Rector denies banning Goenawan from campus

Rector denies banning Goenawan from campus

SURABAYA (JP): Sentot Soeatmadji, rector of Wijaya Kusuma
University, denies having banned senior journalist Goenawan
Mohamad from addressing an on-campus discussion on general
elections last Friday.

The rector said that he only dismissed the discussion, which
had gone on for around 30 minutes, because the participants did
not have his permission to speak.

"I never wished to ban him from the campus. I did dismiss the
meeting because it didn't have a permit," he said on Saturday.

Goenawan, the former chief editor of the banned Tempo
magazine, is also one of the founders of the Independent Election
Monitoring Committee. He was invited by the university's student
body to talk about the poll watchdog before some 200 participants
on Friday.

Goenawan had just begun to speak when deputy rector Bambang
Eko Witono appeared and demanded that the participants and
Goenawan leave. After some arguing, Goenawan left.

Student leader Fairoz Umar protested the incident and said the
students went on with the planned discussion because he had
already received "the green light" from Bambang.

Rector Sentot, however, said the university's administration
never approved the proposal for the discussion, which was
submitted to him on April 6.

"The planned meeting was a political event. This campus is a
scientific institution and shouldn't dabble in practical
politics," he said.

Since its establishment last month, the independent poll
watchdog has been a source of controversy. Various institutions
and individual leaders, from both the military and civilian
ranks, have had mixed reactions to its formation and presence.

One of the latest comments came from the influential
Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI). Jakarta
branch chairman Achmad Tirtosudiro said that the organization
will not prevent its members from joining the independent poll
watchdog as long as they do it in a personal capacity.

"By all means," Achmad told The Jakarta Post on Saturday. "But
the organization itself supports the official Election
Supervision Committee because ICMI believes the committee is fair
and capable.

"And should any member violate our regulations, they'll be
reprimanded," he said. (15/01/swe)