Lecturer's sacking undemocratic

Most of the comments on the sacking of a well known lecturer from the Satya Wacana Christian University in Salatiga have deplored the incident.

Many fear that the light handed manner of dismissal, if it goes unsettled satisfactorily, will become a precedent for future actions. The public is wondering why such a thing could happen in a university, an institution which is supposed to uphold democratic values.

It is feared that every lecturer, or employee, of a university will find themselves out of a job, if they don't agree with the policies of the campus authorities.

The campus authorities could have resorted to other ways out, rather than sacking Dr. Arief Budiman as a reaction to his attempt to bring the case of the recent university rector's election to court.

It is known that our university life has a poor record in regards to democratic means of addressing various internal issues. This is understandable as they are part of the bureaucracy. Look at the recent election of a rector and a dean at Gadjah Mada University. The campus authorities had no power whatsoever over the candidate and were vulnerable to outside pressure.

Arief Budiman's effort to bring the problem to court should not be viewed as an attempt to prolong it, but rather to look for a fairer solution to the Satya Wacana rector's election which he viewed as being carried out in an unfair manner.

We do hope that the campus authorities will face the issue fairly in court.

-- Jawa Pos, Surabaya