Govt inconsistent on 'steril' campus policy

Govt inconsistent on 'steril' campus policy

By Ariefuddin Saeni and Hasanuddin Hamid

UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): Months before the election
campaign started, the government was firm that university
campuses would be barred from political activities.

Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro's
statement that campuses should not be turned into an arena of
"practical politics" immediately gained support from a number of
university rectors.

One rector here said: "Campuses should be 'sterile' from
practical politics. I don't want my campus, which should be a
place for scientific development, to be preoccupied with
activities which don't support academic life."

The rector said he was against the idea of any of the election
contenders mounting a "dialog campaign" of political speeches and
debates on his campus.

"No campaign activities should be conducted on campus because
they could divide academics. They should be held off campus to
avoid controversy," the rector said.

But the issue, which is highly debatable, divided people over
the advantages and disadvantages of allowing or barring students
from becoming involved in politics. Some argued that students
need to be involved because they need "political education".

One of the latest statements came from the minister himself.
Speaking in Surabaya last Monday he said, "campuses are allowed
to invite the three election contenders for dialogs, as long as
the discussions are scientific".

"But they'd have to prove that the dialogs are scientific. How
do I know?" Wardiman was quoted by Antara as saying. He was
speaking on the plan of Muhammadiyah University in Malang to
invite representatives of the three groups to guest lecture on
campus.

Deputy rector Muhadjir Effendi said the plan to invite guest
lecturers from the three groups was necessary to stop the
students' growing apathy over the election.

Political observer Abdul Asis Thaba from the University of
Riau said last week in Pekanbaru that people who believed that
campuses should be free from political activities were "naive".

"Inviting representatives is not practical politics. It's a
political education. Besides, students are not that easily
divided over (political groups' speeches)," he was quoted by
Antara as saying.

While people continued to debate the issue on whether campuses
should be free from politics, thousands of high school students
were getting a first hand experience on politics.

Local Golkar officials visited several high schools, urging
the students to vote for the dominant group. The practice,
however, was not limited to the area, as there had been reports
about the same "visits" in various other parts of the country.

Pledge

An association of 36 student bodies here pledged before local
officials on April 13 that they stood united against any
undermining of national cohesion.

In front of the chief of the Wirabuana regional military
command, Maj. Gen. Agum Gumelar, provincial police chief Brig.
Gen. Ali Hanafiah H.Z. and Ujungpandang's mayor Malik B. Masry,
the students received yellow Golkar jackets.

Golkar's recruitment of potential cadres continued on April 16
when the South Sulawesi chapter of the Indonesian Red Cross
hosted a ceremony for 4,000 members of the Youths for Red Cross
pledging their support for Golkar in the general election.

The recruitments are common practice in senior high schools in
Ujungpandang, Gowa and Maros regencies. Senior high school
principal of SMU 159 Sungguminasa in Gowa regency, Bakra,
defended the practice, saying Golkar was recruiting potential
cadres, not campaigning.

Bakra denied that support for Golkar was meant to legitimize
their position in the province but said the dominant group needed
the students' support in the general election.

Bakra said the students' guided preference for Golkar would
help them look ahead to their future and better equip them for
challenges facing Indonesia.

Samal, the principal of senior high school SMU 2 Ujungpandang,
said that students at his school had the right to choose any of
the political groups, Golkar, the Indonesian Democratic Party
(PDI) or the United Development Party (PPP).

He said he was not against political activities. "As long as
they don't do it during school hours and don't wear a school
uniform," he said.

But Samal's argument would not sell for Golkar's rivals, PPP
and PDI. PPP chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum criticized Golkar for
mobilizing civil servants and students to attend its campaigns.

PPP's deputy secretary-general Mohammad Buang said that in
Riau, schools and government offices were deserted during Golkar
campaigns.

Buang said people who had business with the manpower and
religious affairs ministries' local offices were not looked after
because most employees were at campaign events.

Buang said elementary and high schools in Riau were closed
earlier this week because teachers and students were asked to
attend Golkar rallies. "It's a shame," he said.