The war UGM has to
win
Next month (August) along with millions of other Indonesians,
Pratikno will return to his roots in the mudik
ritual that concludes the Ramadhan fasting month.
In Dolok Gede, an isolated village west of Surabaya, he’ll
pay respects to his relatives, catch up with old friends and neighbors, and bring
news from the outside world.
In Pratikno’s case it’s a local-lad-makes-good classic. Once
he worked picking worms from tobacco leaves. Now his hands mould future
generations of the nation’s best and brightest.
He’s rocketed from dirt floor cottage to panelled executive
suite, a stellar journey. Yet his conscience remains troubled.
“I feel guilty because others may not have the same
chances,” he said. “I experienced the equality of poverty and broke through. Now the barrier is the inequality of
prosperity.”
Last year political scientist Professor Pratikno was elected
Rector of Yogyakarta’s internationally renowned Universitas Gadjah Mada. This year he was awarded an honorary
doctorate by Adelaide’s Flinders University. Next year he may reprise his 2009
performance as TV moderator for the presidential candidates’ national debate.
So how does a boy whose family had little money and less influence
scale the academic summit? Having
schoolteacher parents committed to learning was critical.
“Unlike our neighbors we had no land and no stock,” he said.
“There was only one way out – through education.”
That was limited. Classes with 13 kids were in a joglo (traditional wall-free building)
with no place for books. So they were stored in the family home of
knowledge-famished Pratikno.
Despite decades of reading texts and writing theses he still
recalls a short story called Nimba air,
mandi sendiri. It was about a child
drawing water from a well to wash alone.
“We didn’t even have a well in our house,” he said, “Electricity
wasn’t connected until I was studying for my PhD. My father hoped I’d return
home to teach – but I wanted to keep going.”
Skip the years of boarding alone far from family, selling
books with Chinese friends to make ends meet, excelling in maths, winning
scholarships, studying overseas – at first in Britain then Australia.
Later setting up an NGO, the Asosiasi
untuk Demokrasi dan Kesejahteraan
Sosial (Association for Democracy and Social Welfare), pushing for transparency and accountability in politics
and public administration.
Now the question: This man has lived struggle. For him it’s
not a political slogan. So how will Professor Pratikno, 51, improve Indonesia’s
oldest and largest public university and the lives of its 54,000 students?
“In the past student selection was biased towards candidates
from Western Indonesia, urban areas and elite families,” he said. “This is changing. Fortunately gender bias
has gone; 55 per cent are women and they’re our top students.
“I’m worried about ensuring the bright poor from remote
areas have entry. We tried affirmative
action. It failed. We need other
solutions.
“At UGM I want an egalitarian campus, a closeness between
professors and students. We’re promoting an inter-disciplinary approach so
students are mixed in different faculties and better facilities.
“The learning environment should be quiet and humble –
there’s no place for arrogance. Yogya is
friendly, particularly when compared with Jakarta. We are multicultural.
“On their first day a student should find a friend from
another faculty and religion. We are building a dormitory where the boarders
will be from all faiths. We must promote tolerance.”
That may not be so easy. Last year, Pratikno’s predecessor
banned a book discussion by Canadian liberal Muslim Irshad Manji following
threats from fundamentalists.
More recently Professor Pratikno ignored the advice of his
security section and allowed a debate on West Papua. Violence followed.
“Today’s student
generation is so much better than in the past,” he said. “They are clever,
ambitious and much more confident.
“Yet student organizations can be training grounds for
radicals. I tell my staff that in the contest of ideas we are competing with other
ways of thinking.
“It will be ridiculous if we fail when we have the capacity
to make our values acceptable. This is our challenge. We have to win this war.”
UGM wants to attract overseas students. Australia is
encouraging young people to study in Asia to build regional knowledge. It should be a win-win. However Indonesian study visas are hard to
obtain, another example of the gap between initiators and bureaucrats.
UGM is a major research university and Professor Pratikno wants
more partnerships with industry, to ensure practical developments of campus
scholars’ work. Like Jakarta transport
ticketing systems, new batik dyes, landslip alerts and flexible timbers for
earthquake zone homes.
In other areas there’ll be an emphasis on publishing
academic papers, marketing expertise and patenting inventions.
As part of UGM’s role in society it will send a ‘White
Paper’ to presidential candidates asking questions about their vision for
Indonesia. “It will be an invitation
with empathy,” said Professor Pratikno.
“UGM is the most neutral place to debate national issues and
bring people together on serious matters like governance and corruption.
“We are not seeing consistency in Indonesian political
leadership. Academics, scientists and technologists have been excluded from the
decision making – that has to change.
Too many departments operate apart and don’t coordinate.
“Indonesia has made a peaceful transition to democracy. We are not Egypt. But we still have a problem at the local
level where there’s sometimes violence and a refusal to accept the democratic
process.
“How can we optimize
our knowledge?” he asked. “How can we link not just with business but also with
ordinary people, to help improve their lives, pioneering new ways of using
technology? Hi tech, but high touch.”
Emphasising the need for cross disciplinary approach is the
promise of geo-thermal technology using the nation’s natural resources. This is being hampered not by failings of
science but community resistance and political divisions.
“We have the expertise to confront these challenges,”
Professor Pratikno said. “I see UGM as a
tree offering shade and fruits to benefit all.”
And deep roots, right down to Dolok Gede.
(First published in The Jakarta Post 29 July 13)
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