'Students should beware of ideas at odds with govt'

'Students should beware of ideas at odds with govt'

JAKARTA (JP): Students should be selective in adopting criticisms and opinions that come from outside the campus, especially views which contradict government policy, according to a communications expert.

"Students should not only be selective towards material they are studying but also towards the opinions of experts who are invited to speak on campus," said Alwi Dahlan, vice chairman of the Board for Pancasila Propagation (BP7), after the opening ceremony of a Pancasila course for university lecturers at the Presidential Palace in Bogor on Saturday.

He said that there was a tendency among students to invite outspoken experts, whose opinions were inconsistent with government policy, to speak at campus seminars and discussions.

According to Alwi, if students are selective about opinions or criticisms they hear inside and outside the campus they will be able to keep them in perspective.

But many students were satisfied with presenting forthright speakers at seminars and discussions, he said.

Asked to comment on the Pancasila campaign on campuses, he said that students and their teaching staff needed a special curriculum to let them participate actively in discussions.

He said the propagation of Pancasila on campuses had been hindered by the lack of teaching staff with an adequate knowledge of Pancasila.

"Not all of the teaching staff who are authorized to propagate Pancasila have truly comprehended the Pancasila concept and its applications," he said, as quoted by Antara.

Alwi, a lecturer of postgraduate programs at the University of Indonesia and at several private universities in Jakarta, said that Pancasila propagation would be intensified in the face of trade liberalization, globalization and the infiltration of foreign cultural values thorough film, television and radio.

The current curriculum of Pancasila propagation for students and lecturers should be revitalized to enable them to apply the Pancasila concept in their daily life their way of thinking, he said. (rms)