University students tend to be radical, minister says

University students tend to be radical, minister says

JAKARTA (JP): Student activists are showing signs of
radicalism, meddling in politics and criticizing the government,
according to Coordinating Minister of Political Affairs and
Security Soesilo Sudarman.

After meeting with ministers under his supervision, Soesilo
told journalists that some student activists had participated in
street protests organized by non-governmental organizations.

"There is a tendency for student activists to hold seminars on
their campuses, inviting speakers who are critical of the
government's policies," he said.

He said that many students rejected the student senate concept
which had been introduced by the government to accommodate their
activities and, instead, were demanding a more independent body,
a student government.

The student senate was introduced in 1990 to replace the
Normalization of Campus Life/Student Coordinating Board, or
NKK/BKK, which was widely criticized as restricting political
activities on campus.

The NKK/BKK concept had, in its time, been introduced to
redefine the function of student organizations and to "turn
students back into the analytical human beings they are meant to
be," the minister said.

The student senate concept was, however, being criticized by
many educational observers as simply a renamed NKK/BKK concept,
because under the new system the senate not only reports directly
to the rector, but must also obtain the rector's permission for
all of its activities.

Soesilo said almost all of the students that he had met had
demanded that the bureaucracy stay out of campus activities.

"They demanded campus independence from any government
intervention," he said.

The students' demands were "emotional" and groundless, he
said.

Soesilo criticized the mass media for reporting protests by
students and "exaggerating" problems that students spoke about.

"The recent debate on Menwa, the student regiment, had also
been ignited by the press, he said, although there had only been
incidents at five of the 1,200 campuses on which Menwa was
present."

Soesilo said he had visited numerous campuses and observed
student activism ever since he was the Minister of Tourism, Post
and Telecommunications.

There are currently 1,200 universities and colleges
nationwide. Only 66 of these are run by the government, while the
rest are privately owned and administered.

The coordinating meeting was attended by Minister of Foreign
Affairs Ali Alatas, Minister of Defense and Security Edi
Sudradjat, Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono, Commander of the
Armed Forces Gen. Feisal Tanjung, Head of the State Intelligence
Coordinating Body Soedibyo and other high ranking officials.

Soesilo said the meeting also discussed other issues, such as
the investigation of the mystic Permadi Satrio Wiwoho, who is
currently in police custody for making an allegedly blasphemous
remark about Prophet Muhammad and for his controversial
statements about Indonesia's national leadership succession in
1998.

The Armed Forces commander reported on the operation against
hoodlums, increasing drug abuse among teenagers, and on a plan to
send a battalion of 441 army engineers to Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Soesilo said. (imn)