Muladi calls on intellectuals to end war of words
Muladi calls on intellectuals to end war of words
SEMARANG (JP): Respected scholar Muladi has called for an end to the war of words between prominent intellectuals over their role in society, saying they ran the risk of confusing the public.
The rector of Diponegoro University and member of the National Commission on Human Rights said yesterday: "the polemics must stop. It's already obvious the role of an intellectual is to give voice to the truth, not (to concoct) justifications.
"At this moment, it is the intellectuals who have been creating public anxiety, because they often fail to fully analyze issues," he said.
Muladi was commenting on a controversy which ensued after several political analysts spoke in a recent seminar on the conflicts besetting the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
They also touched on the close ties that PDI chief Megawati Soekarnoputri appeared to have been enjoying with Abdurrahman Wahid, chairman of the 30-million strong Nahdlatul Ulama Moslem organization.
Nazaruddin Syamsuddin and Amir Santoso of the University of Indonesia, in Jakarta, and Afan Gaffar and Riswandha Imawan of Gadjah Mada University, in Yogyakarta, were the speakers in the discussion. Some participants commented that, except for Riswandha, the speakers were not objective and leaned toward the government.
Abdurrahman, himself a noted scholar, said the speakers were "targeting" NU and PDI, and called them intellectuals who could be bought. He also said they were examples of intellectuals whose speeches are made to order.
The Merdeka daily quoted Abdurrahman last week as saying intellectuals were experiencing "a crisis" of identity; they were striving to enter the power system by selling out to even more ambitious government officials.
"They are willing to do rotten things. They are 'hooligan' intellectuals," Abdurrahman said.
Afan took offense at the statement of Abdurrahman, better known as Gus Dur, and said the Moslem leader was being undemocratic. "If I'm paid after I give speeches, that's because I sweat, I prepare papers. What's wrong with the organizers of seminars paying expenses?" he said.
Through Merdeka, Abdurrahman again responded to Afan's statement, reportedly saying: "Does Afan understand democracy? Taking offense at my comments like that shows he shouldn't have made speeches about politics if he does not even understand what democracy is."
Muladi yesterday suggested that, in order to end the controversy once and for all, an open debate should be held, featuring Abdurrahman Wahid and the four intellectuals he reportedly accused of being corrupt.
"However, I'm not sure Gus Dur really made that remark," he said. "Corrupt intellectuals are those who make justifications rather than speak the truth, and speak as they are ordered to."
In addition, the open debate would be expected to clarify whether Abdurrahman really made the remarks, Muladi said.
Earlier this week Afan again lashed out at Abdurrahman, and found another target on which to train his criticism; the press.
He told reporters in Yogyakarta that the Indonesian press lacks objectivity. In fact, "the media has begun to show signs of being partisan," he said.
He pointed out a report in Kompas which said that the seminar participants had failed to come up with solutions to the conflict in PDI.
"It's not true. All the speakers had formulated their own solutions, but the moderator did not read them out," he said.
He cited as another example of partisanship being the press' coverage on the congress of Nahdlatul Ulama in Dec. 1994 in Cipasung, West Java. At that time, most of the media showed blatant support of Abdurrahman Wahid at the expense of the truth, he said.
"The press has even manipulated facts in order to achieve certain goals," he charged. (har/02/swe)