Learning about
politics
In late July Indonesian President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo abruptly
sacked Dr Anies Baswedan from his job as Minister for Education and Culture.
Now he’s a surprise candidate for the governorship of Jakarta with the backing
of the Gerindra Party led by Prabowo Subianto, the former general who made an
unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2014.
Before he tossed his peci
into the ring Baswedan spoke about his dismissal from the Ministry:
“During the following days neighbours and friends dropped
by. One said her daughter’s homework
included the question: ‘Why shouldn’t the Minister for Education and Culture be
reinstated?’
“This recognition has been the reward of serving the
government for 21 months, though I expected 60. When I told my staff they had a
new boss many cried, though I didn’t.
“The response has been astonishing. It’s like being at my
own funeral and hearing the eulogies. Teachers, pupils, students everywhere,
people I’ve never met, have been thanking me. ”
They’ve also been asking why the former Rector of Paramadina
University handpicked by his old friend President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo to revive
Indonesia’s sick education system, was politically mugged?
He had an international profile with a gold star personal
and professional CV, the cerebral star of Indonesia’s Gen X. He’d been a student activist protesting the
corruption of second President Soeharto’s autocracy before heading overseas as a
Fulbright Scholar.
His grandfather, Abdurrahman Baswedan had been a revolutionary hero,
journalist, diplomat and minister in one of first president Soekarno’s
cabinets.
Baswedan, 47, would only say that he didn’t
see the solar plexus punch coming, and hadn’t had his hand in the till. He added that he respects the President’s
decision, wants no damage done to the “dignity of the process” and that he leaves
with his moral and intellectual integrity intact.
He also said he doesn’t know and didn’t ask why he was
replaced by Muhadjir Effendy, 60, the former rector of Muhammadiyah University in Malang,
adding philosophically: “All jobs come to an end.”
Did an acclaimed scholar fail to apply the ‘why’ question
that grounds all academic research? Baswedan only smiled. Stonily. Then he said: “Companies don’t sack their CEOs
when their businesses are going well.
“Together we had transformed the Ministry into a working
culture of commitment to educational reform for the betterment of the nation. That’s rare.”
There’s endless speculation, and some facts. His US doctorate was in political science,
but Baswedan carried no party card. So
no patron (or matron) to tell the President to rethink.
He spent more time in the Ministry with educators than in the
Palace among plotters. He was eclipsing
others with publicity, though he denied seeking the spotlight and rejected
suggestions of political ambition.
Education is a powerful portfolio, handling at least 20 per
cent of the nation’s budget. It’s also a
political football; anyone who has been to school knows what’s wrong with the
system and how to fix.
This creates what Baswedan called the “zigzag of policy
decisions when long-term stability is required - which should be left out of
politics.”
But the founder of Indonesia
Mengajar, a non-profit voluntary national service for young teachers
serving in remote schools for a year, .understood
better than most and had proven solutions.
Which might have been the undoing of the economist, author
and agitator, once listed by the US business magazine Forbes as among the world’s top 100 public intellectuals.
Until either Baswedan or Jokowi reveal the reason he was
knifed perhaps Shakespeare’s Julius
Caesar offers a guide: The wary general whispers that his friend Cassius ‘thinks too much. Such men are
dangerous’.
Coincidentally or
otherwise, Baswedan’s fall came just after one of his greatest triumphs. He asked families to attend school opening
day with their kids so they could get engaged with education. They responded in tens of thousands – and the
story got international attention.
Baswedan said he’s
had overseas job offers. When asked
whether Indonesia can afford to lose exceptional talent, the normally
quick-tongued educator let the question hang before responding rhetorically: “What do you think?”
“We had 44 breakthroughs with getting children
to read each day as the most important,” he said. “We also insisted on
evaluating teachers and improving their skills. Only 57 per cent were graded
well – but we couldn’t sack the others because they are civil servants.
“How do you develop
a successful school where children learn well?
Just create an environment with one word: Fun. That requires
leadership. If learning isn’t fun it’s
torture. Then teachers have failed.
“We’ve engaged with
community libraries to create 6,000 ‘Reading Houses’. We still have problems with
space that must be addressed. We’ve stopped brutality. There were zero deaths and hospitalizations
last year from hazing.
“The idea that
children should be hit is morally and legally wrong. Violence begets violence. We’ve created safe
learning environments and eliminated the belief that the more you suffer, the
better you learn.
“The National Exam,
which put huge pressure on students, has been changed. There’s no minimum
passing grade, but a minimum score for each subject.
“Since education was decentralized (after the fall of
Soeharto in 1998) the performance of the regions hadn’t been evaluated. We produced an education balance sheet.
“This showed some authorities spend only Rp 37,000 (US$ 2.80)
a student annually. Jakarta spent Rp 6
million (US$ 454) yet got a worse result than Yogyakarta’s Rp 500,000 (US$ 38)
budget. We exposed the flaws.”
Changes in
education policy don’t come without strife – the latest being plans to lengthen
the school day arousing parents to protest.
“Not my policy,”
said Baswedan. “We wanted to shorten the
time at school.
“The world has changed. It’s a new era, no longer about
absorbing facts but creative thinking.
Education liberates, indoctrination suppresses.
“I’m not talking about programmes. I’m talking about a movement.” Will his changes survive? “I hope so.”
(The Jakarta gubernatorial election will be held next
February. Three pairs of candidates are
contesting. Surveys show the present
leader is the incumbent Basuki ‘Ahok’ Tjahaja Purnama backed by the Partai Demokrasi Indonesia
Perjuangan (Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle). This is the party of
President Jokowi, the former Jakarta Governor. Ahok’s ethnicity and religion
(he’s a Protestant Chinese) is allegedly an issue for some electors. Baswedan is coupled with Sandiaga Uno,
reported to be one of Indonesia’s richest men. In the 2012 election 4.6 million
of Jakarta’s seven million voters went to the polls.)
(First published in New Mandela 5 October 2016. See: http://www.newmandala.org/learning-about-politics/ )
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