Students deserve to be listened to

Numerous comments, including those from top officials, greeted the proposed dialog between university students and the Armed Forces. Political scientist J. Soedjati Djiwandono hopes the Armed Forces will eventually be willing to listen to what the students have to say.

JAKARTA (JP): The readiness of the military leadership to engage in dialog with the students is in itself a positive attitude worthy of appreciation. For their part, the students should respond accordingly, instead of flatly rejecting the offer.

The dialog should be held without preconditions, although the students' demands for a guarantee of their security and that the dialog be held within the confines of the campus, with the military present in civilian clothes, sound reasonable.

After all, there is no reason for the military to fear the students, but the same perhaps cannot be said for the latter.

But I do not see any reason for the participation of other nonmilitary personnel, such as cabinet ministers. They do not represent any institution the way the military leaders do, and as such are not in a position to affect in a meaningful way the working of the political system, the core of the students' demand.

I consider the attitude of some cabinet ministers toward the students to be arrogant and abominable. The reactionary remark made by the education minister, himself a former rector of an outstanding university, that the students were amateur politicians is perhaps more indicative of how out of touch he is with the younger generation, particularly university students.

The state minister of public housing and settlement, a prominent figure of the "1966 generation" of student activists, remarked that demonstrations by students of his time related to fundamental issues, seemingly implying the current demands of the students do not. He also suggested that the students should share a common perception and devote themselves to national development.

Such remarks only serve to show how adversely affected these honorable ministers have been by co-optation and vested interests. One would hope that no accusations are leveled at the students of being "exploited by third parties", something that has formed part of a growing habit of government leaders to find scapegoats for things they do not like or cannot understand.

It is also a manifestation of prejudice, the feeling of insecurity and reluctance to face the glaring realities right before their eyes.

Memories are short. Today's leaders, military as well as civilian, should remember that many of the founding fathers of this republic started their movement for national independence when they were young university students: Sukarno and Hatta, Syahrir, Ali Sastroamidjojo, and dozens of others in Western Europe, particularly Holland.

In many other countries, university students helped to make history in their respective countries. This was true in South Korea in the 1950s against the corrupt and autocratic rule of President Syngman Rhee, and later against President Chun Doo Hwan, and in France at the beginning of the 1960s with the movement since then known as the dawn of the New Left. In Thailand in the 1970s, the student movement led to a change in the constitution; in the United States, students staged sit-ins in their protest against the Vietnam War.

Last but not least, in this country in 1966, the student movement brought continuous pressure to bear on the Sukarno regime, and thereby, with the backing of the military, particularly the Army's special force, helped establish the New Order.

If there is one big difference between the student protests today and those 30 years ago it is that the 1966 student protests were openly supported by the military. The present student protests, clearly and definitely concerning no less fundamental issues, particularly political and economic reforms, have yet to enlist and enjoy the support of the military. Hence, the possible significance of a dialog offered by the military leadership.

It is still hard to tell whether it is possible and probable that the military will eventually be able to provide an effective channel for the students' demands, which, to my mind, do give voice to the widespread demands and aspirations of the people at large.

The General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly, the supreme governing body of the national political system, ended last month, having indicated not the slightest interest in the issue of reform.

Whatever the case may be, the students deserve to be listened to. So far they have only been heard, loud and clear.