Indonesians in Focus: Sudjarwadi

By Barrie | July 15th, 2007 | No Comments

One of the country’s most prestigious universities has a new rector who is a keen promoter of the values of Pancasila, the five basic principles of the Republic of Indonesia. These are the belief in one God, just and civilized humanity, the unity of Indonesia, democracy guided by the wisdom of representatives and social justice for all citizens.

Professor of engineering Sudjarwadi M Eng, PhD, has been elected to head Gajah Mada University for the next five years. He wants the famous Yogyakarta institution to become what he terms a “Pancasila university”.

“Pancasila values are good and glorious,” he said. “It is a great pity that these values are currently confined to discussion rather than implementation.”

To reverse this situation, Sudjarwadi intends to ensure Pancasila values will be introduced into all courses taught across the university’s 18 faculties and 52 study programs.

“Pancasila values will be applied to all studies and we already have nine groups in place discussing the ways this can be implemented,” he said.

“For example, the study of construction techniques in the architecture department should embrace Pancasila values. When a building is to be erected in the middle of a poor area, an architect should plan to avoid the creation of social jealousies.

That care and concern would be applied if the architect had been taught Pancasila values.

“In animal husbandry studies, students should be taught how to build appropriate animal housing without offending citizens and without creating pollution. This will happen if Pancasila values are practiced and not just memorized.”

Sudjarwadi, 60, who was born in Klaten, West Java, studied civil and environmental engineering in the United States. He graduated from Iowa University with a doctorate in engineering in 1988.

He said the morals of the younger generation, particularly undergraduates, are lower than in the past. This is because students these days do not understand and follow Pancasila values. So starting this year, all new students at the university will have to attend classes on Pancasila.

“In the next five years, we hope to create an educated generation that’s not only intelligent, but also upholds Pancasila values in words and actions,” Sudjarwadi said.

For Gajah Mada to become a “Pancasila university”, change should start from within, particularly among campus academics, he said.

The strategy is to give students the independence necessary for self development. The nine discussion groups have already identified special themes for discussion and training so Pancasila values will be developed across all disciplines.

For members of the university community, it is important to develop a sense of solidarity and sympathy toward those who are disadvantaged.

Sudjarwadi gave one example of a way to help students experiencing financial difficulties; others could forgo lunch and use the saved money to help those lacking the funds for food and other necessities.

“I’ve spoken to the Student University Executive Committee and they’ve promised to mobilize 1,000 students who will give up their meal allowance to help their needy colleagues,” he said.

“So if lunch normally costs Rp 4,000 (0.45 U.S. cents) and the agreed number of students fast, then Rp 4 million ($450) could be collected. That’s a significant and most useful amount.”

Sudjarwadi said he got the idea of undergraduates helping each other when he was studying in the United States.

At the time, a Greek student was experiencing financial problems. Those who knew about his plight decided to help out by skipping lunch and donating the money they had saved.

But having just one small idea and putting it into practice will not solve the nation’s problems. Gajah Mada will focus on the application of knowledge and the search for practical solutions to problems, so that these can be applied to benefit the nation and its people, the rector said.

For the next two and a half years, Gajah Mada will concentrate on achieving concrete results. All faculties and study programs are prepared. Staff members have the authority to direct studies and teaching methods toward producing results that will directly benefit the people.

“Research and the application of creative technology must be focussed on the benefits that can be gained by society,” Sudjarwadi said.

“We need to get real results. When we have these, we will be publicizing them so our methods will attract interest from abroad.

“We can talk further, and on the international stage, when we have concrete returns. We’ll be spending the next two and a half years creating something substantial and useful for the people. Then in 2010, we can tell the world about our achievements.”

Sudjarwadi said his ideas had also been inspired by traditional Chinese stories that stressed the importance of using knowledge for the benefit of all humankind, to help people improve their living conditions and be better able to defend themselves.

For knowledge to benefit everyone, it has to be made widely available to all Indonesian citizens. To ensure this will happen, the university has already shared its ideas with senior officials from various regencies.

“In these discussions we explain about the expertise, skills and competence that will be gained by students at the university and then passed on to the regions,” he said.

“When we apply Pancasila values to our research and teaching methods, we will produce well-rounded graduates with a good understanding of society and the need to serve humanity.

“We will be helping develop Indonesia’s human resources through graduates who are clever, dedicated and have a strong sense of moral values that can be used to build the nation and benefit the regions.”

Slamet Susanto