Camelia Pasandaran & Anita Rachman – The government found itself in Constitutional Court on Thursday defending its education autonomy law against nine citizens who want it annulled on the grounds that it is unconstitutional.

The government said the 2008 law, named the Education Legal Entity Law (BHP), would improve education in the long run by making universities more independent, especially in managing financial affairs.

The nine applicants filing the judicial review, however, are claiming the bill will hamper the ability of all citizens to have equal access to education, arguing that this inequality is against the constitution.

The citizens – which include parents, teachers and university students – said the new law had brought about conditions that discriminated in favor of the rich.

Under the law, autonomy means that the government budget for higher education will be reduced, which means the universities have to become more financially self-sufficient.

Dimas Ari Nurdianto, a student from the University of Indonesia, testified that ever since the autonomy scheme was applied to UI several years ago (which included a lengthy trial period), the college has tried to make up the financial shortfall through significant increases in fees.

Dimas said many students were dropping out because they could not afford the higher entrance and semester fees. "A new student recently withdrew his application to attend university due to financial problems even though he had passed the selection tests," he said.

However, the government has long rejected criticism that the controversial law would spell financial ruin for prospective university students and lead to a poorer standard of education.

It has said that the legislation allows state-owned universities to charge students only one-third of the total cost of their courses and that each university must allocate a minimum of 20 percent of the number of enrollment positions to students from low-income households.

Dimas said that since the implementation of the scheme at UI, students have had to pay more overall despite the perception that they would be paying less.

"In 2008, 65 percent of university income came from students, while now, in 2009, the amount students contribute has fallen to 45 percent," he said. "However, while the percentage is decreasing, the amount the students have to pay out of their own pockets is increasing."

Darmaningtyas, an education expert, agreed with Dimas, testifying in court that discrimination in education would probably made worse by the new law. "The BHP law will only push commercial education to new levels."