Highly protested student regiments to stay: Minister
JAKARTA (JP): The much protested university student regiments will be retained but their existence will be reviewed in view of the controversy, the government said yesterday.
Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman convened a special meeting with ministers under his charge at his office yesterday to discuss the future of the regiments, popularly known as Resimen Mahasiswa or Menwa for short.
The meeting concluded that the regiment is still necessary, "although reviews need to be made on the government regulation which oversees their existence", said a statement issued after the meeting.
The recruitment process, training, line of command and the duty, purpose and activities of Menwa will all be reviewed.
The meeting was attended by Ministers of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M., Defense and Security Gen. Edi Sudradjat, Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro, State Minister of Administrative Reforms T.B. Silalahi, Armed Forces Chief Feisal Tanjung and officials of the State Intelligence Coordinating Agency and the National Resilience Institute.
The meeting commissioned a working group to review the 1978 joint decree on Menwa and present its report by the end of this month so the new regulation can be implemented in time for the 1995-1996 academic year.
Menwa was established by joint decree by the ministers of defense and security, education and culture and home affairs. Its existence is seen as part and parcel of the national total people's defense concept.
The reputation of Menwa has been marred lately as certain members from the regiments throughout the country have acted in behavior considered "excessive", "arrogant" and even "more military-like than the army" by their fellow students.
Brawls
Menwa members have been involved in brawls at several universities with fellow students who are not members of the regiment. The most recent brawls occurred in Jakarta's National University and Surabaya's 17 Augustus 1945 University.
Minister Wardiman, in response to concerned calls from House members several months ago, said such excessive actions should be dealt with on a case by case basis.
As the ministers yesterday met to review the future of Menwa, students in Semarang and Bandung held protests demanding that the government dismantle the regiments once and for all.
In Semarang, 200 students held a rally at the State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN), rejecting the presence of Menwa in their campus.
They said Menwa activities were now no longer scientific but were instead physically abusive.
Menwa's actions, the protesters said, have "swept the campus with blood". The protesters demanded for a dismantling of Menwa in all universities, the revocation of the joint government regulation on Menwa and trials on student regiment members involved in criminal actions.
In Bandung, hundreds of students from universities around the area yesterday joined in a similar protest on the campus grounds of the Sunan Gunung Djati IAIN.
Some 10 students took turns speaking in front of the group to explain the abusive treatment they have received from Menwa members.
Although they insisted they did not ask student regiments to be repealed, they requested "several corrections so Menwa members do not feel they have power over their fellow students". (har/pet/pwn)