This is a reflection of two current issues plaguing the country, the Century and plagiarism cases, which I think have similar roots. To start with, the older Indonesian generation may still remember when the first president of this country Sukarno, in one of his speeches in the United Nations, boasted the achievements made by Indonesia in its nation and character building. One of these was the success of the Indonesian people in fighting for their independence from colonialism, and the other was in holding the first Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung in 1955.
The other achievement he discussed was in building the nation’s character by, among other things, making the country’s education one of the best in the region at the time. Many Malaysians came to Indonesia to study in almost all fields, and many Indonesian teachers went to Malaysia to teach in their schools.
In contrast to present-day students’ character, I presume, the students of the 1950s through to the 1970s were better off in one sense, that their integrity was guaranteed, thanks to the existence of the character building curriculum (budi pekerti) as one of the subjects. It taught students how to understand the basis of morality, and how to behave in their daily lives both at school and at home.
Such an absence of this character-building as a subject in schools, for the past few decades, might be the root cause of the present-day students’ tendency sometimes, to readily do things against the prevailing norms such as cheating for high school students, and plagiarizing and buying theses or papers for university students, to get their titles, certificates or diplomas.
No wonder that Thomas Brandt, a German business researcher, pointed out that there was an inflation of certificates in Indonesia (1997:211), and that what was written on their diplomas and certificates did not reflect the personal abilities of the holders.
To say the least, this kind of conduct is actually a reflection of the corrupt practices in education which, become a habit by the individuals involved, who later apply such practices in other fields of activity.
Statements made by the former vice president, Jusuf Kalla, the other day were really saying that he was sorry to see the rampant plagiarism practices in Indonesia. He suspected these practices were not only carried out by students and lecturers, but also by politicians, regents/mayors and government officials. Upon taking up their positions, suddenly, they have two or three academic titles in front of or behind their names, without it being known when they actually carried out their studies or scientific work. This would, surely, affect their performance.
Taking the above into consideration, it shows that the nation’s character has become vulnerable as proved in many corruption-related cases both in the central and regional governments. Ministers, governors, regents/mayors and the lower echelons usually believe what has been calculated and reported by their staff without looking at the details, and then, ignoring its quality, a decision is made.
Quite probably, it also happens in independent institutions like Bank Indonesia, currently beset by the Century scandal.
To avoid a worse situation for the country, I agree with several experts’ suggestions that character building as a subject on the curriculum, be reintroduced to schools, even to universities.
M. Rusdi
Jakarta
