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.