UI's new rector faces challenges

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Several delinquent youths broke streetlights, took the broken lightbulbs and ground them into a fine powder. After mixing the powder with other ingredients, they smeared the mixture onto a ball of string and then waited to let it dry.

After some time, the boys took the string, attached it to their kites and rushed to an open field, ready to fly their kites and bring down other kites already flying.

That sweet childhood memory is still fresh in the mind of Usman Chatib Warsa, newly elected rector of the University of Indonesia (UI).

"Flying a kite was one of my favorite childhood games, apart from martial arts like pencak silat and karate, in which I was awarded a brown belt. It's just that I love sports that require competition and discipline," the 55-year-old microbiologist said.

The man was the university's acting rector before officially being appointed to the position in late August. He had beaten 13 other rectorial candidates after several screening stages starting in April. In the last stage, he beat the dean of the university's School of Social and Political Sciences, Martani Huseini, by 15 votes to 14.

"I entered the election with a nothing-to-lose spirit although I had to compete against other candidates who were mostly professors. I simply wanted to put myself forward in a test of my capability," he said, adding he "only" had a PhD.

The election was the first since the university, which has more than 39,000 students, was granted new status as a state- owned incorporated entity in 2000.

Under the new status, UI -- along with two of the country's other leading state universities, the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) in Bandung, West Java, and Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta -- is required to be more aggressive in generating capital as the government plans to begin reducing subsidies in 2005.

Usman, UI's 12th rector and the eighth from the university's School of Medicine, is scheduled to fill the position until 2007, replacing Asman Boedisantoso Ranakusuma, also from the same school. Since 1950, UI has had two rectors from the School of Engineering, one from the School of Law and one from the School of Letters.

Born in Jakarta on June 25, 1947, Usman loves to teach, and laboratory work runs in the family. His late father, R. Warsa Wikarasoemantri, was a chemical analyst with UI's school of medicine, while his late mother, Rukmini, was a teacher.

"My parents taught me just as any other parents at that time would have done, influenced by the Dutch approach. My mother taught me the strict manners and social conventions of the time while my father gave me a lot of freedom," he said.

His interest in laboratory work and teaching made him decide to continue his studies at the UI's School of Medicine. He graduated in 1972.

But instead of following his professor's advice to continue his education in a more popular field such as clinical studies, Usman opted for "dull things", studying bacteria, infections and other microscopic organisms, in microbiology. He obtained a specialist certificate in clinical microbiology in 1990.

"I learned from my father never to underestimate small things. Strong will, along with a serious commitment, can turn small things into something important and noteworthy," said the man, who was awarded a doctorate from Kobe University, Tokyo, in 1997 but decided to return to UI in 1998 to dedicate himself to his alma mater.

His expertise, which he labels "small things", has made him a sought-after expert speaker at a variety of seminars and conferences at national and regional level.

But the husband of Etty Heriyati and father of three -- Irfan Samiaji, Reza Rahmat and Lia Handayani -- did not allow himself to be absorbed only by his work.

In his student days he was an activist, joining a number of student organizations that were active in staging street rallies during the transition period from the Old to the New Order.

His studies were even disrupted for a whole semester due to heightened political tension three months after his admission to the university.

Now, in his new position, he realizes the challenges that come with the university's new-found status.

"UI as a large, 50-year-old institution, requires fundamental change in every aspect. However, change is never popular with those who have entrenched views," Usman said.

Citing an example, he said that every school in UI had now to share existing facilities. So far, he said, there have been invisible obstacles preventing students from one of the university's schools from using the facilities of another. "That will stop," he said.

But first, he will work to restructure the university's administration and management system. "This is necessary as it is required to cope with the university's new status," Usman said.

In the long run, Usman hopes that UI will become a "moral force" within contemporary Indonesia, a force that provides guidance to ordinary people.