'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)