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)