Govt wants university to solve crisis
Govt wants university to solve crisis
JAKARTA (JP): The government has expressed serious concern
over the ongoing turmoil besetting Satya Wacana Christian
University, but has indicated that solving the dispute is an
internal matter for the university.
"Every (private) university has its own statutes...it should
solve internal squabbles according to them," Minister of
Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro said yesterday in a
hearing with the House of Representatives' Commission IX, which
oversees education and religious affairs.
"Besides, every university has its own traditions...There are
universities which have existed for 50 years, they should be able
to solve problems on the basis of those customs," the minister
added.
Wardiman said that, of the 1,159 universities in Indonesia, at
least 30 were are currently embroiled in one conflict or another.
Dozens of teachers at Satya Wacana University in Salatiga,
Central Java, have been on a strike over a mass dismissal of
teaching staff and the election of the university rector which,
they say, was "undemocratic".
The university's management has dismissed more than a dozen
senior lecturers for demanding the reinstatement of scholar Arief
Budiman, dismissed last year, as well as new elections to the
rectorship.
Despite ongoing staff and student protests, Rector John JOI
Ihalaw has sought to proceed with the admission of new students.
However, seven of the university's eight schools have refused to
admit new students.
"There are some people involved in the conflict who are
stubborn," Wardiman said, without naming any person or group.
"But we can't force them (to end the dispute)."
Another major focus of yesterday's hearing were the
allegations of manipulation of the final exam results of
elementary school students.
Seven of the 16 legislators who spoke asked the minister about
the reported manipulation of the students' final scores.
Wardiman said that he was still waiting for formal reports to
be lodged with his office. Only then would he assign officials to
handle the case and take action against anyone found to have been
involved in the manipulation of results, he said.
"We will punish them," he added.
"The problem occurs because of the limited number of junior
and senior high schools compared with the number of (elementary
school) students graduating," he said.
"A long-term solution would be to establish more schools," the
minister said, without elaborating.
Dozens of parents from 18 elementary schools in Bandung, West
Java, recently complained to the Legal Aid Foundation that their
children's final scores had been tampered with by corrupt
teachers.
The parents claimed that teachers were "selling" improved
scores for between Rp 250,000 (US$112) and Rp 400,000. (swe)