The Figure of a Leader*

By Mh. Sulhanudin**

What is actually expected from a figure of leader? Is it a good performance?
Should he be capable enough? Or perhaps you have your own reason..

These questions apparently appear in our mind when we are to choose a leader. It is our right to decide what kind of leader we want, even though other people may oppose our choice. On the contrary, we may also go up against others’ choices. This is a democracy. In a democratic country, people are free to express their opinion; they are free to determine their choices in choosing a figure of their leader as well.

Indonesia, a novice democratic country—in the opinion of USA, as they assume to be the founder of democracy—has been aware of the importance of democracy. As a matter of fact, in the recent general election, people have voted directly for the legislative and the upcoming presidential election. People are so far supposed only to be object for our politicians, but after the politicians succeed residing in the position, people are then out of their mind. Certainly, by this direct election, people will find a figure of their choice.

People actually have a very simple demand for the figure of their leader. They just expect a figure who can protect them; not an authoritarian or a tyrant who takes over his citizens. Since politicians did not fulfil their promises, people tend to trust them no more. Politicians often think that people are stupid; people can be deceived by providing them any “seductive materials”. Unluckily, their prediction proves to be wrong. Today, people are not the same with people in the “Orde Baru” regime. People can evaluate the politicians’ attitudes now.

But however smart people are, politicians are smarter. They attempt to adopt any ways to “seduce” people. They seem to act as a hero of the nation’s defender. Their corrupt were conjured up as a sublime action. Therefore, they strongly look like a hero for the people.

***

A community, either big or small, certainly needs a leader to give direction to their member. Without a leader the community can not be solid, because each member has his own wish. So, in this case, a figure is required in order to accommodate every aspiration that member have. The figure is then called a Leader.

Change is now on people’s hands. People should therefore be careful to use their right as well as possible. They ought not to be easily persuaded by any “seductions”. In this sense, the candidates of our leader will think twice to do the same action. Now, it is about time to make a change!

**Published in Miracle, magazine of English Department Students of Diponegoro University, June-July 2004
*The Writer is former Chief Editor of Miracle 2003/2004

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Mr. Bill Oberlin, MS

“……..I enjoy learning Indonesian language and Cultures”

Bill Oberlin, a guest lecturer from USA, has been teaching in English Department of Faculty of Letters, Diponegoro University since 2001. He thinks that people here are friendly. The students here are respectful, they respect the others. Such condition have made him enjoy teaching in this department.

After teaching for more than a year, he found some students having problems in learning English because of its difficulties in term of pronunciation and its different verb form. In his observation, so far, some students are reluctant and hesitant to use English in their daily communication since they feel uncomfortable to speak English.

In order to encourage the students to use English outside the class –Speaking Class, red--, he always emphasizes on the importance of practicing English to the students. He asks the students to practice it everywhere. He takes himself as a sample. He tries to practice his language of Indonesian frequently. For instance, he used to practice it when he comes home from his work, or when he is somewhere with his children.

He admits that besides learning Indonesian language, lately, he is also enjoying learning Indonesian’s culture as well as Javanese’s culture. In his vacant time of teaching activity, he makes his time for learning Javanese language with his neighbors since the people in Salatiga, a town where he lives, mostly speak in Javanese language.

Hearing on his statement above, crews of Miracle who are interviewing “Mr. Bill”—his nickname- became sour. That day, the small café where we had the interview was very noisy. Yet, his smile appearing from his friendly face made the situation more intimate and chummy. We continue enjoying our meals then continuing our dialogue
Then he told us more about his first experience of visiting Indonesia. The first time coming to Indonesia, he purposed to conduct a construction project in Kalimantan.. At that time, he had never been in Indonesia before.

Because of his first visit in 1998, he really enjoyed his time in Indonesia and studied more about the culture and the people. Then in 2001, he decided to move to Bandung with his family. He and his wife began to study “Bahasa Indonesia” while spending their time to teach English in a Private English Office in Bandung.
Later on, they decided to move to Central Java as his office wanted to open a new office in Salatiga. To know more about Salatiga, he started to try to speak with other teachers, others private English schools and some universities, including Faculty of Letters, Diponegoro University. Finally, he was offered to teach English in English Department.

He remembered his teaching for the first time, a long with the attack of America on Irak, and he is the only American people in this Faculty. Fortunately, the students were so kind and he talked about the issue with the students.

When asked about the condition of English Department in this faculty, he admitted that it is very good. We had worked together in curriculum planning and the teachers whom I work with have a lot of respect for their skill and dedication. He added that good facilities are important for better learning. But the most important thing is the quality of the teaching. The motivation and dedication of the students are no less important . “If I have to choose between being at school with excellent facilities but poor curriculum, the teachers are not skilled or motivated and the students do not care about learning or being at school with poor facilities but it has dedicated teachers and students, I would much better be at the second one”, he added.

He has a plan to go back to US, in 2006, after finishing his contract, to visit relatives and families. “Then, I should make a decision as to staying in US or going back to Indonesia. My feeling said that if God gives permission, we would go back to Indonesia because my children feel comfortable here, they feel like at home here. Our experience here has been a positive thinking in our family”, he replied. (Puspa/Udin).

*Miracle, June-July 2004

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Drs. Agus Subiyono, MA. :

"It is an option, you can choose which one is best for you..."

In this issue, Miracle presents the figure of the new head of English Department, Faculty of Letters, Diponegoro University. Having been the chief of English Department since February 2004, Mr. Agus Subiyanto proposes several programs to develop this department. More information on his figure is reported by Miracle Crew, Mh. Sulhanudin as follows:

We wonder if you would like to tell our readers about yourself.
Well, I was born in Pati on August 14th 1964. Today, I live in Jl. Tlogo Berlian No. 3 Semarang. I took my SI degree in Linguistics in Faculty of Letters of Diponegoro University and graduated in 1989. One year later, I started giving a lecture in this faculty. Then, I enrolled my study at The Australian National University and graduated in 1999. I was assigned to be a secretary of English Department for four years, in the period of 2000-2004. And now this year, I am again given a mandate to manage this department.

As the head of this department, could you please tell us your plans?
First of all, I intend to develop this department because it is widely known that the department has got “A” accreditation for its academic achievement. We are therefore obliged to maintain our achievement.
We—he and his colleagues—red, have discussed about the revision of the curriculum of 2000. In the curriculum, there are five replacement subjects of Non Thesis line. We have agreed to simplify into three subjects, which each of them is offered in 2 SKS (Satuan Kredit Semester). We also add some new subjects. They are Seminar on Grammar, Entrepreneurship, Apprenticeship, and TOEFL/IELT preparation.


Is there any other plans?
Well, in order to develop this department, we have made a solid team to complete the proposal of competence. Last year we submitted a proposal of competence to the Directorate of High Education or DIKTI (Direktorat Pendidikan Tinggi), but unluckily we failed. By preparing a solid team, I truly expect our proposal will be approved.

Then, is there any relation of submitting the proposal to DIKTI with your plan to develop this department?
Certainly yes. If our proposal is approved, DIKTI will fund our research. And we will allocate a part of the fund to upgrade the facilities, such as improving our language laboratory and many others.

Back to the revision of curriculum, a few days ago, Miracle conducted a poll about the curriculum of 2000 and its change. Many students are afraid that they will have difficulties to continue their study, what's your oppinion?
Actually, this model has been applied in University of Indonesia (UI) a couple of years ago. We will apply it starting from student of 2002. UI does not call for undergraduate students to take a thesis as the requirement of their graduation. Other universities, however, may oblige their students to take a thesis. It depends on the policy each university applies. So, you don’t need to be afraid that you will not be able to continue your study.

On the other hand, many students prefer taking the non thesis line to taking the thesis line. Is it because that the non thesis line is simpler? Are you not afraid that there will only be a few students who take the thesis line?
Actually, the main purpose of the curriculum is to help students who want to get a job. In the work field, if you apply for a post in a company, you will not be asked about your thesis. Therefore, they do not need take a thesis or conduct a research. But thesis is important for the students who strongly intend to conduct a research. It is an option though, and I think you can estimate which is best for you.*(Udin)

*Miracle June-July 2004

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New Curriculum Plots Students to Meet Work Field*

By Muhammad Sulhanudin

Starting from 2002, Faculty of Letters of Diponegoro University has put a new curriculum. This curriculum is published based on the decree of National Education Minister No. 232/U/2000. Although the decree was published in 2000, the implementation comes to be effective in 2002, which means, to be officially applied for students of 2002.

The new curriculum, known as curriculum of 2000, reveals many changes. Among the changes are the replacement of KKN with an apprenticeship program and the offering of a non-thesis line. KKN, which previously provided students with a chance to deliver their public service, is now irrelevant. As Prihatmi, the dean of faculty of Letters, remarked, so far KKN has made few benefits since students could not really implement what they have got in the university for people. It is therefore useless. Often, what occurs in the field is not what the purpose has designed to be, “say, it is just clumsy that students of faculty of Letters be ordered to build a bridge,” said she disappointedly.

Agus Subiyanto, the new head of English Department, analyses that society has a different condition today. In the past, people warmly welcomed the visit of students who carried out KKN. But at present, people do not really need students’ help. It is sadden to say that students’ visit may just bring a bother for the local people and the area as well.

Next is the offering of a non-thesis line. The line is an option for the students other than the thesis-line. It is also a requirement to get S1 degree. By this policy, students are given an academic freedom to decide which line they prefer to complete in their study. At the beginning, this policy was implemented on the purpose to prepare students for work field, and also to help students who find difficulties in arranging a thesis. “In the work field, we are to be practical; the experience of research is less needed. Besides, we are also required to pursue other skills, which support the field we are majoring," said Drs. Muallimin, M.A., the secretary of English Department.

In agreement to Mualimin, Agus Subiyanto added that this decision has been prudently discussed in the meeting. “And we have also got suggestion from the alumni who are now working. So we did not decide it single-handedly,” he explained.

Not all departments in the Faculty of Letters agree with this policy. The only department which is still arguing the non-thesis line is the Department of History, whereas two other departments agree with the policy. Prihatmi, the first person in the faculty of Letters, notes that the Department of History students are suggested to take a thesis. As for other departments, it will be no problem, because the Department of History is closely related to conduct a research.

Our faculty is in fact not the pioneer of implementing a non-thesis line; University of Indonesia (UI) has pioneered this idea and has started it a couple of years ago. Other state universities (PTN) now start following this idea. UNDIP is one of them, which will implement this policy for the Department of Indonesia students and English Department in the academic year of 2002.

In addition to the change of KKN and the non-thesis line offer, there are still many changes in this new curriculum. Several subjects that are considered irrelevant will be deleted. New subjects then appear to replace them. The SKS of lectures such as Man and Culture of Indonesia (MKI) and Indonesian Language in the English Department is simplified into 2 SKS, which previously were 4 SKS.

Some subjects that are considered still confusing have also been corrected. For example: speaking, grammar, listening, writing, and translation. Formerly, the name of these subjects used sequential number, but they are now changed to be in level; namely basic, intermediate, upper-intermediate, and advance, despite the material are basically same.

So far, curriculum of 2000 is the latest curriculum which is implemented in the Faculty of Letters. The lecturing material is based on the former curriculum textbook that was released in 2002. For a temporal time, the textbook of curriculum 2000 is no longer published. “In this year, 2003, the textbook guidance is not published anymore, because it will be revised. Consequently, the students of 2003, especially the English Department students and other departments have not got the manual book yet. For the English Department, it has been planned to publish the revision of the 2000 curriculum as soon as everything is done. We plan to socialize this revision to the students of 2000 and 2003,” said Agus Subiyanto”.

There are three subjects that are optionally offered in the Non Thesis line. They are Journalism, Applied Linguistics and ……….. Apart from revising the curriculum of 2000, the department also offers new subjects, such as Seminar on Grammar, Entrepreneurship, and TOEFL/IELT Preparation. Previously, such subjects were not presented. TOEFL/IELT Preparation is offered in the fifth semester. In this case, the department will cooperate with the Public Service Institution (LPM). Meanwhile, to hold a TOEFL test, SEU/MLC (Multi Language Center) will manage. The department also planned that the students will get a certificate.

What Do They Say about the New Curriculum?
Curriculums of 2000, which will soon be revised, are supposed to bring effect to the Faculty of Letters students. This effect can be positive or negative. Non-thesis line a breakthrough program published out by the Department of English and the Department of Indonesia. It surely has effect on the students themselves.

Toni, a student of English Department 2000 said that by the implementation of non-thesis line there would be a very small percentage of students who take the thesis line. It is because the non-thesis line is easier. Meanwhile, Ade, a student of English Department 2002 gets worried to take the non-thesis line. She is afraid that later she will have difficulties to continue her study.

It is Puji, a student of English Department 2002, different from Toni and Ade, who sees no problem with non-thesis line. Besides, it will be helpful for students who are completing thesis. He argues that the subjects offered in non-thesis line are good.

About the abolition of KKN, most of students stated that they do agree. Toni declared that he really supported this policy. He said that by an apprenticeship, students could largely apply their knowledge they have got from university. It is different from KKN of which the application is unclear.

Nevertheless, there are some students who disagree with the abolition of KKN. Dipta, a student of 2002, said that the knowledge that students got in campus is not to be business-oriented only, but also to be delivered for society. He emphasized the importance of KKN considering that the students will later on enter the society after they finish their study.

When Rahayu Prihatmi was confirmed about which is better, thesis or non-thesis, the dean of Faculty of Letters said that both of them are good. It is just what the students want to choose. They know their own capabilities; if they are able to write a thesis and have desire to do some research, it will be no problem.

Agus Subiyanto, the head of English Department, proposes the same opinion with Sri Rahayu. He added that for non-thesis line, the offered subjects are not inferior to the thesis line. Responding the worry of a few of the students who will take thesis line, he considered that there must certainly be one or more students who have strong desire to do a research. In his opinion, so to say, there would be students who undertake thesis line.*(Udin/Ivan)

*Headline News of Miracle, June-July 2004

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