last year after being
\nfrustrated that his application for a permit had received no
\nresponse after months of waiting.<\/p>\n
The British gentleman managed to get the permit days before
\nhis three-month research was completed. Want to know how he did
\nhis research? "He stayed in Kuala Lumpur and came occasionally to
\nIndonesia on a tourist visa," Maksum said.<\/p>\n
"I don't know where exactly the difficulty in the process of
\nissuing a research permit lies, but I feel it has something to do
\nwith security considerations. I don't think the complicated
\nbureaucracy for foreign researchers has a strong relation with
\nhidden motives such as money," Maksum said.<\/p>\n
Helene van Klinken, resident director of the Australian
\nConsortium for in-Country Indonesian Studies (ACICIS), also did
\nnot see the point of reestablishing restrictions for foreign
\nresearchers as the New Order administration did.<\/p>\n
"I still think that the restriction for conducting research
\nwas only imposed by the New Order regime," she said, adding that
\nshe did not encounter any problems with permits during her 18-
\nmonth stay in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, she suggested that Indonesia open its doors to
\nforeign researchers to improve the world's understanding of the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
In Australia, she said there were some Japanese researchers
\nwho came to conduct research on an Aboriginal tribe. Some of the
\nJapanese even had better knowledge about the Aborigines than
\nAustralians had.<\/p>\n
Maksum concurred and said that in this era of globalization,
\nIndonesia should be more open to foreign researchers conducting
\nresearch in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
This way, Indonesia would derive benefits from the research
\nconducted by foreigners. (23\/swa)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/researchers-call-for-simpler-permit-procedures-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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