YOGYAKARTA. Professors and academics of Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta have once again issued a joint statement urging President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to take immediate action to save the wholeness of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI).
They claim the country is being threatened by ongoing conflicts of interest among political elites in the country, which could hamper law enforcement and the corruption eradication process.
“[...] we have a responsibility to monitor the state’s stability. The problems currently occurring are not only related to the Corruption Eradication Commission [KPK] and the National Police. Our priority is that the NKRI be saved,” UGM rector Dwikorita Karnawati told journalists on Wednesday.
“Concerning the development of the current situation, we are worried that if we don’t support our President, Indonesia will be entrapped into a specific problem, the impact of which will endanger the unity of the state,” she went on.
Dwikorita said Jokowi needed to be supported so he could immediately solve the conflict between the KPK and the National Police, ensuring that the nation’s energy could be used to carry out critical items on the development agenda.
“We support the President’s decision to establish an independent team [Team 9] to solve the KPK-National Police conflict with dignity,” she said.
The dean of the university’s School of Social and Political Studies, Erwan Agus Purwanto, said Jokowi was now in a difficult position. The President was being squeezed by pressure from political parties that wanted him to inaugurate Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as the National Police chief, despite civil society groups protesting because he had been named a graft suspect.
“We all know that the President is in a difficult position, but we should not leave him alone in such a situation. The President himself must be brave enough to make tough policies because all the Indonesian people are behind him,” said Erwan.
Commemorating Jokowi’s first 100 days in office, student executive bodies (BEM) of UGM and two other universities – the Yogyakarta State University (UNY) and the Informatics and Computer Management Academy (Amikom) – held a peaceful rally around the UGM campus. They protested the perceived poor performance of the government in handling serious issues, such as the KPK-National Police rift. (Bambang Muryanto)
