Lecturers' Salaries Barely Cover Food, Let Alone Rent

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Ulya Niami Jamson, Chairperson of Melbourne Bergerak, shared the story of a lecturer anonymised as Libra to illustrate the plight of underpaid academics. She presented the testimony during an online hearing at the Constitutional Court (MK) in Central Jakarta on Monday (25/5/2026), challenging provisions of Law No. 14 of 2005 on Teachers and Lecturers. Libra, a 37-year-old lecturer pursuing a doctoral degree at a prestigious Melbourne university, was cited as an example. According to Ulya, Libra exemplifies the government’s push to establish world-class universities in Indonesia. ‘Indonesian universities are aggressively recruiting lecturers with foreign doctoral degrees to boost their global standing,’ she said. ‘Ironically, Libra earns a base salary of only Rp 2.345 million monthly, as evidenced by P6,’ Ulya added. This amount is deemed insufficient for living expenses, especially for lecturers with families. ‘In Indonesia, this salary isn’t enough—let alone rent, it barely covers food,’ Libra reportedly said. Libra also mentioned a colleague earning Rp 4 million monthly as per evidence P7, despite 15 years of service as a civil servant lecturer at a PTN BH in Surabaya—below the city’s 2026 minimum wage of Rp 5.3 million. Ulya also recounted the case of Sagi (pseudonym), a 27-year-old pursuing a master’s degree at The University of Melbourne. Before her studies, Sagi worked as a researcher and aspired to become a lecturer. However, she abandoned the idea after concluding lecturer salaries were insufficient to meet living costs. Ulya noted Sagi recognised that low pay would force her to take on side jobs, hindering academic focus.