Expert: Students learn violence from state leaders

JAKARTA (JP): An educator and a psychologist warned on Wednesday that violence has penetrated into the hearts of the people, including students, who prefer violence to dialog in settling conflicts.

"We have become accustomed to settling our problems by forcing our will (upon others) and neglecting dialog as a means for the management of conflict," educational expert Arif Rahman told The Jakarta Post.

Arif, a lecturer at the former Jakarta Teachers Training Institute (IKIP Jakarta), said the predilection toward violence is now being taken up by youths, students and children to force their individual or group's interest upon others.

Similarly, psychologist Saparinah Sadli said the youths and students are following the example of the state's violent approach to settling its problems.

"Students learn about life from their state leaders. They inherently follow the leaders' patterns in solving problems," she told the Post on the sidelines of a Workshop on Violence Against Women and Its Alternative Solutions at Hotel Kemang in South Jakarta on Wednesday.

Saparinah said the death of University of Indonesia student Yap Yun Hap was an example of how the state used violence to pursue it interests. Yun Hap was shot on Friday, the second of two days of rallies, protesting the newly approved state security bill.

Arif said parents and lecturers should educate their children and students about God and encourage them to be dedicated to Him.

"Lecturers should not only teach science and knowledge, but also humanitarian values to their students," he said.

He also suggested that lecturers should introduce a "sense of shame" to students to prevent them from taking part in any violent measures as a way of settling conflicts.

"All students, not only Trisakti University students, should adopt an intellectual approach to managing conflicts among themselves," he said, while commenting on the brawl sparked between two rival schools of the Trisakti University in West Jakarta on Tuesday.

The brawl claimed a mechanical engineering student's life. Muhammad Taufik Lubis was butchered to death although he was not a member of rival school gangs. Two students of the oil department at the university's mineral engineering school, Salman Arfaiziar and Yudo Arsito, suffered serious wounds during the incident.

Meanwhile, Saparinah called for firm implementation of the law against any violent action between the state and the students.

"All people, especially state leaders, should uphold the law in all of their actions," Saparinah, a lecturer at the University of Indonesia's School of Psychology, said. (asa)