Hoax! Video of BEM UI Clashes Over MK Ruling on Free Nutritious Meal Programme is False
A TikTok post has been circulating showing footage of TNI, Polri, and students in yellow alma mater jackets facing off against one another. The post claims that the University of Indonesia Student Executive Board (BEM UI) held a demonstration in front of the Constitutional Court (MK) to monitor the court’s decision regarding the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme, alleging the event was trending on social media but ignored by television news.
The video depicts security forces and students pushing against each other amidst shouts of “open up, open up”. However, the claim that this video captures a riot occurring during the reading of the MK ruling on 30 July 2026 is incorrect.
Investigations show that the footage is actually from a student protest held on Friday, 12 June 2026, along Jalan MH Thamrin towards the Hotel Indonesia (HI) Roundabout in Central Jakarta. During that event, BEM UI and over 700 students from various universities protested with five demands: halting state budget waste, lowering the prices of basic necessities and fuel, stopping the MBG programme and the development of the Red and White Village Cooperatives, ending militarism in civilian spheres, and demanding President Prabowo Subianto acknowledge government errors. The tension seen in the video was caused by security forces forming barricades to prevent the march from proceeding.
While the Constitutional Court did indeed read a ruling on 30 July 2026 regarding the judicial review of the 2026 State Budget Law, the situation on that day was different. The court ordered the government and Parliament to move the MBG programme budget out of the education budget allocation by the 2028 budget preparation.
Metropolitan Regional Police (Polda Metro Jaya) confirmed via their official Instagram account that the video circulating with the July 30 narrative is misleading information. The police explained that the footage is old documentation from June 2026 being recirculated as new. Observations at the Constitutional Court on 30 July 2026 showed police on standby for solidarity actions, but the area remained relatively quiet without the clashes depicted in the viral video. The Chair of the UI Faculty of Law Student Executive Board, Anandaku Dimas Rumi Chattaristo, also confirmed that while students participated in solidarity actions, the specific footage of a riot during the ruling reading is disinformation.