Reject the education bill

Reject the education bill

B. Herry-Priyono
Lecturer
Driyarkara School of Philosophy
Jakarta

These are the days of tragic reckoning. It comes from the
perennial irony that has long beset this country: Talking law is
simultaneously the most irrelevant and most urgent.

Contradictory? The fact that it appears contradictory is
itself a measure of the depth of the problem besieging our
Republic.

These days, it concerns the fate of the notorious education
bill. There is nothing perfect under the sun, but some are more
imperfect than others. Among the imperfect, the most ludicrous is
the education bill currently being debated.

The absurdity of the bill has received extensive coverage. One
of these absurdities is the blatant absence of the fundamental
purpose of education, "to nourish intellectual capabilities of
the people for a national civic life". The other is the
unparalleled sectarian direction deeply involved in the bill to
the point that Gus Dur (former president Abdurrahman Wahid) said
bluntly that it was a tactic to erect an Islamic state (Public
Dialogue, TVRI, June 9, 2003, 7 p.m.-8 p.m.).

We have not even touched upon the other problems besetting the
bill, but the above flaws are sufficient to raise the eyebrows of
those concerned with education in this Republic.

Many with unrivaled expertise and experience as well as those
most knowledgeable about education (such as Mochtar Buchori),
have strongly urged the legislature to revoke, postpone, or amend
the bill. Their chorus of expertise and wisdom falls on deaf
ears.

It is indeed a curious and unhappy fact that such an extremely
important and as grave a constitutional matter as national
education is left to those who are pedestrian on the issue.
Again, in matters of great importance, the fate of the Republic
has fallen into thuggery or "preman-ism". How has this happened?

Many views have been aired, but those who reject the bill
outright on the basis of its etatist and authoritarian character
seem to have misunderstood the realpolitik of the bill. Their
criticisms have mostly been directed to the State as the chief
actor of this absurdity.

In fact, it has nothing to do with the state. The state is not
an actor but an arena, quite like a boxing arena. A boxing arena
can do nothing, for it is merely a stage upon which the bouts
take place. So, the criticism that the bill is the act of an
authoritarian state is a verbal bubble, devoid of substance.

In other instances, a somewhat similar criticism has been
directed to the Government as the one responsible for the bill.
But, in the strict sense of the term, a government is not an
actor either, for it is simply the public agency vested with the
authority to manage the state.

In this sense, government is also an arena upon which various
actors advance their interests, and history has given countless
proof that both the states and governments in developing
countries are so vulnerable to this tendency. It is no secret
that many governments in developing countries are empty shells or
paper tigers with no real power to carry out the tasks they are
supposed to do.

Of course, the problem is not whether the actors involved in
the struggle have vested interests; the real problem is that some
interests are more destructive than others. When we say that "no
bill is perfect, but some bills are more imperfect than others",
the imperfection simply refers to this destructive tendency. This
is exactly what is wrong with the education bill.

But, if the state and government are simply arenas, quite like
a boxing arena, who are the actual boxers? It is we. But the "we"
here is too broad a term.

Members of the House of Representatives? But the legislature,
again, in many respects, is also merely an arena. In the field of
political economy, it is an open secret that both the legislative
and executive branches of government have often been captive to
the power of financial oligarchs. How many times have the rules
of the game in labor relations, environment, city planning and
the like been easily dictated by such financial oligarchs? Almost
always.

The case of the education bill is a case in which the
legislative and executive branches, as a collective arena in
which the unity of the disintegrated Republic can be rescued, has
been bastardized by such a group. Only this time, it is not by
the financial oligarchs, but by sectarian actors who,
unintentionally perhaps, both stultify the intellectual
development of this country's future generation and bring this
Republic toward further disintegration.

This is why the sectarian issue mentioned in the bill, which
is in fact only one major flaw among many, has also become the
most burning issue. Be not surprised then, if in their struggle
to win the fight and not to reason over substance, they would use
the term "the state" or "government" as the main actor of the
bill. It is their sheer pretext.

Once again, the state is an arena, not an actor. The bill can
never be drafted by the state. So, pointing to the state as a
culprit is a misnomer.

The culprit is the drafters, who do not understand what civic
education is, and those who wish to squeeze the substance of
civic education into the most sectarian matter.

This concerns not only the minds of future generations, but
also the fate of our Republic. It is our fate.

How many times have we lamented over the crisis besieging this
Republic? And how many times have we lamented over the troubles
that have a real potential to deepen the fissures and further the
fragmentation and disintegration of our Republic?

Now, again, we come at a crossroads in history. This time, it
is the brutish maneuver to pass the flawed and narrow-minded
education bill. The bizarre irony is, those who push the bill
still believe that its enactment will reunite the Republic. Quite
the opposite!

What is to be done? First, press the executive branch, which
needs empowerment, and experts to take part in thoroughly
revising the bill. Second, make any necessary societal measures
to postpone, cancel, or annul the bill.

In this case, if there are any instances of civil
disobedience, they will not be because of the state, but because
our Republic is being dragged into an abyss by the enactment of
the education bill.