Students warned on national unity
Students warned on national unity
DEPOK, West Java (JP): Minister of Information Harmoko warned
students yesterday against printing articles in campus
publications which could harm national unity.
Opening a journalistic training program for students from
various institutions being held at the University of Indonesia
(UI), Harmoko said in a written speech that campus publications
should be "accurate", "objective", "display systematic analysis
and clear thoughts" and "show psychological maturity".
The speech was read by Subrata, the Director General for Press
and Graphics of the Ministry of Information.
About 100 students from various universities are taking part
in the week-long training program, which will be addressed by a
number of senior journalists, including Herry Komar of the Gatra
weekly and Sinansari Ecip of the Republika daily.
Lectures will also be given by several experts on issues
related to journalism, including Loebby Loqman, who is an expert
on the legal aspects of the press.
Organized by the UI student senate, the course aims to provide
students with a real taste of the process of covering events,
writing reports and producing a newspaper.
"This will be a real thing," exclaimed one participant. "A lot
of things happen every day at UI, and we can report on them."
The students participating in the program have come from
cities as far away as Surabaya and Malang, both in East Java.
UI Rector M.K. Tadjuddin was also present yesterday and,
accompanied by political expert Juwono Sudarsono, inspected an
exhibition of past UI publications, the Warta UI tabloid among
them.
Harmoko in his speech said students must observe as strict a
standard of conduct as that followed by members of the Indonesian
mass media.
"You, too, need a code of ethics," the speech said, pointing
in particular to a clause in the Indonesian journalists' code of
ethics which states that the press should be responsible and
avoid running stories which could be harmful to national unity.
Harmoko said that a campus publication was a sub-system of the
university to which it belonged and that, as such, it should
adhere to the various regulations applying on the campus.
He told the students to remember that the world was undergoing
rapid transformation, "both physically and mentally", which
presented society with increasingly complicated challenges.
"The situation is changing very rapidly, and the impact is
felt in society, including in higher education institutions," he
said, adding that students should respond to the situation
"appropriately".
The student press should be able to contribute to the
universities' role as centers for the development of science and
technology, he said. (swe)