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

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.