Mahfud MD Asks Jokowi And The Government To Respect Academic Freedom

Vice Presidential Candidate Mahfud MD (ANTARA)

SLEMAN - Prospective Vice President number 3 Mahfud MD said that the freedom of the academic pulpit in universities must remain respected. "Academic freedom, freedom of the academic pulpit must remain respected because of the authoritarian days of Mr. Harto ( 2nd President of the Republic of Indonesia Soeharto), academic freedom and freedom of the academic pulpit are relatively still sufficient to be listened to and relatively still authoritative," said Mahfud, after attending the Collision event, Prof., in Sleman Regency, Yogyakarta Special Region, Monday 5 February. This was conveyed by Mahfud after receiving reports from a number of high school rectors who were asked to make statements regarding the Joko Widodo-Ma'ruf Amin Government. "This report to me from several rectors. It was ordered to make a statement stating that Mr. Jokowi is a stateswoman, well. The second, Mr. Jokowi managed to overcome the crisis. Third, the elections went well, and so on," he said. Mahfud explained that there were several rectors who were asked to make such an attitude. Then, he said, there were those rectors who made statements in the same format, and there were also those who refused. "Then there are those who do not want to do so, such as the Chancellor of Soegijapranata University, Unika, in Semarang it tells us. 'We were told to make this. This is our friend, there is a similar rector statement in its contents, such as templates,' and so on," Mahfud said. According to Mahfud, the action to invite a number of rectors to express such an attitude is an unhealthy act.

"In my opinion, it is not healthy to make such competitions. It divides society and divides campuses as well," he said again. Previously in the event, Mahfud also said that universities were not afraid of the pressure to speak during the 2024 General Election. "If you say universities are afraid because of pressure, it is not easy because until this afternoon (Monday 5/2), 59 universities have continued and each university will continue to express its attitude to oversee the election, and the emergence of ethical governance," said Mahfud. Meanwhile, Mahfud thanked Gadjah Mada University (UGM) academic community for starting to express its position. "Therefore, because it is in Jogja, let's thank the big teachers and UGM academic community who have started earlier to invite other universities to express the same attitude," he said.

Previously, the General Election Commission (KPU) of the Republic of Indonesia had determined the participants of the 2024 Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections (Pilpres), namely the Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar pair number 1, Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka number 2, and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD number 3. KPU has also set a campaign period from November 28, 2023 to February 10, 2024, a quiet period on February 11'13, and the D-day of voting on February 14, 2024.