Students urged to help foster genuine reform
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Students, at the forefront of the reform movement in 1998, have been urged to take up their old role once more in the face of a political elite widely blamed for diverting the winds of change.
Former student activist Hariman Siregar and Muslim scholar Ulil Abshar Abdalla say they believe that students are relatively free from political constraints and, in most cases, represent the true will of the people.
Ulil voiced concerns in a discussion held by the Indonesian Muslim Association (HMI) here on Tuesday that, currently, the movement was not directed by genuine reformists.
"The sweeping reform was sparked by the students in 1998, and they initially spearhead the movement ... but their role has been usurped by legislators and politicians," Ulil told participants in the discussion entitled "Students and the Plurality of the Nation."
The takeover of this role has raised concerns among pro- democracy activists, who have alleged that legislators and politicians have tarnished the reform movement, said Hariman.
Had the students maintained their leadership role, the reform movement would have not gone astray, according to Hariman, who was jailed following a violent anti-Japan rally in 1974, known as Malari incident.
Hariman noted that, in most cases, politicians and legislators have failed to live up to people's expectations, since they were already preoccupied by their own struggles for power.
"It is natural that politicians and legislators tend to think of their own short-term interests, since they have secured positions of privilege -- whereas students have nothing to lose in struggling for the people's will," he said.
"This will minimize the possible abuse of power for sure," he added.
Hariman said that the legal proceedings for House Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung were full of political maneuvering and compromises, leaving justice by the wayside.
Hariman suggested that the students make a concerted effort to find answers as to why they were unable to take the leading role in Indonesian politics today.
"The students should think of an engaging and a collective issue, one which could bring them closer together to push the reform movement ahead," said Hariman
Besides Hariman and Ulil, the speakers came from a wide range of political groups, including Muslim activist Bursah Zarnubi; Harris Rusli Moti, the chairman of the People's Democratic Party (PRD), and Achmad Doli Kurnia, the secretary general of the HMI.
Hariman pointed out anti-oppression and justice as two examples of the issues that could be addressed by the students.
He said that the students were united in 1998, but after that grew fragmented when they began fighting for certain camps of political groups themselves -- such as Megawati Soekarnoputri, Abdurrahman Wahid, and B.J. Habibie.
Harris and Achmad Doli, representing the students, conceded that it was a necessity to find a collective issue to unite the students.
However, they again acknowledged the fact that the students fell short of building a common enemy.
"Therefore, it is a pressing need that the students should sit on a single discussion table to discuss what collective issue we think will keep our reform movement alive -- and on the right track," said Harris Rusli from PRD.