Students pledge to remain critical of the government
Students pledge to remain critical of the government
JAKARTA (JP): Students groups which helped incite the nation
to a mass movement that aided the overthrow of former president
Soeharto last year, pledged on Wednesday to remain critical and
unabashed about rallies if the situation required it.
Speaking at a discussion reflecting on the student movement
here on Wednesday, the student leaders said they would take up a
role of political opposition acting as a moral force against the
government.
"As opposing groups, we'll still work in our respective groups
but hopefully we'll have a strong network among us to build
communication for our moral mission as a pressure group," said
Masinton, leader of the Student Action Forum for Reform and
Democracy (Famred).
"If we haven't held any protests recently, it's just because
we're observing and waiting for political developments in the
country to unfold," he added.
Masinton, however, said that students should be more selective
in tackling the issues, warning that some controversial subjects
might be engineered.
"We object to Abdurrahman's controversial idea of establishing
ties with Israel but we don't see it as an urgent issue; it will
gradually disappear if we don't take it seriously," he said of
one issue which does not require an immediate mass student
response.
He questioned why some groups took up the issue while there
were more crucial ones to contend with.
According to Masinton, issues such as militarism and violence
were more burning subjects which needed to be addressed but were
much neglected by many.
Despite claims that the student movement remained a strong
force to be reckoned with in the future, some conceded that with
the fall of the Soeharto regime and the election of a new
government it would be more challenging to assemble the same kind
of force and political unity as before.
Taufan, leader of the Collective Forum (Forbes), stressed the
need for student groups to form a strong network to coordinate
their activities.
He said that while garnering passionate and emotional
gatherings was still possible at any given time, student
movements remained weak in a coordinated and conceptualized
approach.
"Students are only good at mobilizing masses but not
organizing them for systematic and strategic movements," Taufan
said.
Warning
Political observer Eep Saifullah Fatah warned the students
that they themselves were facing their own political crisis.
He cited the shallow political knowledge among the masses
participating in the protests as the single threat to the student
movement, noting that participation in rallies was based more on
instant hysteria than political conviction.
"If the crisis is not properly managed, it will endanger the
moral movement," he said.
He noted recent rallies such as those against the State
Security Bill and the Indonesian Military's dual function in
which many protesters had little knowledge of the issues at hand.
Sumawiharja of the Big Family of the University of Indonesia
(KB-UI) also noted demoralizing symptoms brought about by the
negative perception of the unrelenting demonstrations.
He said families of the students were a major persuader as
these elders were often swayed by government statements that
rallies were being held or undermined by agent provocateurs.
"Students cannot win the propaganda war against the government
and security forces as they persistently say those involved in
street rallies are provocateurs ... criminals. Many who don't
have a depth of political knowledge and are psychologically
influenced by the continuous campaigns," he said.
However, the need for student groups to act as a political
opposition to the government was underlined by University of
Indonesia political scientist Arbi Sanit.
According to Arbi, formal political opposition is expected to
come from the political elite and political parties. However, the
political environment often caused them to feel "feeble and to
compromise".(emf)