Jakarta – The commemoration of the National Education Day (Hardiknas) this year was marked by a number of demonstrations by students and social organisations (ormas) in different parts of the country.
A group of students from 20 universities in Indonesia also took to the streets and held a demonstration that filled the grounds in front of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology in Central Jakarta on Thursday May 2.
At 5 pm the student demonstration erupted into chaos because of the number of different student and social organisations protesting in the same place. It is suspected that the riot was caused by one of the parties who allegedly provoked demonstrators.
Police from the Metro Jaya regional police immediately moved in to deal with the tension between the students and after calm and order was restored they continued conveying their aspirations.
Action coordinator Darnel said that the students conveyed a number of demands that were directed at Education Minister Nadiem Anwar Makarim.
"We have arranged [the demands] based on a consolidation. There are several demands that we will convey today", explained Darnel when speaking with Media Kaltim during the demonstration in front of the Education Ministry on Thursday.
Darnel said that the demands included, among others, realising free education now, revoking a packet of three laws (Higher Education Law Number 12/2012, Law Number 20/2023 and the Omnibus Law on Job Creation), the democratisation of education and ensuring the welfare of education workers. "We also conveyed the problems on each individual campus", he said.
Darnel, who is a political and social science graduate from the Jakarta National University (Unas), said that they along with the Student Executive Councils (BEM) from other campuses see current tuition fees as increasing exponentially.
"The current increase in tuition fees is indeed quite a concern for us. The problem is, this is directly related to the student's academic process. Moreover if you don't pay tuition fees, students can't take exams", he said.
In addition to this, continued Darnel, the Independent Learning Independent Campus (MBKM) program is felt not to have had a real effect on students. According to Darnel, when discussing "independence", what then are the ideals of students and the nation that should be realised.
"Meanwhile the current situation is that education is still filled with problems that have not been resolved by the minister of education. It's all just lies. Tuition is difficult with the UKT [Single Tuition Fee program] which is so expensive, this is also a big problem for our education", he explained.
Not only that, Darnel also said that his they have produced a joint study with other BEMs on the programs and performance of Makarim while serving as education minister. Namely, in the form of "red report card" which may soon be handed over to the minister.
"Actually, if we say report card, we have already conducted a study which will then be handed over to the minister. This red report card contains the results of our joint study related to the programs and performance of the minister of education and culture", he concluded.
The students at the action came from 20 higher education BEMs including the University of Indonesia, the Pancasila University, the National University, the Jakarta State University, the YARSI University, the Jakarta Veteran National Development University, the Prof. Dr Hamka Muhammadiyah University and others. (mk/sb)
[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Hardiknas Diwarnai Demo Mahasiswa di Kemendikbudristek, Nadiem Dapat Hadiah "Rapor Merah"".]
