Nusron and Sudaryono's Remarks After UGM Discussion Disrupted by Students

A number of students disrupted a discussion event featuring three state officials at the Gelanggang Inovasi dan Kreativitas (GIK) UGM on Monday evening (15/6). The incident was also marked by a chase. The action took place while the forum, attended by Head of the Poverty Alleviation Acceleration Agency Budiman Sudjatmiko, Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency (ATR/BPN) Nusron Wahid, and Deputy Minister of Agriculture Sudaryono, was underway. Initially, the discussion proceeded smoothly. However, shortly after, several students climbed onto the stage and unfurled banners rejecting the speakers. The situation escalated until the discussion was halted and plastic cups were thrown. The three officials were then evacuated, but hundreds of students blocked them outside the GIK UGM building. Nusron Wahid and Sudaryono briefly engaged in dialogue with the crowd, but the talks reached an impasse. As they left the location under escort, a scuffle involving pushing and shoving occurred between students and security personnel. A representative of the UGM Student Union (SEMA), Mesa, stated that the action was a form of criticism against the government. They argued that as long as the government considers criticism a disturbance, the officials are unfit to discuss Pancasila. ‘They are not worthy of discussing Pancasila while Indonesia silences the people’s voice, while they consider criticism a nuisance, while they continue to waste public money on useless programmes, the Free Nutritious Meal programme (MBG), the Kopdes Merah Putih, and many other things happening now,’ Mesa said. Mesa considered the friction that occurred to be normal, stating it happens when the government can no longer be reminded gently. ‘The friction occurs precisely because they talk nonsense, they lie a lot,’ he said. ‘The friction that happened earlier is actually a normal thing in a democratic country, where they can no longer just be whispered to, but must be shouted at,’ he added. Regarding the chase, he claimed it was triggered by officials who did not want to engage in discussion with the students. ‘The chase was actually because they were avoiding us. We would not have chased them if they had answered one simple question: did they feel guilty? They didn’t. They instead asked a question back and explicitly felt no guilt. That is the consequence of their actions,’ he asserted. Minister Nusron Wahid responded to the incident, explaining he came with Budiman Sudjatmiko and Sudaryono to engage in direct dialogue with the academic community. ‘We came with proper organisers, with a complete permit letter from the rectorate. We were ready to be there to dialogue with anyone, with the academic community, on any topic, because we from the government have prepared ourselves to be bullied, to be insulted in front of anyone, because that is the consequence of holding office,’ Nusron said in a post on his personal Instagram account. Nusron said the discussion event was going well until a group of people, whom he described as not ready for dialogue, disrupted it. He expressed regret over the incident. ‘But apparently tonight, fate said otherwise. There was a group of anti-democratic people, who were not ready for dialogue, not ready for democracy and not ready to accept a dialogue of ideas, who prioritised imposing their will and violence, which we deeply regret,’ Nusron said. ‘This forum was supposed to be a good dialogue, as in other campuses. There was no motivation to castrate, but we were actually ready to be criticised. If there was something wrong, we were ready to correct it, if there was input, we would follow it up. But it was thwarted by that group,’ he continued. Nusron then called on all parties to create a good debate space in implementing democracy. He affirmed his readiness to continue attending similar dialogues in the future. ‘Let us uphold democracy in a civilised manner. Therefore, discussion spaces and forums for debate of any kind must not be closed and must not create a monologue of a single opinion from certain groups only. We are ready to serve any invitations to exchange data and arguments. But tonight, we truly regret it, though we do not regret coming,’ he said. Deputy Minister of Agriculture Sudaryono also provided clarification, stating he came to UGM with Nusron Wahid and Budiman Sudjatmiko with the intention of having an open and democratic dialogue with students. ‘We came to UGM precisely to discuss. This event had been planned for a long time and had received permission from the campus. This is also not the first activity of this kind,’ Sudaryono said. According to Sudaryono, from the outset, he and the other speakers opened the widest possible space for students to ask questions or criticise government policies. ‘Being asked anything is fine. Being judged in any way is also fine. We were present to dialogue democratically,’ he added. However, in the middle of the forum, Sudaryono claimed there was a group of participants who did not want the discussion to continue, making the situation unconducive. ‘We had been discussing for about 30 to 40 minutes. But then there was a group of people who wanted the forum stopped. Even though most of the participants still wanted to continue,’ he said.