Students and lawmakers

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.