UI students protest myriad rights abuses
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)