I

nmates at Kerobokan prison have been given a venue to refl ect on their incarcerated existence, the conditions of their souls and life’s big questions after the prison authority launched a free philosophy class on Wednesday.

They will attend the three-hour classes every Wednesday with a teacher from Norway, Ivar Schou, who is director of Studies at Gateway College Bali, a philosophy school in Kedonganan.

It was Myuran Sukumaran, a member of the infamous Bali Nine on death row, who initiated the class for his fellow inmates.

Myuran also initiated English and computer classes in the prison but said the philosophy class was essential for the inmates.

“It’s important because it changes the way we think, opens our minds a little bit more — opens everybody’s minds a little bit more. Philosophy is basically about how people look at the world,” Myuran said.

Schou welcomed the idea and agreed to teach the class for free. “In Norway, we have to pay US$3,000 per person for a philosophy class like this,” he said.

The class covers various facets of philosophy including understanding its meaning and discussing the views of the world’s most famous philosophers — Socrates, Plato, Nietzche, Freud, Simone de Beauvoir, Sartre, David Hume and Kant.

The inmates will be encouraged to refl ect on the nature of truth and worldly cruelty. They will also learn about philosophical concepts, sociology, how culture relates to problems in daily life, behaviors, ethics, emotions and rational thought.

Schou said philosophy was necessary since it would give people the spirit to make changes.

“Philosophy is very interesting, and I hope this will be interesting for everybody else as well. I also hope this can be part of changing lives,” said Schou, who has lived in Bali for seven years.

He hoped the prisoners would benefi t, too. “I think it’s very meaningful for myself to do this, but I hope this will be meaningful for people here, also.”

The classes, which will run for one year, garnered an enthusiastic response, with 20 prisoners attending the fi rst day, both Indonesian and foreign prisoners including Bali Nine’s Martin Eric Stephen and Si Yi Chen.

Salvador Da Costa, 29, a prisoner sentenced to seven and a half years in a child rape case, joined the class to learn more about philosophy to enable him to have a better understanding of the people around him.

“It will enable me to learn more about people’s characters, about what is right. We hope will be able to face daily life better and understand more about interpersonal relationships and cultures,” he said.

Siswanto, head of Kerobokan penitentiary, agreed that the philosophy class was important for the inmates to improve themselves. He also expressed his gratitude for the amount of support the penitentiary has received from third parties in developing the inmates’ personalities.

Besides the philosophy classes, the prison authority also launched medical and business plans for 10 inmates, with fi nancial support from Lee Rush, father of Bali Nine’s Scott Anthony Rush.

“We received a lot of support for the development of the inmates and this penitentiary. We’re very grateful for this,” Siswanto said.