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