ITB student magazine banned

BANDUNG: The rector of the prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) has banned the student bulletin Ganesha on the pretext that it is "tendentious and abusive".

Tresna Dermawan Kunaefi, the deputy rector on communication, said yesterday the bulletin has been published without proper permits from the rectorate.

Dermawan Kunaefi said that in its March edition, one of the bulletin articles improperly used the word saudara, a neutral personal pronoun, rather than a more deferential form, to refer to a deputy rector.

"I have asked them to suspend publication until they have fulfilled all our requirements and carry out the legal procedures," he told journalists.

The bulletin began publication in 1989 to provide information about the controversial trial of six students on charges of insulting the then home affairs minister Rudini.

The ban has enraged student activists. "We cannot understand why the permit and other legal procedures have become issues now. After all, the bulletin has been going for six years," said activist J. Pantoro Tri K. (17)