Between Teaching and Treachery: the politics of the education business in Indonesia

By Alya Nurshabrina

 

Quite a riveting title up there. Unfortunately the overriding thing that depicts the situation of education in Indonesia is the staggeringly bold line between teaching and treachery. The national education system nowadays isn’t about reinforcing the right to be educated. Nowadays education’s purpose has shifted, because politics and business are embedded in the mixture.

Before today’s political mess emerged we had Dutch Colonialism, and the education system at that time was preoccupied with maintaining the interest of the Dutch authorities. A hierarchical type of education was applied which produced an atmosphere thick with open discrimination. Only the rich and powerful—including the Dutch—received the privilege of education, while the poor and pribumi stood helplessly without a single opportunity for social mobility. Education for Indonesians was seen as a luxurious augmentation of Indonesian workers’ usefulness, as a practical and cheap way to train workers in the basic skills required for servitude.

As movements for Indonesia’s independence started to gain strength, only then people stood a chance. Education gave them the will to survive, and inevitably, they learnt to fight back. Schools were built independently by pejuang. For example, there was SI School, by Tan Malaka; Taman Siswa, by Ki Hajar Dewantara; Ksatriaan Instituut, by Douwes Dekker. But even then, the purpose of educating was politicised. Because Indonesians were preoccupied with freedom from colonialism, schools were built to win people’s voices and to unite them first and foremost in opposition to colonial rule, before the purpose to educate them.

Fast forward a few decades after Independence to the New Order and it was not much different to the colonial era, in terms of the way the bureaucracy controlled every single matter. In the regime’s early years, one of the aftermaths of G30SPKI were the disappearances of many who were suspected communists—plenty of them worked as teachers, lecturers and educators. Suharto used his political rule to constrain these types of people in order to save and preserve his legitimacy as irrefutable. The bureaucracy controlled education and used it as an extension of the political system, ensuring that educational institutions and the practices of teaching were used as channels to implement political mandates.

Today’s education scene is little better. The trust that is given to the government about the usage of 20% from the APBN for improving education has evaporated, like the money itself. The government still sees education as a political commodity, leaving its development severely neglected. For today’s schools, it’s almost the same situation to how the pejuangs built schools decades ago; politicians, political parties, and public figures build (and/or invest in) institutions as channels to consolidate their interests, not for the sake of education. While public schools sell study guides, books, LKS (Lebar Kerja Siswa), and UN sheets as an act of business, private schools use that income to fund political parties, including their campaigns. This is why Aburizal Bakrie, businessman and member of Golongan Karya party, has a stake in every businesses imaginable—including Bakrie University—to keep his profit rotating.

Are students are being lied to? Are they swallowing the lies? If later they learnt how to stand at the other end of the line—perpetuating the lies and the system—it would be safe to call it a vicious cycle and say that education has lost its true meaning. Giving potency back to education’s value and supporting those who carry this value on their shoulders, should be a chief pursuit. Education is not about the technical skills needed to make an earning, but giving people the ability to think rationally, to choose the right paths to follow in life. A functional society is when people are politically aware and understand the importance of education. Even without any help from the government, political parties or wealthy institutions, people can still enrich Indonesian youth just by upholding the essence of education.

Simple things based on respect for the basic right to education would suffice. Donating books for example, doesn’t take much time but can go a long way to help. And if spare time is available, why not make fun, entertaining workshops in villages to teach villagers how to read? The illiterate population rate could be slightly decreased. Significant steps can also be achieved by volunteering to teach at Elementary Schools that are too far for government assistance to reach.

The importance of escalating education onto the political agenda is in the hands of today’s younger generations. The Indonesian people have democracy now, and they can use it to make a difference, to ensure the government runs the education system properly. However, unless people change their lukewarm attitudes to democratic processes, we cannot press for a transparent education system. We have a lot to gain from trouncing treachery.

Alya is a student at Universitas Parahyangan.