Nusron Wahid Speaks Out on UGM Discussion Disrupted by Students

Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency (ATR/BPN) Nusron Wahid has spoken out regarding an incident where a discussion event at Gadjah Mada University (UGM) ended with students storming the venue. Nusron explained that he had come together with the Head of the Poverty Alleviation Acceleration Agency Budiman Sudjatmiko and Deputy Minister of Agriculture Sudaryono to engage in direct dialogue with the academic community. “We came properly, there was a complete permit letter from the rectorate. We were ready to come there to dialogue with anyone, with the academic community, on any topic, because we from the government have prepared ourselves to be ready to be bullied, ready 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 seen on Tuesday (16/6/2026). Nusron permitted his statement about the UGM discussion to be quoted from his Instagram post. Nusron said the discussion event was proceeding well until a number of people, who he claimed were not ready to engage in dialogue, disrupted it. He deplored the incident. “But it turned out that tonight, fate had other plans. There was a group of people who are undemocratic, who apparently were not ready for dialogue, not ready for democracy and not ready to accept a dialogue of ideas, who prioritised imposing their will and prioritised violence, and for that we deeply regret it,” Nusron said. “A forum that should have been a good dialogue, as happens on other campuses. There was no motivation to castrate debate, but we were actually ready to be criticised. If indeed there was something wrong, we were ready to correct it; if there was input, we would follow it up. But it turned out to be thwarted by that group of people,” he continued. Nusron then called on all parties to create a proper space for debate in implementing democracy. He also affirmed his readiness to continue attending similar dialogues in the future. “I think, let us uphold democracy in a civilised manner. Therefore, discussion spaces and spaces for debate in any forum whatsoever must not be closed and must not be a monologue by creating a single opinion from certain groups only. We are ready to serve various invitations, if there are any, to match data and arguments. But tonight we truly regret it, though we do not repent,” he stated. It is known that a crowd of students stormed a discussion event featuring three state officials at the Joglo Gelanggang Inovasi dan Kreativitas (GIK) UGM on Monday (15/6) evening. 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 ATR/BPN Nusron Wahid, and Deputy Minister of Agriculture Sudaryono was underway. Initially, the discussion event ran smoothly. However, shortly afterwards, a number of students climbed onto the stage and unfurled banners rejecting the speakers. The situation heated up 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. Nusron Wahid and Sudaryono briefly engaged in dialogue with the crowd, but the talks again reached a deadlock. As the two left the location under escort, a shoving match occurred between students and security personnel. One representative of the UGM Student Union (SEMA), Mesa, said that the action was a form of criticism against the government. They assessed that as long as the government considers criticism a disturbance, the officials are not fit to speak about Pancasila. “They are not fit to talk about Pancasila while Indonesia still silences the people’s voice, as long as they consider criticism a disturbance, as long as they continue to waste the people’s money on useless programmes, the MBG programme, Kopdes Merah Putih, and many things happening now,” Mesa said, as reported by detikJogja on Tuesday (16/6).