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‘BRIN without brain’, integrity or freedom?
Research institutes should not be guided by politicians if they want to maintain their integrity. Secondly, Megawati is not even an academic.
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New professor: Former president Megawati Soekarnoputri is being inaugurated as professor at the Indonesian Defense University in Sentul, Bogor, West Java on June 11, 2021. Four months later, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo named her the head of the steering committee of the National Research and Innovation Agency. (Courtesy of /Indonesian Defense University)
I
have been a freelancer virtually all of my professional life as a writer and researcher. In jest, I call myself a gelandangan – a homeless and jobless vagabond. When people ask me why I don’t teach at a university, again jokingly I say I am unable to be institutionalized, which as you know means to be put in an institution, for detention (i.e. prison) or treatment (i.e. the loony bin).
For me, it’s about integrity. According to American author Zig Ziglar (1926-2012), “integrity gives you real freedom because you have nothing to fear since you have nothing to hide”.
Freedom is important for most people, but for writers, researchers, intellectuals, academics and scholars, it is essential. So, it is in the interest of a nation that these people have the freedom and a stimulating atmosphere where they can perform their best. The government should ensure it, but do they? Hmm, depends on the government.
Recently I came across an article in the daily Kompas, "BRIN tanpa brain" (BRIN without brain) by Carunia Mulya Firdausy, a professor of economics at Tarumanegara University, Jakarta. BRIN stands for Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional (National Research and Innovation Agency), a Cabinet level agency the government formed in 2019.
Carunia mentioned how the world of researchers in Indonesia was shocked at the firing of about a hundred scientists working for the Eijkman Institute of Molecular Biology, without severance pay as they were not civil servants. The reason? As of Sept. 22, 2021, the institute was integrated into the BRIN.
The letting go of these researchers who had dedicated their lives to research at Eijkman was bad enough, but even worse, it was part of a bigger change: the integration of 38 institutions, including the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) into the BRIN. Founded in 1967, LIPI itself has 47 research centers, covering everything from politics to biology.
Talk about institutionalization!
