The Kampar case: Differences between the U.S. and Indonesia

Ardimas Sasdi, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post, Berkeley, California,
ajambak@calmail.berkeley.edu

In a blunder analogous to a asinine comment made by the regent of Kampar, Riau, in response to a question posited by a local teacher about the minute educational budget, U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige has compared America's largest teachers' union to a terrorist organization.

Paige, furious over the refusal of the National Education Association (NEA) on the No Child Left Behind Act, made the remark on the 2.7 million-strong association on Monday at a gathering of governors at the White House.

Paige later apologized.

The New York Times, in an editorial on Wednesday, said the terrorist comment was the latest of a long list of errors by Paige, including a remark last year in which he said he preferred to put a child in a Christian school and suggested that Christians were morally superior.

NEA president Reg Weaver asked President George W. Bush to express his regret to the nation's educators for the slanderous remarks made by his aide and demanded that Secretary Paige step down. Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives also lambasted Paige and backed the NEA's demand, asking Congress to change several provisions in the act deemed to weaken public education.

The controversial education law, endorsed by President George W. Bush in January 2002, opposed by both Democrat and Republican camps for different reasons, includes regulations to expand standardized testing, to appoint top teachers in all core classes and several other reforms.

Without overlooking their differences, the cases of the Kampar regent and Secretary Paige bear some similarities: These incidents involve education, appointed officials vs. teachers and public anger, on which politicians later capitalized. Both officials defied calls for their resignation, arguing that they had a job to improve education.

Interestingly, the authorities' response to the cases was also similar. President Bush's spokesman Trent Duffy said Paige's job was safe because the President wanted the secretary to do his job, while Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno backed Regent Jefri Noer's remaining in office, although a ministerial team is to investigate the Kampar case.

In an extraordinary session convened after massive rallies by teachers and students protesting the distasteful comments and attitude Jefri displayed toward a teacher invited to a public meeting, the Kampar legislative council dismissed the regent last week for the second time in two years. The same council fired Jefri in 2002 in a motion of no confidence, but the Ministry of Home Affairs annulled the legislature's ruling.

There are, however, at least two major differences in the Jefri and Paige cases. The differences, within the cultural and democratic contexts of the respective nations, include the attitudes of appointed officials in responding to their errors and how the public expressed their opinion and anger.

Jefri admonished a noted teacher for questioning the small educational budget in the meeting, then attempted to kick him out, arguing that the educator had disrupted the event -- an inadequate response to a fair question. Jefri later met the teacher to settle the matter informally, a practice common among people of the higher echelon to save face.

Indonesians, upset by their poor national education system compared to neighboring countries like Malaysia and Singapore, have lately become more critical of the government. Still, not a single one of the country's 31 provinces has yet allocated 20 percent of their budgets for education as mandated by the amended Constitution, citing financial constraints.

Jefri's remedy for the dispute differed from that of Paige, who immediately apologized to the NEA through the media for his insensitive comment. Executives lodged protests against Paige, but their protests were limited to a level of discourse, while the NEA did not organize rallies involving its members and students.

In a striking contrast, the protests in Kampar -- apparently exploited by political opponents of Jefri and endorsed by education officials -- lasted three weeks and involved 5,000 teachers and around 40,000 students from almost all schools in the regency, a spectacular showing of solidarity.

There are at least three lessons to be learned from these two cases on opposite sides of the globe. First, appointed and elected officials must always remain composed and exercise caution in their comments. They must apologize immediately to the public through the media if errors have been made -- even though this option may be embarrassing in Indonesian culture -- and not settle the matter through an informal channel.

Second, Indonesians may need to stop cursing themselves for incidents in the country, as if they augur ill and foreshadow a nearing doomsday, and see such incidents in a positive light while looking for an alternative solution. Paige's case shows that similar blunders happen in other parts of the world, including in a developed democracy like America.

Third, teachers, as educated citizens, must think intelligently and act in a measured manner, bearing in mind that they serve as role models in society. The deployment of a large number people in rallies was not only risky in view of possible mishaps, but also not conducive to democratic education for the younger generation.

In any democracy, schools have a dual task -- to arm the young with the knowledge and skills needed for future employment and to play a constructive role in democracy. But schools can also become a breeding ground for intolerance and extremism. The Kampar case should be the last of its kind and serve as a lesson in democracy for us all.

The writer is a visiting scholar at the Graduate School of Journalism, the University of California at Berkeley.