Ban on political forums muzzles campuses

Ban on political forums muzzles campuses

By Israr Ardiansyah

YOGYAKARTA (JP): With open political discussions declared off-
limits at university campuses, the question remains whether
students need to be involved in politics.

Although the government believes in political education for
the public in general, it prohibits university campuses from
serving as campaigning arenas.

This policy has not prevented the government-endorsed Golkar
from recruiting rectors and professors as its campaigners. Golkar
has also been accused of trying to persuade high school students
to cast their vote for them. Indonesia's voting age is 17 years.

Many students say the result of the ban is university campuses
locked in the doldrums of stifled political expression.

In 1978, the government banned university student councils,
often seen as the prime mover in the founding of critical and
democratically inspired youth movements, in what it argued was an
effort to "normalize" life on campuses.

The government also forbade student organizations from setting
up office on campus grounds. These organizations include
Pergerakan Mahasiswa Katolik Republik Indonesia (PMKRI, Movement
of Indonesian Catholic Students), Himpunan Mahasiswa Islam (HMI,
Association of Moslem Students) and Gerakan Mahasiswa Nasional
Indonesia (GMNI, Indonesian National Students Movement), which in
the mid-1960s had spawned the student activists who helped usher
in the New Order administration of President Soeharto.

Daoed Joesoef, education minister in the late 1970s, earned
the wrath of many students. Despite their protests of lengthy
strikes and boycotts of classes, the policies remain in effect.

With the loss of vibrant political activities on campus came
the perception that students now prefer to study and party.

The view is debatable, of course, as there is plenty of proof
that students still wish to express their political beliefs.
Witness the hundreds of youths carrying university flags who
established non-governmental organizations to help poor farmers
and small-scale landowners.

Many students remain a "moral force". It follows that they do
not take kindly to political aspirations of professors and
seniors university administrators.

Several rectors of notable universities, including Gadjah Mada
University here (UGM) and University of Indonesia in Depok, West
Java, are legislative candidates for the ruling Golkar.

UGM Rector Soekanto Reksohadiprodjo faced stiff opposition
from most students, who alleged the campus grounds had been
transformed into a Golkar promotional stage.

"It is the students' right if they choose to disagree with my
candidacy," Soekanto told The Jakarta Post recently. "Students
also have the right to practise politics outside of the campus
grounds and choose their candidates from the parties."

Non-voting

The forced separation between campuses and politics, in
addition to the widespread discontent over the current political
situation, has led some analysts to warn of a possible rise in
students boycotting the polls.

A survey last month here found that 36.6 percent of UGM
students and 39.3 percent of those at Yogyakarta State Institute
for Islamic Studies (IAIN) have decided not to vote because they
professed little confidence in the election process.

They fall under the category of Golput (literally "white
group"), people who abstain from voting. Only 24.4 percent of UGM
and 32.5 percent of IAIN students planned to vote on May 29. The
remaining surveyed students said they were undecided while only 6
percent of IAIN students were of the opinion that the Indonesian
elections will be held in an honest and fair manner.

"How can I have confidence in the coming elections if the
total number of appointed members at the House of Representatives
is larger than those who were elected?" said Titok Haryanto of
the UGM Students Council.

Many students apparently agree with him as several campus
protests in April and May called for an election boycott.

The popularity of abstaining from the vote is common among
students, says M.T. Arifin, a political observer from Surakarta.

"Golput will be found among student groups. Generally
speaking, they are indifferent to the situation. They believe
that nothing is going to be changed anyway and that they are
right in their protest against the elections," said Arifin.

Not significant

Arifin believes many youths, student groups and urban groups
will become nonvoters, but their number is not significant on the
national scale.

"Students are likely to change their minds once they graduate
and join the workforce, or even become officials," Arifin said.
"They would no longer be golput."

Alfian Dharmawan of the Yogyakarta chapter of the United
Development Party (PPP), said students become nonvoters because
they do not have confidence in the local political parties.

"Those nonvoters won't be able to share our pride when we, as
the members of political parties, finally prove to have changed
conditions for the better," Alfian said.

"I am a student, but I am into politics, too," he added.
"Substantial public changes cannot be separated from campus life,
it happens in all countries."

He stressed that the absence of politics on campuses have
robbed students of the testing ground to become national leaders.

"The present government wants to make students into
technocrats and bureaucrats," he said.

Arifin defended Golkar's recruitment of high school students.
"That's politics," he said. "Rectors wishing to become Golkar
candidates? Go ahead as long as they are not active on the campus
grounds.

"Many of the intellectuals joining political parties are not
really serious," he added. "They're doing it only for appearance
sake."