Deputy Minister Stella: State Scholarships Are a Debt of Gratitude
Deputy Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology (Wamendiktisaintek) Stella Christie has affirmed that every recipient of a state scholarship owes a debt of gratitude to the nation.
The firm statement was made by Deputy Minister Stella in response to remarks by an alumna of the LPDP (Education Fund Management Institution) scholarship programme who stated “it’s enough that I’m an Indonesian citizen — my children shouldn’t have to be,” a comment that recently went viral on social media.
Deputy Minister Stella said she had previously been criticised by netizens for advising that scholarship funds received by citizens constitute a debt.
“I was once criticised by netizens when I advised undergraduate scholarship recipients studying abroad through the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology that a scholarship is a debt,” Stella said on Sunday (22 February).
“But the reality is indeed so: every scholarship from the state is a debt of gratitude,” she affirmed.
Stella said scholarship recipients should view the opportunity as a trust, not merely a facility.
“Excessive restrictions actually risk fostering a cynical attitude: scholarship recipients become less grateful to the state and busy looking for loopholes to avoid their obligations,” she said.
Stella cited several Indonesian diaspora scientists who have made contributions to the country.
“These good examples need to be highlighted — Prof. Vivi Kashim in China, Prof. Sastia Putri in Japan, Prof. Haryadi in the United States, and many more. Hopefully we can be open to the fact that giving back to the country takes many forms,” she said.
A video uploaded by the Instagram account @sasetyaningtyas recently went viral on social media. She uploaded a video of herself opening a long-awaited parcel containing a statement letter from the United Kingdom Home Office confirming that her second child had officially become a British citizen.
The woman also displayed a British passport that arrived together with the letter.
“I know the world seems unfair, but it’s enough that only I’m an Indonesian citizen — my children shouldn’t have to be. We’ll make sure the children have strong foreign passports,” she said in the video.
Following the backlash over her statement, the LPDP scholarship recipient, identified by the initials DS, issued an apology.
She uploaded a clarification and apology on Friday (20 February), acknowledging that her statement was wrong and inappropriate.
“I fully realise that the statement was inappropriate and could be interpreted as a form of denigration of one’s identity as an Indonesian citizen. For that, I acknowledge my error in choice of words and in expressing them in a public space,” she said.