LPDP Calculates Scholarship Funds to be Returned by DS's Husband: 'I am Indonesian, My Child Doesn't Need To Be'
The Indonesian Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP) is still calculating the value of the scholarship funds to be returned by the alumnus, identified as AP, the husband of DS, who has been the subject of public discussion due to his social media post. LPDP is still calculating the value of the education funds, including the related interest, in this case.
“Regarding the funds to be returned, we are still calculating. We have the data and the calculations,” said the Director General of LPDP, Sudarto, during a media briefing at the Ministry of Finance, as reported by Antara, Thursday (February 26, 2026).
In this case, AP’s study period took place from 2015-2016, and then continued from 2017-2021. LPDP stated that it is currently calculating the value of the education funds and the interest incurred during AP’s entire study period.
He said that the value of the funds to be returned will be announced later, given that this issue involves public interest.
Previously, the Minister of Finance, Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, stated that DS’s husband, the alumnus AP, would return all the scholarship funds he received to the state.
“The head of LPDP has spoken with the person in question. And he seems to have agreed to return the money he used from LPDP. Including the interest. LPDP funds, if I put that money in the bank, of course, there is interest, so it’s a fair treatment,” said Purbaya during a press conference for the February 2026 APBN KiTa edition in Jakarta, Monday (February 23).
The Minister of Finance regretted the alumnus’s attitude, which he considered to be an insult to the country through his social media post. He emphasized that LPDP funds come from public taxes and partly from state debt, which is allocated for the development of human resources.
“That is money from taxes and partly from debt that we set aside to ensure that our human resources grow. But if it is used to insult the country, then we will ask for the money back with interest,” he added.
Purbaya also stated that he would include the person in question on a blacklist so that he would not be able to work in the government environment.
The polemic began with a post by DS on her personal Instagram account on Friday, February 20, 2026. In the video, she showed the British passport of her second child, who had just obtained British citizenship.
In the caption of her post, DS wrote a statement that then sparked controversy because it was considered to belittle the Indonesian passport and was deemed not to show pride as an Indonesian citizen.
(yld/zap)