Campus Not Mining Corporation

The government's move to provide mining concessions to universities is a dangerous policy. Instead of strengthening education and community empowerment, this policy threatens academic independence and creates conflicts of interest.

Universities were established to run Tri Dharma: education, research, and community service. However, with the right to manage mines, campuses are directed to become profit-oriented business entities.

The Chancellor of the Islamic University of Indonesia (UII) Prof. Fathul Wahid stated that the mining business is not a university area. Dean of the Faculty of Mining and Mining Engineering Prof. Ir. Ridho Kresna Wattimena questioned campus readiness in managing mines. Former Minister of Religion Lukman Hakim Saifuddin emphasized that this policy would only cause new problems. If academics themselves doubt this policy, who will benefit?

One of the reasons that are often put forward is that mining businesses can be a solution to higher education costs that are increasingly expensive. However, this assumption is just an illusion. Managing mining is not just digging and selling minerals. Big capital is needed, advanced technology, and managerial experience that is not owned by academic institutions.

Private mining companies and SOEs often face various problems, from environmental pollution to social conflicts. If a professional company faces this challenge, what about campuses that should focus on developing science? This policy will only increase the potential for misuse of permits and weaken the credibility of universities.

Giving mining permits to campus can be a means of co-optation. Campuses that have mining permits have the potential to lose their independence because they are bound by interests with authorities and corporations.

Professor of Public Management and Policy at FISIPOL UGM Gabriel Lele in the media said this policy could be an attempt to silence universities. If the campus, which should be a place of critical thinking, now has to deal with big businesses, how could they remain objective in criticizing government policies?

The granting of mining permits for universities is closely related to the revision of the Minerba Law which is full of controversy. Muhammadiyah, through representatives of Syahrial Suandi's Central Leadership in the General Hearing Meeting (RDPU) of the DPR Legislation Body regarding the Minerba Bill, criticized many articles because they were considered to open up gaps for exploitation without accountability. The voices of rejection came from various parties, including academics and environmental activists.

MPR member Al Hidayat Samsu reminded that mining permits for campuses will only burden the academic world. Campuses are not a place of business, but educational institutions that should produce generations of critical and innovative thinking, not mine managers.

This policy contradicts the essence of higher education. Instead of providing solutions to the cost of education, the provision of mining concessions will only plunge campuses into business vortices that are full of conflicts of interest.

Campuses are educational institutions, not businesses. Indeed, there are campuses that prepare students to enter the industrial world after graduation. But the main task of the campus is teaching, researching, and serving the community. If campuses are involved in the mining business, how can they stay focused on running Tri Dharma? Stop this discourse before it's too late.