Universities are too dependent: Scholars
By Gedsiri Suhartono
JAKARTA (JP): Political observers said yesterday that universities, widely believed to be one of the last respectable institutions in society, have become dependent and turned into bureaucrats' tools.
Contacted separately by The Jakarta Post, I Made Supriyatna from Yogyakarta-based Realino Studies Institute and Arbi Sanit from University of Indonesia, said Indonesian universities were no longer progressive. Instead, they are conservative and merely sought proximity to the authorities.
"Universities have turned into bureaucratic institutions that operate on obedience, loyalty and discipline," Arbi said. Lack of political knowledge was one of the reasons why some rectors viewed politically-sensitive issues raised by their students as threats to their position.
"Upholding truth, honesty and openness is no longer on the universities' agenda" Arbi said, adding that universities have been totally "coopted" by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
"It's not just the military reshuffle that's interesting to observe these days but also the rectors'," Supriyatna said, referring to the way rectors give loyalty to their superiors in exchange for position.
The observers were commenting on a recent finding of the Center for Human Rights Studies that university chancellors came second after security officers in violating people's rights.
The center studied rights violations that occurred between January 1995 and March 1996, and found that more than 85 percent of the detected 194 incidents were perpetrated by police officers. The second in line, 23 cases, were perpetrated by university rectors, while officials at provincial offices of Social and Political Affairs came third with 18 offenses.
The offenses on campuses were mostly in the form of bans on speeches and gatherings, which are against the students' civil rights.
"It's an old tune," Supriyatna said. Arbi concurred.
Both scholars praised the center for its study, calling it innovative and a true assessment of the rights violations that might have otherwise gone undetected.
According to Supriyatna, over the past 30 years, the government has exerted strict control over the urban middle class -- specifically those aged between 20 and 30.
Given such restrictions, Arbi said, Indonesian universities were not preparing their students to be leaders and intellectuals but only narrow-minded workers.
"We are producing exactly the opposite of the quality of human resources needed to face the 21st century, namely workers who only obey and follow orders," Arbi said.
A different perspective was given yesterday by Muhammad Budyatna, dean of University of Indonesia's School of Social and Political Sciences.
Budyatna said he disagreed with the Center's conclusions because the methodologies applied in the study did not consider the working mechanisms of universities which puts rectors in a difficult position.
"Rectors have to be the bridge between the government and the students. Their positions are easily jeopardized," Budyatna said. "Those who are inclined to defend the government's interests should not be rectors."
Besides, human rights violations should not be narrowly translated as "limiting freedom of expression" because exercising one's rights does not necessarily mean criticizing the government, he said.
"Being rectors nowadays is extremely difficult. If one is not strong enough then shouldn't be a rector," he said.
Sastrapratedja, rector of Sanata Dharma University in Yogyakarta, said he had yet to read the Center's findings but questioned the study's methodology.
He said when he thinks about rights violations, "what comes to mind is the severity of the consequences, such as death, fear, depression."
"I don't think that has ever happened in universities," he said.