Accepts Debate Challenge with Pigai, Prof Zainal Arifin States Public Has Right to Know Human Rights Achievement

SLEMAN — Zainal Arifin Mochtar, Professor of Law at Gadjah Mada University, has expressed his readiness to participate in a public forum with Human Rights Minister Natalius Pigai. Following an exchange of arguments on social media that saw both parties trading tweets on X (formerly Twitter), both have stated their willingness to debate regarding human rights enforcement in Indonesia.

However, Zainal wants the meeting to serve not merely as a debate platform, but also as a space to demand accountability for human rights enforcement performance over the past two years.

The academic, commonly known as Uceng, emphasised that he is not interested in normative conceptual debates. In his view, the public needs concrete explanations regarding policy achievements and realisation, not theoretical arguments as commonly occurs in academic settings.

“If it’s about theory, let’s keep that on campus,” he stated on Friday evening, 27 February 2026.

“In my opinion, this is not a debate. The record of human rights enforcement in this Republic has been rather poor over the past two years and is in disarray, and I think it’s also good if he (Pigai) is willing to come. So it’s like a kind of accountability for his performance as Human Rights Minister,” Zainal said.

He stated that the record of human rights enforcement recently needs to be explained openly to the public. Society deserves to know the government’s concrete achievements, not merely normative statements.

To date, the public has been presented too often with normative rhetoric from public officials without being accompanied by clear evidence of implementation. For this reason, he views the public forum as an important tool for democratic education.

Furthermore, Uceng added, normative statements are insufficient to answer public questions about actual government performance.

“Statements like ‘the state certainly does its best’ are campaign rhetoric. What’s most important really is what has been done during these two years in office,” he said.

Dedicating Time to Demand Accountability

Uceng acknowledged that he has generally rejected debate invitations at various forums, including at television stations. However, this time, he feels the need to participate directly because it concerns wider public interests. He again assessed that the condition of human rights enforcement over the past two years has deteriorated and needs to be explained transparently in the public sphere.

“I am dedicating my time to demand this. I actually do not like debates, but I am tired of merely arguing on Twitter (X), so it is better to do it directly,” he said.

Regarding venue and organisers, he revealed that many offers have already come in, ranging from television stations, digital platforms, to research centres. Uceng is open to the forum being held anywhere, provided it is broadcast openly and accessible to the general public.

However, to date, there has been no formal invitation nor official response from the ministry regarding the technical implementation of the forum.