Students-govt dialogs
Students-govt dialogs
When you read the abundance of news about murders, thefts,
robberies, corruption, rapes, etc., these days, news about the
friendly successful meeting between university students and the
government is like a refreshing shower on a hot sticky day.
What the students are doing is understandable as long as the
rules and the laws are observed. The students, as future leaders
of the nation, want to be familiar with all aspects of national
life, its strengths and weaknesses, so that when they take over
from the older generation, they more or less know what they
should do.
With this gesture, the students should realize how serious the
government is in its efforts to hear and listen to their
complaints and ideas. The students are an important segment of
the intellectual part of the population.
Never before has the government reacted like what we witnessed
Saturday, April 18, with more than 10 cabinet ministers meeting
and exchanging views with the students. This clearly means that
the government and the students have been implementing Pancasila
democracy, which only recognizes deliberations to reach unanimous
agreement. So, the Saturday dialog has historic significance.
Differences of opinion should be settled through deliberations
and argumentations and neither side should opt to use force to
impose its ideas. Political and/or economic reforms might mean
one thing to the students and another to the government. Just as
the same law can be interpreted differently by different
institutions. We have an example of this -- taking legal action
against corruption.
The police said they had the right to investigate, but the
prosecutors said they were the only body having that very right.
Yet, both interpretations were based on the same law. Also,
Indonesia had a bad experience in interpreting Renville and
Linggardjati agreements reached between Indonesia and the
Netherlands. Different interpretations by the two sides
eventually led to war.
A far more serious and technical discussion should follow
Saturday's dialog to find a solution and synchronize the steps
that should be taken. In everything we do, we have to consider
the circumstances, the means available and the right people to do
them. Of course, there is no need to have hundreds of students
participating in the dialogs, a small technical representative
should be enough. The rest of the students should attend classes
and continue their studies.
SOEGIH ARTO
Jakarta