Wiranto urges critical students to offer solutions

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Minister of Education and Culture Wiranto Arismunandar called on students who have recently become increasingly loud in their criticism of the government's handling of the economic crisis to offer their own solutions.

"To prove their commitment to the people, campus activists should not only speak out but also make useful statements," Wiranto said in a speech during the installment of the new rector of Gadjah Mada University, Ichlasul Amal, here yesterday.

Wiranto said that in difficult times, people usually placed academia in the front line of any movement and students should therefore take up the challenge.

Wiranto's remarks come as the country is witnessing almost daily student demonstrations on university campuses. They are all demanding economic and political reform as the way to tackle the economic crisis.

Wiranto's visit to the Gadjah Mada campus was greeted by a demonstration by some 60 students protesting his earlier remarks which described students who dabbled in politics as "amateurs".

They reminded the minister by yelling and brandishing placards that during his tenure as the rector of the Bandung Institute of Technology from 1989 to 1997, he expelled no fewer than 66 students.

Eleven of the students were subsequently jailed after they organized a protest against the visit of then home affairs minister Rudini.

Wiranto made a memorable remark on Saturday when he said students should not emulate Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi by staging hunger strikes as a way to air their grievances.

He was referring to groups of hunger-striking students in Bandarlampung, Surabaya, Palu, Salatiga and Yogyakarta.

Dialog

The Gadjah Mada student leaders said they shared the skepticism of some critical scholars about the recent invitation for dialog from the Armed Forces on account of the military's reluctance to support the students' version of political reform.

Riday La Ode Ngkowe, the chairman of the student senate, said that in order for a dialog to be held, there should first be equality, freedom of expression and transparency. He demanded that the dialog involve as many students as possible.

He also called on the Armed Forces to guarantee that the results of the dialog would be implemented.

Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto said last week that all levels of the military were ready to hold dialogs with the students.

In the East Java capital of Surabaya 500 students from Adhi Tama Institute of Technology held a protest yesterday.

In Jakarta, Antara reported that Gen. Wiranto did not appear at a scheduled discussion which was organized by students from a number of universities yesterday.

The discussion was attended by students from the Christian University of Indonesia, Atmajaya University, Syarif Hidayatullah State Institute of Islamic Studies, Driyarkara School of Philosophy, Tujuh Belas Agustus University and the Christian Student Movement.

The news agency quoted the organizers as saying that the reason for Wiranto's absence was unclear.

However, the chairman of the organizing committee, K. Baraberi, said the Armed Forces headquarters confirmed it had received the invitation last week.

"We kept checking and officials there said that the letter had been forwarded to the Armed Forces Commander," Baraberi said. (23/nur/byg)