Daoed Joesoef The Minister's Controversies

He is an economist and an artist. A doctorate of the Sorbonne, France, who "went astray" to become the Minister of Education & Culture-with the courage to make policies that were controversial for their times: changing the beginning of the academic year, getting rid of the school holidays for the fasting month, banning university students from undertaking political activities on campus through the Normalization of Campus Life (the restoration and maintenance of order in universities).

Daoed Joesoef's thinking-he is now 84 years old-can be categorized as unusual or even eccentric for his times. At one time, he suggested getting rid of religious education in the schools. He also disagreed with a decree from three ministers on the establishment of houses of worship. Two weeks ago, Daoed spoke at length about his life, his ideas, and many other things with Nunuy Nurhayati and Yophiandi from Tempo. Here are some highlights of those discussions.