Students and lawmakers

The military authorities seem to be exercising a virtue of tolerance toward the thousands of students now staging antigovernment demonstrations at various Indonesian universities. Although they have not allowed the young people to hold street rallies, some thinking Army generals have taken the students' activities -- in which they mostly express their concern over the deteriorating economic crisis -- as an expression of a social responsibility.

Most of the students have not tried to transgress the authorities line but remain on their campuses. They might understand that asking for a permit to take to the streets is something akin to teenagers asking their parents' permission for a date, which elders tend to say no to because "the practice was legal only when they were young and is no longer lawful today".

Wasn't the New Order government set up upon the shoulders of demonstrating students who had helped unseat the decaying regime of president Sukarno? Now, student demonstrations sound as equally traumatic as the presence of an opposition party within the present system. It is very much frowned upon although its existence is guaranteed by the constitution.

While to some people's ears the word opposition sounds horrible, to deny its right to exist means to negate historical reality. This very government was born amid the deafening people's opposition to the old regime.

Some believe that student demonstrations are a problem of who does it, against whom and for what. In 1965, some have said, they had the right to take to the streets because the nation was on the brink of economic collapse, facing a menacing growth of the communist party and having just witnessed the brutal murders of senior Army generals.

This notion is logical enough, but today's students also believe that the only way to save the country from the current economic catastrophe is a succession of the national leadership.

In this situation, farsighted citizens should appreciate the sense of social responsibility among the students and recognize the hidden power of their voice because, on many occasions, they have proved themselves as the conscience of the silent majority.

At least they deserve open ears from the members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), who are now discussing the State Policy Guidelines for the next five years and about to reelect the incumbent President for the seventh term.

The Armed Forces faction has set a good example in lending the students their ears. Other factions need to demonstrate the same sensitivity because the MPR is an assembly of the people, not of the parties. They should hear the people's voice and prove that the Assembly is not the antithesis of democracy.

After hearing the students' aspirations, MPR members also have the obligation to channel them. If they think they cannot accept the young people's ideas, they should explain their position in an acceptable way. Their failure to do this will make the young people believe they are crying in the desert. In this situation, they will try to get their message across by some other means, which would possibly include radical actions such as street rallies.

We are concerned that, if this happens, it could lead to public hysteria, in which angry mobs can take part. All this will also depend on how the MPR members see things. Until today, they seem to be peering at the student activities through the wrong end of a telescope.