Campus’ Lack of Response: A Reflection on a Year of the Minister of Education and Culture to Stop Sexual Violence Ratification

One year ago, on August 31, 2021, to be exact, the Regulation of the Minister of Education and Culture, Research and Technology (Permendikbudristek) Number 30 of 2021 concerning the Prevention and Handling of Sexual Violence (PPKS) in the Higher Education Environment was passed. The law has seen consistent waves of resistance and support for a year. If validation and strong support have been given, the next question is how is it implemented by universities in Indonesia?

There are basic things that must be fought for from implementing the PPKS Permendikbudristek by campuses, namely the formation of the Task Force for the Prevention and Handling of Sexual Violence (Satgas PPKS).

But unfortunately, the latest data by the Ministry of Education and Culture on (17/3/2022) only mentions about 4 or 5 campuses that have just formed the PPKS Task Force. I was also surprised by this number. Indeed, according to Plt. Diktiristek Kemendikbudristek, Nizam (17/3/2022), the formation of the PPKS task force was regulated with strict requirements. Not to mention the constraints on the availability of campus Human Resources (HR) who must meet the qualifications.

The problem above has been stuck in my head this week. Then I read the latest news. Through a simple tabulation, I found that only 52 campuses in Indonesia responded to the PPKS Task Force policy. To be exact, 52 out of 3,115 tertiary institutions under the Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education are both public and private (BPS, 2022). I have summarized this data from a digital search from August 2021 to August 28, 2022.

Only 52 out of 3,115 Campuses Respond

From this data, there are 3,063 campuses whose voice has yet to be heard. At least based on publications on the internet. Meanwhile, the 52 campuses that responded to the formation of the PPKS Task Force also known as Satgas PPKS were also at different stages. Through searching with the hashtag #satgasppks on Instagram, I get 17 campus hashtags from 14 campuses.

I also did other digging with the keyword satgasppks for Instagram accounts; the result is that there are 18 accounts with additional data from 11 campuses. The last process is data collection through the news on the website; with the keywords, the PPKS task force got other data from 27 campuses.

Of the 52 campuses that formed the PPKS task force, I divided them based on four categories: (1) already had a task force of 19 campuses, (2) the process of recruiting and selecting a task force of 21 campuses, (3) the process of recruiting and selecting a panel of cells (Selection Committee). From 7 campuses, with Instagram task force accounts, but they are empty/without description.

Although I cannot describe the campus names one by one by category in this paper, some notes regarding the performance of the PPKS Task Force on specific campuses are noteworthy. Take, for example, the three best campuses in Indonesia, according to the QS World University Ranking version, namely Gadjah Mada University (UGM), Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), and the University of Indonesia (UI) (dikti.kemendikbud.go.id). The three campuses are still in the selection committee and public testing stages until the data collection process is complete. This means that the PPKS Task Force has not yet been formed.

Of course, the PPKS Task Force has not been formed because the process is not instantaneous. The provisions are regulated in articles 23, 24, and 25 of the PPKS Permendikbudristek. Another problem that often arises is that several campuses form a PPKS Task Force with a different scheme from the three articles mentioned. The issue of transparency in the formation of the non-representation of student elements on several campuses has received strong criticism from students.

Shadows of Formality and Threats of Sanctions

One example is the formation of the PPKS Task Force without a panel at Sam Ratulangi University (Unsrat) Manado. Student organizations, represented by the Unsrat Commissariat of the Indonesian Christian Student Movement (GMKI), assessed that the Chancellor’s Decree regarding the PPKS Task Force structure was not following article 24 of the PPKS Permendikbudristek, namely the formation process must first go through a Selection Committee (beritakawanua.com). Some campuses form a panel without transparency in the recruitment of cell panels, such as at the University of North Sumatra (USU) ( suarausu.or.id).

The non-transparent and quick process of forming the selection committee was also voiced by students at Universitas Mulawarman (www.sketsaunmul.co). Another problem is the incompatibility of the committee elements, which should consist of educators, education staff, and students (Article 24 Paragraph 3 of Permendikbudristek No. 30) at Tanjungpura University which does not involve student elements in the selection committee (mimbaruntan.com).

The problems that occurred in several of the above campuses imply the quality of the formation of the PPKS Task Force on all campuses still needs to be guaranteed. In fact, chapter IV of the PPKS Permendikbudristek has regulated both the process and the qualifications of the task force candidates. For example, by placing the requirement that a selection committee member must have accompanied victims of sexual violence and have conducted studies on sexual violence, gender, and/or disability.

Before recruiting the PPKS Task Force, prospective panel members are also required to pass a public test. This general test stage is the venue for evaluation and input from the broader community on a candidate. Another critical stage is also set for forming the PPKS Task Force, which is independent and has partiality towards victims.

The idealization above is far from achieved when looking at the existing data and problems. Moreover, referring to the problem of formation that is not transparent. Campus seems to move quickly but needs to be more meticulous. Instead of making a regulation for handling sexual violence, campuses are actually competing to make a formal work structure.

In addition, the threat of sanctions regulated in Article 19 is strong enough to make the campus run wild. Campuses that do not prevent and handle sexual violence are subject to sanctions in the form of termination of financial assistance and a decrease in accreditation levels.

Apart from these problems, during the one-year PPKS Permendikbudristek was passed, 52 campuses have made their respective efforts. However, this figure needs to be more significant if you look at the total number of tertiary institutions in Indonesia. If we look again at the target of implementing this regulation by the Minister of Education and Culture. Nadiem Makarim, in a meeting with Commission X of the DPR, stated that in 2022, all campuses are targeted to have a PPKS Task Force (10/1/2022) (tirto.id).

In a press conference on (12/11/2021) Nadiem explicitly targeted State Universities (PTN) in October 2022 to have a 100% PPKS Task Force. Meanwhile, Private Higher Education (PTS) is targeted to have a 100% PPKS Task Force by July 2022 (nasional.kompas.com).

Unfortunately, more than one year seems to be needed to realize this target. The unequal number of campuses responding to the PPKS Task Force’s formation also shows the weak enforcement of the PPKS Permendikbudristek in Indonesia. Meanwhile, news about cases of sexual violence on campus continued to appear in the media. The campus, as an academic institution, should be able to protect a sense of security and uphold justice. An ideal that is no less honorable than the intellectual sophistication of the people in it.

(Translator: Marina Nasution)

Illustration: freepik.com

Seli Muna Ardiani

Mahasiswi Magister Ilmu Filsafat di Universitas Indonesia (UI). Aktif di lembaga Institute for Javanese Islam Research (IJIR) dan Forum Perempuan Filsafat (FPF).
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