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.