UI students protest myriad rights abuses
JAKARTA (JP): Students of the prestigious University of Indonesia held a rally yesterday condemning various abuses on human rights, including students' rights to have a better academic life.
The students, who call themselves the Student's Solidarity Forum, staged several poem recitals and orations at the complex of the university campus in Depok, to the south of the city.
The rally, held to commemorate human rights day which fell on Dec. 10, began at around 10:30 a.m. at the school of social and political sciences .
About 80 students made a theatrical show criticizing the school's bureaucracy that limits the students rights to use the library facilities adequately, to stage free dialog on the country's democratic condition, to establish an independent student body and to invite prominent speakers, such as Adnan Buyung Nasution, director of Indonesia's Legal Aid Institution.
Of the cases, the hike of UI's tuition fees was the major issue the students decried. Two years ago the tuition fee was set at Rp 250,000 (US$114.00) per semester but was raised to Rp 300.000 last year. The amount was further raised to Rp 400,000 per semester recently, the highest tuition fee for a state university.
The fee is not expensive for students coming from middle class families, but it has been an obstacle for talented students whose parents are poor.
"A friend of mine was forced to sell his family's goat herd just to enroll himself in this so-called "people's university". UI's administration does not have a definite policy that gives advantage to poor students to pay less than the wealthier students," said Ikravany, a vocal student activist.
Besides the set tuition fee, certain UI schools charge freshmen for a so-called "compulsory contribution" that can reach an amount of Rp 750,000.
The students also protested the banning of Warta UI, the university's campus bulletin, by the rectorate. In its last issue, the paper publicized the results of a poll taken on the tuition hike. Warta UI also printed the reasons of the raise according to the rectorate but it did not satisfy the students.
One of the students of UI's polytechnic school protested against certain lecturers forcing students to pay Rp 7 for every second of lateness in attending classes. He called it "punctuality commercialization".
The march
The students continued the rally by marching around the vast Depok campus and yelling demands for the rectorate to reduce the tuition fee and to bring back the defunct Warta UI. The student march was terminated when they entered the law school compound.
Purna Widhi, a lecturer of law philosophy, made an unsympathetic welcome by punching an activist and scolding the group. The reproach continued from the lecturer when he deliberately forced the students to leave the compound with help from the university's security. The action triggered screams such as "Fascist" and "Repressiveness" and made the group more emotional.
"I am very ashamed that an UI law educator can make such provocative actions against a peaceful demonstration," expressed Garda, a student activist.
After the incident, the students went on marching and prayed besides the Makarra, the stone sculpture of UI's symbol, that ended the three-hour rally. Ironically the demonstration was closed by a heavy rain that also showered the opening of the rally. (23)