TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - From the University of Indonesia (UI) Rectorate building in Depok, West Java, Heri Hermansyah monitored the student demonstration titled "Toward a Bankrupt Indonesia" on Friday, June 12, 2026. The UI rector repeatedly checked his cellphone. At around 5pm, for example, he received updates from students and colleagues on the ground that the protesters would soon be dispersed and sent home.
Several government officials also contacted the Tohoku University chemical engineering doctorate graduate. One of them was Higher Education, Science, and Technology Minister Brian Yuliarto. "He called me and asked about the students' situation," Heri told Tempo journalists Dinda Shabrina, Yosea Arga, Friski Riana, and Devy Ernis, along with photographer Tony Hartawan.
On Thursday, June 4, the University of Indonesia's academic community also voiced its protest. More than 300 professors rejected a court ruling that revoked ethical sanctions imposed on the supervisor and co-supervisor of Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia. In early March 2025, the university required the Golkar Party General Chair to revise his dissertation before he could complete his doctoral program.
Heri said the controversy surrounding Bahlil's doctoral degree was the most difficult case he had faced since taking office as rector on December 4, 2024. During an interview lasting about two and a half hours, the former dean of UI's Faculty of Engineering described how the university sought to resolve the matter.
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