PIKI, ICMI and FCHI not enough? How about ICKI
PIKI, ICMI and FCHI not enough? How about ICKI
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian intelligentsia can add one more
acronym to their already impressive list with the birth of ICKI,
the Association of Indonesian Nationalist Intellectuals (ICKI).
The new organization, founded last week, quickly received the
official seal of approval to coexist with the three similar
organizations whose memberships are based on religions -- PIKI
(Christian), ICMI (Islam), and FCHI (Hindu).
"Good, continue," Minister of Defense and Security Gen. Edi
Sudradjat said yesterday when asked to comment on the new group.
Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. despite giving his
blessing was more reserved.
"Personally I don't think it was necessary to have another
one, but we can't prohibit them can we?" he said prior to a
cabinet meeting at the Bina Graha presidential office yesterday.
Yogie said that ICMI and PIKI were sufficient to serve
society's interests.
He acknowledged however that ICKI's creation might be a
manifestation of dissatisfaction with the other two.
The establishment of ICKI began during a meeting on April 29th
at Krisnadwipayana University in Jakarta. Some of the speakers at
the meeting were former cabinet minister Alamsyah
Ratuperwiranegara and Prof. Sambas Wirakusuma.
Madiri Thamrin Sianipar, a lecturer at the university who was
present at the meeting, said there was a common pulse among the
participants for a new intellectual coalition based on
nationalism.
Madiri went on to explain that ICKI's formation is not the
brainchild of an individual person but the concrete expression of
hitherto unexpressed social desire.
He also strongly denied that ICKI was created in opposition to
the two more senior organizations.
"It was not formed as a reaction or out of disappointment with
the existing intellectual organizations," Sianipar said.
ICKI at present still holds informal status and
Krisnadwipayana's rector, Muhono, has been assigned to do the
follow-up for the organization's establishment.
Alamsyah had originally proposed that ICKI invite
representatives from ICMI and PIKI, but the proposal was not
passed by the forum, Madiri said.
Muhono and Sianipar will meet with representatives from
several private universities to discuss further development of
the association later this month.
A separate development also occurring at Krisnadwipayana
campus is the formation of a young intellectual's association by
the faculty of the university.
Though not yet formally established, the association has
elected Budiono Suprapto, a member of the economics department,
as president.
Their move to appoint well known thinker Bambang Trihatmodjo,
the son of President Soeharto, as head of the advisory council
failed when Bambang turned the offer down.
Other eminent persons such as the businessmen Fadel Muhammad
and Aburizal Bakrie have also been contacted but have yet to
confirm their participation. (07)