First RSBI, next the international undergraduate programs?

It is final that the so-called international-standard pilot project schools (RSBIs) and international-standard schools (SBIs) in Indonesia will be closed down by April 2013 (The Jakarta Post, Jan. 4, 2013).

 One of the main objections to the schools was their creation of social division among students, between the haves and the have-nots. It was too expensive for the have-nots to pay for the school fees quite apart from the fact that each of the 1,329 SBI and RSBI schools received between Rp 200 million (US$20,533) and Rp 500 million per year from the government.

 It is not necessarily right, however, to imply the high costs were caused by the use of (permit me to use the word) “Indoglish” — Indonesian English — as the primary language of instruction. In other words, one should not blame English or, rather Indoglish, as the main triggering factor for creating the social divisions among students.

 Ironically, the word expensive here should not stand alongside that pointed out by Sydney Smith (1771-1845), saying, “Avoid shame, but do not seek glory as nothing so expensive as glory.” That is why I cannot agree more when Education and Culture Minister Mohammad Nuh insisted that the SBI program had noble intentions (read “glory”), so that the minister needed to devise a new plan to keep some of the programs under the SBI plan.

 It is interesting, therefore, that the very same minister strongly believes in his integrated and thematic 2013 “nationalistic” curriculum. He even claims that it would support the character-building of students (the Post, Nov. 28, 2012). This, indeed, highlights the reality that he knows well how complicated it is to explain the meaning of education for and to Indonesians.

 Another objection to the RSBI program was also upheld by the Indonesian Constitutional Court (the Post, Jan. 8, 2013) which said that the law governing the implementation of RSBIs and SBIs, namely Article 50 (3) of the 2003 National Educational System Law, was unconstitutional since both programs provided unequal access (they discriminated against non-RSBI students) to quality education in the country.

 The list can be extended such as whether or not RSBIs gave due the importance to so-called national-character building; despite the fact that nationalism and internationalism can actually stand side by side without falling into the trap of entering into the discussion of post-colonialism, or dealing with East versus West.

 This is highlighted when on Sunday (Jan. 13), Constitutional Court (MK) chief justice Mahfud MD clarified that all schools under the program, be they public or private, had to be shut down. “The article [in the law] does not mention private or state schools,” he stated.

 The situation in Indonesia becomes more complicated as there is another reality: being unable to escape from the World Trade Organization (WTO) with its General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) since Indonesia has, understandably, decided to adopt it.

 This has to do with whether or not to disband other existing forms of RSBIs and SBIs run by (ironically) so-called state institutions and foreign educational institutions in the country. Are we not familiar with “international undergraduate programs” run by many state universities? Have we not noticed that there are also many schools with their names ending in the words “international school” in many big cities in Indonesia?

 A litany of Masya Allah! would fill the mind of those who care about the quality of education in this country. Would another Masya Allah! be heard from the Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud MD, for example, when he realized that his ruling also meant banning the many “international undergraduate programs” in many state universities including those of his alma mater?

 Will there be, therefore, fewer and fewer Indonesians standing behind Nuh insisting that the SBI program had noble intentions so that it would be a good idea to devise new plans to keep some of the programs under other versions of the SBI plan? One of the members of our House of Representatives might, then, say, “The current legal situation in Indonesia is failing the have-nots and it is failing the people, and the government needs to consider if the criminalization of the RSBI increased the prosperity of the people”

Antonius Herujiyanto ; 

The writer is a faculty member of Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta, teaching cross cultural understanding, literature, and philosophy of science. He is also editor in chief of LLT Journal and has been a BBC M correspondent since 2003

JAKARTA POST, 27 Januari 2013

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