Campus bulletins voice message of reform

Campus bulletins voice message of reform

By Ati Nurbaiti

JAKARTA (JP): The rising prominence of university students has
been the dominant feature in calls for political and economic
reforms in the country.

It has been their incessant and outspoken rallies over the
past four months which have undoubtedly shifted the momentum
toward reform.

But even to the students themselves, this outward mobility has
taken them by surprise and many were not quite sure what was
going on when they first saw huge protests staged on their
campuses.

This was the backdrop to the birth of the campus bulletins
which have been cropping up at major universities across the
country.

The first and most prominent is the University of Indonesia
student's bulletin Bergerak!.

Kicked off on March 10, a day after a 1,500-strong rally of
University of Indonesia students, the daily is primarily focused
on providing information to the 30,000 students studying at the
university's campuses in Salemba, Central Jakarta, and Depok on
the southern outskirts of the city.

"The daily aims to bridge the gap for students who are unaware
of things going on around them," said Achmad Noerhoeri, a member
of the daily's makeshift editorial staff.

They claim that circulation hovers at around 1,000 copies.

"This sells out very quickly especially when there is a mass
gathering," Achmad said.

But it is unclear whether Bergerak! is as popular when there
are "idle days" with few rallies.

The four-page daily comes out on weekdays and is sold for Rp
600 each. Each copy costs about Rp 550 to produce.

Alumni occasionally provide support by paying, for instance,
much more for a copy.

The daily is printed on brown paper and crammed with news
reports on student rallies, interviews and an editorial.

Written in a loose, often belligerent, style, most stories
center upon the students themselves, often highlighting incidents
which they claim occurred but were not covered in the mainstream
press.

Other stories often center around the peculiarities students
face when they are active in the reform movement.

One such story told of when the campus telecommunications
center was unusually crowded one evening.

The students, who were participating in a rally were calling
their Ibu Kos (landladies), to ask for an extension on their
curfews so they would not be locked out of their boarding house.

Another edition offered suggestions on attending rallies,
ranging from legal advice on the rights of demonstrators to light
tips such as bringing anti-mosquito lotion and the playful
remark, "don't forget your make-up, who knows CNN might shoot
you".

But what would Bergerak! report on in the absence of
demonstrations?

"Actually we prefer to publish when they are no
demonstrations," Achmad claimed. "There would be time and space
for more in-depth stories such as commentaries and analysis."

Apathy

The University of Indonesia in the 1960s and 1970s was
renowned as being a bedrock of activism. However, since the
1980s, students at the university have often been the target of
ridicule from their colleagues in Bandung, Yogyakarta and other
cities for their frequent refusal to join in student protests.

"This is a reality," Achmad acknowledged. "We have lots of
students from well-to-do families who might not really feel the
affect of the crisis."

He cited a recent survey in Go Fisip, published by the school
of political and social sciences, which cited that most students
at the university really did not care about politics.

It is this group which is one of Bergerak!'s primary targets.

Based on information and views provided in the bulletin,
Achmad said, students can "decide whether or not they would like
to join demonstrations".

Despite the fact that the bulletin was created as a medium to
inform students about student activism in the reform movement,
Achmad strongly denies that it is opinionated or merely geared to
mobilize and incite support for rallies.

He further denied suggestions of it being an underground
publication influenced and paid for by outside parties and
maintains it is not "a stage for hate speeches".

However he refused to reveal if there were any large
contributors from outside the university.

According to Bergerak! chief editor Bhayu M., the bulletin has
the full support of the rectorate, with only a few words of
caution.

Bergerak! has now reached beyond campus grounds but University
of Indonesia students, who range from offspring of the Depok
Police precinct chief to those of ministers and noted
politicians, are still the targeted readership.

"There's no use in rallying the public to join us if students
themselves don't understand the situation," Bhayu, who majors in
library studies, said.

The 32 editors and reporters, which include a team of
photographers, distributors, a production team, setters,
logistics staff and even a research and development person work
in shifts, made possible by the fact that they have different
class times.

"We also have extension program students who take the evening
classes," Bhayu said.

He admitted that academic activities were no doubt effected in
one way or another but the large support from students willing to
be involved has helped to ease the workload.

The university guards or satpam are no less important in the
work environment of Bergerak! as production hours continue into
the wee hours.

Bhayu added that working for the bulletin has not been without
its hazards, pointing to occasional telephone calls from
unidentified persons demanding that a certain story not be
published.

As the students juggle their spare time to put out the paper,
they say they have no illusions about rival Veritas, the
newsletter which fed the "people power" movement in the
Philippines which, according to Asian Rates and Data Service, had
a circulation of over 71,000 in 1986/1987.

An editorial in Bergerak! can best described what they aim to
achieve: "We are only postmen going around delivering letters,
carrying news of what's happening on our campus."

Whatever the case may be, the birth of Bergerak! has inspired
the procreation of other student bulletins and newsletters
focusing on student rallies and the reform movement such as Gugat
and Bunderan from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, and Suara
Airlangga from Airlangga University in Surabaya, East Java.