Rectors convene over RI's future

Rectors convene over RI's future

YOGYAKARTA: The country's university rectors convene here to formulate the high-profile vision and mission of the nation and strategies to approach them in relation to the upcoming July presidential race.

Results of the meeting -- the Campus Convention for the Future of Indonesia -- will be handed to the elected president.

"Universities throughout the country will receive them too, so that they will be able to play a role as a moral influence on the new administration," said host rector Sofian Effendi of Gadjah Mada University.

The gathering was initiated by the Forum of Indonesian Rectors (FRI) in cooperation with the Indonesian Rector Assembly (MRI). It was officially closed on Saturday.

Universities were concerned at the deteriorating political and social state of the country and therefore the rectors were called to make a contribution to the country's recovery.

Scholar Azyumardi Azra, who is also the rector of the Indonesian Islamic University, law expert and human rights fighter Todung Mulya Lubis, Makarim Wibisono of the foreign ministry and economist Rizal Ramli were speakers at the conference.

"We deliberately did not invite politicians because we want it (the ideas to be formulated) to be purely from an academic perspective," Sofian said. --JP