ITB Students Protest Prabowonomics Seminar on Campus

Several students from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) interrupted a book launch and seminar on Prabowonomics held on the ITB campus on Thursday, 5 March 2026. The event was attended by several members of the House of Representatives and several ministers in Prabowo’s government. Among those present were Deputy Speaker of the DPR Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, Chair of Commission X DPR Hetifah Sjaifudian, Chair of Commission X DPR Misbakhun, Minister of Cooperatives Ferry Juliantono, Minister of Manpower Yassierli, and Minister of Higher Education Brian Yuliarto. The event was also attended by ITB’s rectorate and political critic Rocky Gerung. In the midst of the proceedings, several ITB student associations entered the West Aula of the campus. They voiced protests against what they described as an event saturated with political interests. “We, from KM ITB and ITB students, reject all campus politicisation by the government,” one student said, speaking on Thursday, 5 March 2026, according to IDN Times. He added that ITB is currently used as a political space by those in power. He argued that the campus environment should be free from political activities and focus on safeguarding academic values. Tempo attempted to contact KM ITB administrators Farrel Faiz and the official KM ITB Instagram account, but as of this report there had been no response. ITB’s Director of Communications and Public Relations Nurlaela Arief said they still needed to coordinate to address the matter of the book launch and the Prabowonomics seminar on campus that had drawn student protests. “I’m not in Bandung,” he said on Friday, 6 March 2026. The book Menggugat Republik was written by former Golkar politician Syahganda Nainggolan. He said 30 percent of the book’s contents discuss Prabowonomics, including his thoughts on the leadership of the Chairman of the Gerindra Party in facing geopolitical and economic pressures. “I wrote this book because I believe President Prabowo is the right person to lead the republic in times of crisis as now,” he said.