Amal wins students' heart

By Asip Agus Hasani

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Political scientist Ichlasul Amal rose up to the first test of his leadership when he met hundreds of students demonstrating for reform on the day he was installed as rector of Gadjah Mada University on March 23.

"I promise to provide as wide a space as possible for your aspirations. I am placing myself at your disposal so you can channel your aspirations about problems facing our country," he told the students gathered outside the Students Hall.

A week later, he witnessed some of the bloodiest demonstrations in months when students clashed with security personnel, leaving many seriously injured.

Amal and his assistant, Bambang Kartika, faced up to the security forces' leaders, calling on them not to "provoke students." Amal also went to the local police station to seek the release of some students detained there.

He maintained his favorable stance toward student demonstrations even when Minister of Education and Culture Wiranto Arismunandar reiterated a ban on students becoming involved in practical politics.

Amal said: "Practical politics has nothing to do with student demonstrations, since the government has banned political parties from entering campuses.

"The minister said rectors need to identify for themselves whether certain activities of their students could be categorized as practical politics, and I don't think my students' activities can be called that."

Born in the East Java town of Jember on Aug. 1, 1942, Amal left for Yogyakarta in 1961 in order to study economics at Gadjah Mada University. But the school of economics was too far from his boarding house, so he decided on international relations instead.

He graduated in 1967 and later taught at Gadjah Mada's School of Social and Political Sciences. He obtained his masters degree at Northern Illinois University in the United States in 1974, and his doctorate in political science at Monash University in Australia 10 years later.

President Soeharto approved Amal's rectorship after he defeated fellow professors Sofian Effendy and Suprodjo in an election earlier this year.

He soon proved to have won the hearts of many, especially students who were facing financial difficulties due to the crisis and unable to pay their tuition fees. Amal promised to help them, and part-time workers at the university who were only making Rp 75,000 (US$8.33) per month.

Koento Wibisono, the chairman of an association of Gadjah Mada alumni, praised Amal for his quick response to the students' plight.

"I admire the way he responded quickly to reports that more and more students find it difficult to pay their tuition fees," said Koento.

Koento said Amal was facing the difficult tasks of handling student protests while maintaining scientific activities and developing Gadjah Mada as a research university.

Amal was considered to be a popular choice. In September last year, 500 Gadjah Mada students held a poll on who they would like to see leading the campus; and Amal won 34 percent -- way above the other 21 names mentioned by the poll organizers.

"He is a rector after the students' hearts," said Ridaya La Ode Ngkowe, chairman of the Gadjah Mada student body.

Another student leader, Haris Rusli, said Amal would be ideal to lead an educational institution struggling to achieve its autonomy.

Moderate

Amal, however, is not known for his sharp analysis on Indonesian politics. He is more moderate than many other political observers.

"It's probably the consequence of being a bureaucrat as well as an observer," he said. But he defined his "moderate" stance as desiring compromise between those who are seeking to maintain the status quo and those who are pro-change.

"There are times when we need a pro-change, radical stance, like now, when economic and political reforms are badly needed," he said. "If students remain silent in a multidimensional crisis such as this, they will become a laughing stock.

"As a moral force, students should be in the forefront of those seeking change," he said.

The slowness with which Indonesia was coping with its economic troubles is due to problems in its political system. "The private debt (problem) went out of control because of collusion, nepotism and because our political system has a big leeway that allows abuse of authority."

Amal says there's a difference between today's student demands for reform with those of the students in the 1960s, who were basing their movement on the question of ideology. "Today's problems need careful and rational handling," he said.

"We can learn from the (now defunct) Soviet Union, which changed its system in a gradual and extraordinary manner, without violence or any setbacks (to its economy)," he said.

He suggested that students concentrate their demands on reform, and stay away, at least for now, on other issues such as East Timor.

Amal was convinced the Armed Forces (ABRI) was also rethinking its stance and role as it had proved to be unable to do much to alleviate the monetary crisis.

"Students need to realize that ABRI is a real political force, as is the government," said Amal, who organizes the postgraduate program on national resilience. "On the other hand, ABRI should admit that students, too, are a political force. Especially now that the nation is facing such a multidimensional crisis."