Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – Business will continue as usual for Indonesia's largest universities despite a recent annulment of a 2009 law on educational legal entities by the Constitutional Court, a former minister said Tuesday.
Former national education minister Bambang Sudibyo said universities that have turned into state-owned legal entities (BHMN) "shall retain their existences based on their own statutes".
Seven state universities have become BHMNs since 2001, including the University of Indonesia, the Bandung Institute of Technology, Gadjah Mada University, the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, the Bandung Indonesian Education University, the Airlangga University and the North Sumatra University.
By being BHMN, the universities were granted autonomy to financially support themselves. State subsidies to the universities were subsequently reduced.
Bambang said the universities were still legal entities, but would revert to their original legal statuses, such as foundation, endowed educational institution or company.
"It does not necessarily mean that the BHMN of the University of Indonesia, for example, will have to close down," he said.
Bambang witnessed the deliberation of the much-criticized law during his tenure. However, the law was never fully implemented because it was declared unconstitutional soon after it was passed.
The court said that it found fault in an article of the law that required all educational institutions to take the same form of educational legal entity and generate their own funding. Many universities, they argued, did not have the capability to do finance themselves.
Constitutional Court judge Akil Mochtar said Tuesday that the law benefited only big universities, and that smaller ones would have struggled to meet the requirements to become legal entities and generate their own funding.
"Most big universities were willing to comply with the law because they are ready. But it's a different story for those in remote regions, or other small education institutions. If they had to mobilize their own financial resources and if one day they went bankrupt and had to sell their assets, what would be the fate of their students?" he said.
Akil also said the law would hurt the country's oldest educational institutions. "The Taman Siswa foundation, Muhammadiyah schools and some Christian educational institutions existed even before this country gained its freedom, but under this law, their existences are not acknowledged," he added.
The revoked law only recognized one legal status for educational institutions, which was Educational Legal Entity (BHP). Foundations or informal institutions would have to change their status to BHP and comply with management guidelines stipulated in the law.
Bambang said that a new law was now required to regulate educational legal entities.
"The Constitutional Court ruling does not annul Article 53 of the National Education System, which stipulates a law be deliberated to regulate on educational legal entities. So the government and the legislators at the House of Representatives now have homework to formulate a new law," he added.
The Education Ministry has not publicly responded to the ruling, but said it would study the court's ruling before making any decision.