Academics across the globe show solidarity for SOAS Indonesian politics expert, his work and academic freedom.
As Indonesian academics, foreign academics who work on Indonesia, and colleagues in the Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London, we write in support of academic freedom for our profession. It is important that we be able to research and analyze a broad range of social, political, and economic issues in an environment that is open, transparent, free, and supportive of debate and discussion.
Dr Michael Buehler’s article on New Mandala has generated sharp responses from the Indonesian government and the Indonesian media. The article raises questions about the possible role of lobbyists in President Widodo’s recent state visit to the US.
The article is based on a publicly available (open source) document on a US Justice Department website that describes lobbying services to be performed by a private contractor to assist with certain aspects of President Widodo’s visit. The contractor claimed in the document to be acting on behalf of the executive branch of the Indonesian government.
Buehler’s article raised questions about the source of funding for this lobbyist. Such questions are related to basic issues of transparency, flows of funds, and how certain private actors try to gain access to official policymaking. In countries where transparency and accountability are major problems, it is necessary and responsible to raise questions about matters like this and search for reasonable answers supported by evidence
For the media as well as for scholars, it is very important that they be able to do their work effectively. This supports transparency, accountability, democracy, and the rule of law. And it is important that responses focus on facts, substance, and the message, and not on the messenger.
Various Indonesian commentators, including academics at major Indonesian universities, have made accusations against Professor Buehler and his character. He has been called a foreign agent, an agent of the Freeport McMoran mining company, and so on. As colleagues of Professor Buehler, we know him to be a serious, independent scholar who is dedicated to research and learning.
1 | Professor Rizal Panggabean | Peace and Conflict Resolution, Universitas Gadjah Mada |
2 | Professor Yohanes Sulaiman | Indonesian Defense University, Jakarta |
3 | Professor Mohtar Mas’oed | Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Gadjah Mada University |
4 | Dr Todung Mulya Lubis | School of Law, University of Indonesia |
5 | Dr Luky Djani | Bawaslu; Asia Research Center, Murdoch University |
6 | Dr Yosef Djakababa | Director, Center for Southeast Asian Studies-Indonesia (CSEASI), Jakarta |
7 | Mustafa Fakhri, SH, MH, LLM | Chairman of Constitutional Law Studies University of Indonesia |
8 | Dr George Martin Sirait | Atma Jaya University, Jakarta |
9 | Dr Ihsan Ali-Fauzi | Pusat Studi Agama dan Demokrasi (PUSAD), Yayasan Paramadina |
10 | Ridarson Galingging, LLM | School of Law, Yarsi University, Jakarta |
11 | Dr Titik Firawati, | Dosen, Department of International Relations, Gadjah Mada University |
12 | Dr Baskara T. Wardaya | PUSDEMA (Pusat Kajian Demokrasi dan HAM), USD, Yogyakarta |
13 | Dr Muhammad Uhaib As’ad, MSi. | Dosen Fisipol Universitas Islam Kalimantan Banjarmasin |
14 | Professor James C. Scott | Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University |
15 | Professor Jeffrey A. Winters | Department of Politics, Northwestern University |
16 | Professor John T. Sidel | Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science |
17 | Professor Dan Slater | Political Science Department, University of Chicago |
18 | Professor Edward Aspinall | Department of Political & Social Change, Australian National University |
19 | Professor Richard Doner | Political Science Department, Emory University |
20 | Professor Richard Robison | Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University |
21 | Professor Geoffrey Robinson | Department of History, UCLA |
22 | Professor Paul Hutchcroft | Professor of Political and Social Change, Australian National University |
23 | Professor R. William Liddle | Political Science Department, Ohio State University |
24 | Professor Teri Caraway | Political Science Department, University of Minnesota |
25 | Professor Michele Ford | School of Languages and Cultures, University of Sydney |
26 | Professor Alasdair Bowie | Political Science Department, The George Washington University |
27 | Professor Jamie Seth Davidson | Department of Politics, National University of Singapore |
28 | Professor M. Steven Fish | Political Science Department, University of California, Berkeley |
29 | Professor Tuong Vu | Director, Asian Studies Program Associate Professor Department of Political Science University of Oregon |
30 | Professor Thomas Pepinsky | Department of Government, Cornell University |
31 | Professor Robert Cribb | Department of Pacific and Asian History, Australian National University |
32 | Professor Aurel Croissant | Political Science Department, Heidelberg University, Germany |
33 | Professor Jan Pierskalla | Political Science Department, Ohio State University |
34 | Professor Amy L. Freedman | Political Science & International Studies, Long Island University and Columbia University |
35 | Professor Laleh Khalili | Middle East Politics, Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS, University of London |
36 | Professor Gerry van Klinken | Senior Researcher, KITLV, and Southeast Asian History, University of Amsterdam |
37 | Professor Marcus Mietzner | Department of Political & Social Change, Australian National University |
38 | Professor Julia C. Strauss | Chinese and Comparative Politics, SOAS, University of London |
39 | Professor Yuhki Tajima | Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University |
40 | Professor Adrian Vickers | School of Languages and Cultures, University of Sydney |
41 | Professor John Roosa | History Department, University of British Columbia |
42 | Professor Jemma Purdey | Faculty of Arts, Monash University |
43 | Professor Stephen Chan, OBE | Professor of World Politics, Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London |
44 | Professor Jacques Bertrand | Department of Political Science; Director, Masters in Asia-Pacific Studies Munk School of Global Affairs (Asian institute), University of Toronto |
45 | Professor Lawrence Saez | Head of Department, Department of Politics, SOAS, University of London |
46 | Professor Arshin Adib-Moghaddam | Professor in Global Thought and Comparative Philosophies; Chair, Centre for Iranian Studies, Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London |
47 | Professor Charles Tripp FBA | Professor of Politics with reference to the Middle East Department of Politics and International Studies School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London |
48 | Associate Professor of International Relations, Leslie Vinajamuri | Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London |
49 | Dr Dirk Tomsa | Department of Politics and Philosophy, La Trobe University |
50 | Dr Margaret Scott | Wagner School, New York University |
51 | Dr Robin Bush | Senior Research Fellow, The Asia Foundation |
52 | Dr Jacqui Baker | School of Management and Governance, Murdoch University |
53 | Fabio Scarpello | Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University |
54 | Dr Matthew Nelson | Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London |
55 | Dr Philip Lorenz | Institute for Political Science, Heidelberg University |
56 | Dr Reem Abou-El-Fadl | Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London |
57 | Dr Ward Berenschot | Royal Netherlands Institute of South East Asian and Caribbean Studies, Leiden |
58 | Dr Carlo Bonura | Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS, University of London |
59 | Dr Elizabeth Chandra | Keio University, Tokyo |
60 | Dr Mulaika Hijjaz | Department of Southeast Asia, SOAS, University of London |
61 | Dr Thushara Dibley | School of Languages and Culture, University of Sydney |
62 | Dr Bill Hurst | Department of Politics and International Studies, Northwestern University |
63 | Dr Kevin W. Fogg | Faculty of History and Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, University of Oxford |
64 | Dr Kikue Hamayotsu | Department of Political Science, Northern Illinois University |
65 | Dr Steve Heder | Research Associate, Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS, University of London |
66 | Dr Lee Jones | Department of Politics and International Relations, Queen Mary University, London |
67 | Dr Antje Missbach | Monash University |
68 | Dr Kerem Nisancioglu | Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London |
69 | Dr Manjeet Ramgotra | Senior Teaching Fellow, Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS, University of London |
70 | Dr Yuka Kobayashi | Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London |
71 | Dr Mark Laffey | Senior Lecturer in International Relations Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS, University of London |
72 | Dr Matthew Eagleton-Pierce | Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS, University of London |
73 | Dr Bjoern Dressel | Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University |
74 | Dr Jacqui Hicks | Jacqueline Hicks, Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, Leiden, Netherlands. |
75 | Dr Meera Sabaratnam | Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London |
76 | Dr Phil Clark | Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London |
77 | Dr Hagar Kotef | Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London |
78 | Dr Hedi Viterbo | Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London |
79 | Dr Rahul Rao | Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London |
80 | Dr Michael Farquhar | Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London |
81 | Dr Rochana Bajpai | Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London |
82 | Dr Enze Han | Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London |
83 | Dr James B. Hoesterey | Religion Department, Emory University |
84 | Dr Bhavna Dave | Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London |
85 | Dr Alastair Fraser | Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London |
86 | Dr Kristin Surak | Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London |
87 | Dr Terence Lee | Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore |
88 | Dr Patrick Ziegenhain | Department of Southeast Asian Studies, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany |
89 | Dr Kathleen Woodward | Associate Professor Political Sciences and International Affairs, University of North Georgia |
90 | Dr Julie Chernov Hwang | Department of Politics, Goucher College |
91 | ||
92 | Julia Suryakusuma | Independent scholar and Jakarta Post columnist, Jakarta |
93 | Mirza Jaka Suryana | Writer, Jakarta, Indonesia |
94 | Made Supriatma | Researcher and Freelance Journalist, IndoProgress |
95 | Benny Subianto | Harvard Kennedy School |
96 | Evan A. Laksmana | Researcher, Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta |
97 | Nathanael Sumaktoyo | Ph.D student, University of Notre Dame |
Download a PDF version of this statement here. Read a version in Bahasa Indonesia here.