Communication breakdown

When the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) wound up its General Session 10 days ago, many people had hoped that the protests which had been taking place on various campuses throughout the country would also end. After all, the protests were seen as part of the students' attempt to influence the MPR proceedings in electing the president and vice president, and in enacting the State Policy Guidelines for the 1998/2003 period.

Since the major political issues, on which the MPR had painstakingly worked for months, have been settled, there is no reason for students to continue their protests, or so the argument goes. No amount of protests could bring the MPR members to revise their decisions.

Protesting students think differently. Their protests have became more vociferous, not less. Besides calling for action to lower basic food prices, they are also pressing for political reform, including changes in the national leadership.

The protests have escalated and expanded since March 11. Hardly a day goes by now without protests at some colleges. Although one or two of these protests degenerated into skirmishes with the authorities, most have been conducted peacefully on the campuses.

The students' insistence on continuing the protests reflects their low opinion of the MPR's sessions, and their anger at being completely sidelined. If they are ignoring the MPR decisions now, they are simply getting their own back.

The Armed Forces (ABRI) faction in the MPR was the only political group to have met with a delegation from the University of Indonesia's Student Senate for dialog. Other factions did not even bother to listen to students' demands. And even that one meeting with the ABRI faction, which was widely covered by the media, showed that students and the military did not see eye to eye on many major political questions facing Indonesia.

To their credit, the authorities have so far shown great restraint. They have tolerated these protests, in spite of the increasingly blunt messages and strong language used by students.

The economic crisis undoubtedly has given students plenty to grumble about, and they need an outlet to channel their grievances and frustrations.

Police have allowed these protests to take place as long as they are held inside the campuses. This is very wise, for, to try to suppress their anger, for example by breaking up the demonstrations, the authorities run the risk of antagonizing the students, and this can be counterproductive.

Comments from government and military officials about these protests have also been circumspect, and some even positive. Armed Forces Chief Gen. Wiranto, for example, has proposed dialog with the students to discuss their demands.

What good the dialog would do is questionable, as apparent from the students' cool response to Gen. Wiranto's gesture. The offer came too late, and it came from the wrong quarter.

Dialog with the military is not likely to lead to the MPR rolling back its decisions. At best, it would be a forum for students to let off steam and a chance to be heard, although not necessarily listened to. But this is something that students are already enjoying in their campus protests.

A dialog should have been held with the MPR factions or its members during the General Session, certainly before they reached their decisions on matters crucial to the future of this nation.

Unfortunately, with the exception of the military, there was not the slightest intention from the other MPR factions to lend an ear to the students.

To dismiss the students as representing a minority voice in the country is a gross and dangerous oversimplification, especially given that these protests occurred spontaneously at all the major colleges in the country.

The obsession to make the MPR General Session a success had virtually forced all the political factions to work according to a prepared script. The few attempts to deviate from this scenario were quickly quashed. In the process, they have virtually cut themselves off from the rest of the nation.

The MPR sessions may go down in history as the one of the smoothest. Its success, if it could be called that, however, must be discounted by the breakdown in communication between the political elite on the one hand, and the people, as represented by the students, on the other.