Politics 'inseparable from education'

Politics 'inseparable from education'

JAKARTA (JP): Politics is inseparable from education, unless
the country plans to generate "illiterate politicians" who could
not be expected to lead the republic out of the current crises, a
noted politician and educationalist said here on Thursday.

"You cannot escape politics or separate it from education,"
Mochtar Buchori told delegates at a one-day seminar titled
"Education and the Nation's Crisis".

"Politics is the way to manage the broad environment, and not
merely a struggle for power. Therefore it is the duty of schools
to help students differentiate between good politics and bad
politics," Mochtar said.

He did not elaborate on the two sides of politics, but
referred to the process used to allocate the state's budget for
education as an example.

Poor education is one source of the country's crisis, he said.

"The crisis now facing the nation stems from an accumulation
of inappropriate or wrong political decisions generated in the
past.

"At one time in the past we had a generation of judicious
political leaders, who guided the nation to political
independence. But eventually we saw a generation whose political
decisions, viewed with a long-term perspective, proved to be
misguided," he said, referring to the New Order regime which
ruled Indonesia for 32 years.

Mochtar, an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) legislator, said he was concerned about the gradual
but steady decline in the country's education system.

Another speaker at the seminar, Abdillah Toha, asserted that
the government must act as an effective facilitator in education.

"In the past we produced too many graduates and did not really
care about their quality. It's time to lift the quality of
education," said Abdillah, who is also an executive of the
National Mandate Party (PAN).

He further said that the government must give educators more
opportunities to develop their creativity in teaching.

"A rigid, centralized curriculum will no longer be effective.
Such a curriculum can easily be manipulated by the government to
serve the interests of the status quo," Abdillah said.

In his response, scholar Faisal Basri suggested that education
be emphasized "more on the values and essence of life".

"There is definitely something wrong with our education
system. These crooked politicians ... they would not have emerged
if we shared certain values which are cultivated through
education," Faisal, who is also former member of PAN, said.

Moderated by Marco Kusumawijaya of the British Council,
Thursday's seminar also featured Sindhunata, who read his poem
titled Celeng (Wild boar), education expert Bambang Hidayat and
the Asia Foundation's Douglas E. Ramage.

Seven books on education were also launched at the seminar,
three of which were written by Mochtar Buchori. Mochtar's works
are titled Notes on Education in Indonesia, Before and After
Reform and Pendidikan Antisipatoris (Anticipatory Education).

The other four books launched were Sindhunata's Membuka Masa
Depan Anak-Anak Kita (Opening the Future for Our Children),
Menggagas Paradigma Baru Pendidikan (Assessing the New Education
Paradigm), Pendidikan: Kegelisahan Sepanjang Zaman (Education:
Eternal Anxiety) and Transformasi Pendidikan (Transforming
Education), which was edited by A. Atmadi and Y. Setiyaningsih.

The books were published by The Jakarta Post daily and
Kanisius publishing house, with support from Basis magazine, the
Asia Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Yogyakarta-based
Sanata Dharma University. (edt)