Anti-Prabowo banner at Indonesian university prompts university suspension, raising fears of censorship

Surabaya’s Airlangga University initially suspended the trio from the student council of the faculty of social sciences and politics over the banner, but later bowed to public outrage and reversed its decision. The banner was displayed in front of the university campus on October 22, two days after Prabowo and Gibran’s inauguration in Jakarta.

The message on the banner reads: “Congratulations to the ruthless general Prabowo Subianto and ‘Professor 2.3 GPA’ Gibran Rakabuming on his inauguration as President and vice president of Indonesia, elected through a corrupt constitutional process. It bears the signature of Mulyono (Destroyer of Democracy).”

Explaining the reason for the suspension on October 25, Bagong Suyanto, dean of the faculty of social sciences and politics, told Asia This Week on Monday morning: “The student council must adhere to academic standards rather than bowing to vulgar diction and language. We want to improve the academic standards.” This is not the culture, this is our message.”

But in a U-turn the same day, Bagong spoke again to This Week in Asia and said he had decided to reassign the students but warned them not to use “vulgar language” and urged them to “adhere to the academic culture”.

Tuffahati Ullayyah Bachtiar, the student council president at the time of the initial suspension, told Asia This Week that she and two other members were informed on October 25 that they were being suspended indefinitely for what she called “unethical behavior” by the dean’s office.