Students forced to buy books featuring Megawati, Sukarno

Students forced to buy books featuring Megawati, Sukarno

Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post, Cilacap, Central Java

Elementary and junior high school students in Central Java have
been "asked" to buy exercise books bearing the pictures of
President Megawati Soekarnoputri, former president and Megawati's
father Sukarno, Regent Probo Yulastoro and legislative council
speaker Fran Lukman.

The call, issued by the local education office, has angered
parents and school principals, as well as other residents. Many
believe the call to buy the books is connected with next year's
general election.

Megawati's Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) dominated the 1999 election in Cilacap, one of its
strongholds in the province.

Each student in the regency has been exhorted to buy a pack of
four exercise books for 5,000 (58 US cent). The covers of the
exercise books are red -- the color of the PDI Perjuangan.

Currently, there are some 290,000 elementary and junior high
school students in the regency.

Most parents are outraged by the policy, calling the move
"unethical and politically motivated".

"They should focus on policies that make sense. We have spent
a lot of money on our kids' schools," said Wati, the mother of an
elementary and a junior high school student.

Meanwhile, many principals complained about the policy
although they admitted they were unable to reject it outright for
fear of being punished by their superiors.

Triono, who heads state elementary school SDN 8 Sidanegara,
said he was ordered to buy 1,000 books for his 240 students.
However, he managed to bargain this down to half the number.

"I obeyed the order to show my loyalty. But I was able to get
them to reduce the figure to only 500 books as I didn't want to
place any additional burdens on the parents. This whole thing has
sparked a lot of anxiety among parents," he said.

Responding to the complaints, local education agency director
Soetoyo MS claimed that the purchase of the exercise books was
not mandatory.

"The aim is to introduce our national and local leaders to the
students. That's the philosophical background. We are not
requiring students to buy the books," he told reporters over the
weekend.

Separately, Regent Probo said his administration had never
instructed local schools, or their students, to buy the books.

He said the project had been initiated and was managed by the
Sukarno Center Foundation in Cilacap, which did not come under
the control of his administration.

"We never instructed the education agency to order schools or
parents to buy the books. It's voluntary, so there's no problem
if a school's management refuses to take them," he told
reporters. He said there would be no sanctions imposed on schools
rejecting the books.

Meanwhile, Rujimanto, who heads the Sukarno Center Foundation,
admitted that his organization had printed one million exercise
books and was working together with the education agency to sell
them.

However, he denied allegations that the exercise books were
part of a political campaign in support of the PDI Perjuangan.

The foundation's offices are located in the same building as
the offices of the PDI Perjuangan's Cilacap chapter.

Rujimanto said the books had been marketed since last week
after the approval of the education agency had been secured
during a recent meeting that had also been attended by all
elementary and junior high school principals from across the
regency.