Students' role

And there I was thinking that students are the hope of the future, tomorrow's world so to speak.

The recent protests, some of which have sparked off violence and civil disturbances have been carried out by students from various universities in the main, most of which have been Islamic.

The banners and cries of death and destruction, the burning of national flags and effigies, the futile attacks of American food- chains and their desire to sweep clean the country of foreigners, are but a few examples of what?

Is this their way of learning to cope with problems, is this how they analyze situations and come up with answers? I do believe that in general the ordinary man in the street, who has not been blessed with this opportunity of advanced learning, has proved beyond doubt that he is more able, more capable and more intelligent to deal with the problems we all face today.

What facts do these students have that makes them categorically state that the evidence against Osama bin Laden is either false or incomplete? How many pages of the 21 page document have they read? And what do they know about the additional evidence that is being kept secret for obvious reasons. Like us they haven't even read the cover of such a document, so how come they think they know so much?

They are a part of a country that has a government which is facing enormous problems, not only with this terrorist situation, but also economically and structurally, where countless millions of Indonesians are literally struggling to feed themselves and their families.

Students are meant to be critical and analytical, that is all part of their education, but that must always be constructive and not destructive as it has of late. Some say that reason only functions when the emotions are involved, and in general I would subscribe to that, but control is also necessary otherwise the rational becomes buried and in its place comes stupidity and anarchy.

DAVID WALLIS

Medan, North Sumatra