Student 'must grow as moral force to beat challenges'
Student 'must grow as moral force to beat challenges'
JAKARTA (JP): Students from 44 colleges across the country are
currently taking part in a three-day forum initiated by the
Ministry of Education to discuss "challenges in the reform era"
and the threat of disintegration facing the nation.
The forum, which was opened on Sunday by Minister of Education
and Culture Juwono Sudarsono, is also intended to "consolidate
the students", according to Sudharmadi, the ministry's director
of student affairs.
"I think students today are reformists who were left behind
after (winning) a battle. They fought for this country and now
they are being abandoned. They have nowhere to go," Sudharmadi
said in reference to the reform movement initiated by students
which eventually toppled former president Soeharto.
He said students must now grow as a moral force and work to
beat the challenges posed by poverty and political and economic
upheaval.
"I see some of the students have been accused of being
'communists' by some parties. They have to disprove those
accusations," he said.
Students also need to grow intellectually and academically, he
said.
The forum featured prominent speakers such as Minister of
Defense and Security/Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto, who
spoke last night. Other speakers scheduled to appear are Minister
of Justice Muladi and noted scholars Nurcholish Madjid, Thoby
Mutis and Frans Seda.
In the session with Wiranto on Monday night, the students shot
volleys of questions to Wiranto but mostly demanded the abolition
of the Armed Forces (ABRI) dual function doctrine which enables
it to play a role in both security and political affairs.
Wiranto patiently responded to the questions, and said ABRI
could not just abolish the doctrine. The reduction of ABRI
involvement in politics should take place gradually, he said.
Meanwhile, Sudharmadi said the students were initially wary
about the invitation to the forum. "They questioned our motives,
but I assured them that it was not (political) engineering," he
explained.
Some of the participants conceded they were doubtful about the
forum's effectiveness.
Rama Pratama, a student leader from University of Indonesia,
however, said the gathering could serve as an opportunity for the
exchange of ideas among students from various parts of the
country.
"Still, it's the ministry's forum, not ours," he added.
Agung Witjaksono from Bandung Institute of Technology
concurred. However, he identified a number of topics discussed in
the forum as issues of concern that merited the attention of a
wider band of society.
"Discussion of whether Indonesia should remain a unitary state
or a federal state is not the main point. What's more important
is that we discuss the question of provincial autonomy and
improvements to welfare," he said.
Sri Sumantri agreed and said there should be regulations to
ensure that provinces are granted a certain degree of autonomy
and receive a fair share of profits from the exploitation of
their own natural resources.
Derek G. Sanggenafa from Cendrawasih University in Jayapura,
Irian Jaya, said people in his province longed for fair treatment
in both economic and political spheres.
"If the government is able to meet these demands, there would
not be any threat of disintegration," he said. (edt)