University sacks govt critic Arief Budiman

SALATIGA, Central Java (JP): Arief Budiman, lecturer at the Christian University of Satya Wacana and an outspoken government critic, has been sacked from the school after a prolonged conflict with the rector.

Arief, holder of a doctorate degree in sociology from Harvard University, U.S.A., was fired dishonorably, the chairman of the Satya Wacana Foundation announced here Monday. Arief received the decision, which took effect as of Oct. 17, at his home here on the same day.

Asked about his dismissal, Arief told The Jakarta Post Monday evening that "the decision means that it is the foundation that needs sympathy."

A statement issued by the foundation here on Monday said that the decision was made after Arief had refused to comply with a number of warnings given to him by the foundation since 1988. The foundation asked him to show his respect for the university's and the foundation's dignity.

However, the statement said, after the final warning in March this year, Arief still wrote a misleading article about an internal campus problem in a Jakarta daily newspaper, the statement said.

According to the statement, the article was based on inaccurate data and contained a secret decision made by the Satya Wacana rector.

The conflict between Arief and the university reached a climax last year when he denounced the election of the new rector, John JOI Ihalauw, which he said was rigged.

His rejection was supported by some 10 senior lecturers, who accused Ihalauw of being "immoral and too business-oriented."

Arief also told the Post that he had been thinking about leaving the university for a long time but some clergymen had persuaded him to stay and resolve the conflict.

"Now that I have been sacked I will leave Satya Wacana without any burden," he said.

Yesterday, dozens of lecturers and students demonstrated their opposition to Arief's dismissal.

The banner-waving protesters accused the rector and foundation officials of being "undemocratic and suppressing openness on the campus with an iron hand."

"The decision (to sack Arief) was the most authoritarian in the university's history. We deplore it," said Otto Adi Yulianto, one of the protesting students.

Condemnation also came from post graduate students. They said Arief's dismissal plunged the future of their studies into uncertainty because he supervises the thesis writing of many students.(01/har/tis)