MPR: System and Integrity Culture Improvement Needed to Tackle SPMB Fraud

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR RI) Lestari Moerdijat has stressed the need for system improvements and the development of a culture of integrity to tackle recurring fraud in the implementation of the New Student Admission System (SPMB). “Supervisory measures and the application of regulations alone are evidently insufficient. System improvements and consistently building a culture of integrity are essential to address the repeated allegations of fraud in new student admissions,” she said in a statement in Jakarta on Monday. Lestari highlighted data from the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI), which recorded 301 public complaint reports during the 2026 SPMB. The zoning pathway received the most reports (187 complaints), followed by the achievement pathway (69 complaints), the affirmation pathway (33 complaints), and the transfer pathway (12 complaints). According to her, instilling integrity values from an early age is the main foundation for building the character of the nation’s children, which is part of efforts to prevent corruption. Lestari, who is also a member of Commission X of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), urged concrete and integrated measures to reduce the number of alleged fraud cases in the new student admission process. She also assessed the need for regulatory simplification, strengthened data verification, and the development of a joint oversight system involving the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the Ombudsman, and regional governments. However, apart from these efforts, the most fundamental step in preventing fraud is building a culture of integrity from an early age. “Without integrity, the upbringing and education system will only produce graduates who are academically intelligent but morally fragile,” she said. She reminded that anti-corruption education must be substantive, not merely ceremonial, in order to produce a generation that is intelligent, has strong character, and rejects all forms of fraud.