Surabaya – Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) Emeritus Professor Dr. Hotman Siahaan from the Airlangga University (Unair) in Surabaya says he regrets the freezing of the Unair FISIP Student Executive Board (BEM).
The FISIP BEM was frozen by the Anair dean's office after it criticised the inauguration of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka in a satirical congratulatory flower board.
"The dean's action in freezing BEM [is] a symbol of the authoritarianism that is starting to emerge under the new government of this republic", said Siahaan when sought for confirmation on Sunday October 27.
Siahaan said that the academic world should hold freedom of speech in the highest regard but the freezing of the FISIP BEM actually indicates a decline in intellectual values at Unair.
"It is very regrettable that such actions occurred on a campus that claims to live in an intellectual habitat", he continued.
Siahaan emphasised that campuses should prioritise intellectual traditions through scientific dialogue and discussion, not silencing the critical voices of students.
"Intellectual tradition is an argument to find the truth. The argument is in the form of discourse. In a discourse there are claims, namely claims of truth, accuracy, authenticity and morality", he explained.
According to Hotman however, the FISIP Unair dean has actually used a power approach, not a scientific or intellectual one.
"The FISIP dean did not pursue such a path. What was pursued was a power relationship. The freezing of BEM is a practice of power relations", asserted Siahaan.
The former FISIP Unair dean also believes that practices like this reflect a return to the shadow of the New Order regime of former president Suharto in the academic world.
"If this appears again now, don't blame the students if they think that this is the emergence of the 'New New Order' regime", he concluded. (frd/isn)
Notes
The flower board, which was placed in the Unair FISIP West Park on Tuesday October 22, read "Congratulations on the inauguration of the ruthless human rights violator general and the 2.3 IPK [Cumulative Achievement Index] Professor, as President and Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, who were born from the womb of an unlawful constitution", referring to human rights violations committed by Prabowo when he served in the military, Gibran's lower-second class university undergraduate score and the October 2023 Constitutional Court's ruling that allowed Gibran to run as a vice presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential election.
The board also had a photo of Prabowo with the caption "TNI [Indonesian Military] General Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo (Head of the Rose Team)" and a photo of Gibran with the caption "Fufufafa Admin", referring to a special team formed by then Lieutenant General Prabowo under the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) tasked with abducting pro-democracy activists in 1997-98 and the Fufufafa social media account allegedly belonging to Gibran which described Prabowo as a "sacked soldier" and a "divorcee" with a "effeminate son" and "radical supporters".
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Guru Besar Fisip Unair Sesalkan Pembekuan BEM".]
