Constitutional Court Judge Astonished at University Budgets Used for Lecturer Uniforms and Branded Mineral Water

JAKARTA - Constitutional Court Justice Saldi Isra questioned the priorities in managing university budgets when there are still non-civil servant (non-PNS) campus workers receiving salaries below standards. Saldi admitted to being astonished after learning that university budgets were used for procuring lecturer uniforms and even producing branded mineral water for the campus. “Sometimes there are uses that are unreasonable, in quotes. For example, once in a while there are uniform shirts for lecturers, sometimes the campus provides branded water. Where does the money come from? Apparently from here too,” Saldi said during the material examination hearing of the Teachers and Lecturers Law on Tuesday (5/5/2026). “Yet in the same place, there are still campus workers whose salaries are below standards,” he explained. The Constitutional Court also spotlighted the lack of supervision over higher education fund management, especially those sourced from new student admissions. Saldi questioned the extent of government control in this regard. He also touched on the tendency of universities to expand independent admission pathways for students, which is seen as potentially impacting an increase in Single Tuition Fees (UKT). In the hearing, the Constitutional Court requested detailed data from the government to ascertain the real conditions of welfare for lecturers and non-PNS workers on campus. “Is it true that the petitioners and the related parties present here are getting something beyond common sense, how can there still be those with salaries of Rp400,000 far below the regional minimum wage, or perhaps there’s a misunderstanding here too,” Saldi said. “Approximately, from the total budget received by higher education institutions, whether from the state budget or student admissions, what percentage is allocated to non-PNS campus workers,” he stated. According to Saldi, such data is needed so that the Constitutional Court can objectively assess the issue of non-PNS lecturer welfare, which is the core of the material examination.