Observer: Unsoed corruption disclosure momentum for auditing state university governance
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Education observer Ina Liem has assessed that the disclosure of the alleged corruption case implicating the Rector of Universitas Jenderal Soedirman (Unsoed) must serve as momentum to conduct a thorough audit of the governance of state universities (PTN) in Indonesia.
“In my view, this is actually a good precedent. Corruption in the education sector did not only begin when the KPK arrested the Unsoed Rector. Corruption in our education sector is already systemic and massive, but relatively few cases have actually entered the legal process,” said Ina in her statement in Jakarta on Friday.
Ina said the government and law enforcement officials should not wait for a sting operation (OTT) or a case that attracts public attention before conducting inspections of universities.
“So do not wait for an OTT or a viral case before carrying out an inspection. The Unsoed case must be a momentum to conduct a comprehensive audit of state universities in Indonesia,” she said.
She said inspections are not sufficient if conducted only on campuses that have already become entangled in legal cases. According to her, evaluation needs to cover various aspects of state university management.
“If only the campus that happened to be caught is examined, we are eradicating cases. Yet I am certain there are still many state universities in Indonesia that need to be audited, starting from independent pathway student admissions, procurement of goods and services, aid funds, grant funds, and so on,” she said.
Ina assessed that a number of sectors in state university governance need attention because they relate to the management of revenue and budget use. A comprehensive audit is considered important to determine whether the oversight mechanisms in place so far have been sufficient to prevent irregularities.
“The more important question is how healthy is the governance of our state universities?” said Ina.
“Based on the sufficiency of evidence and in accordance with the provisions of Article 90 of the new Criminal Procedure Code concerning the determination of suspects, the KPK has named six people as suspects,” said Acting Director of Investigation of the KPK Achmad Taufik Husein at the KPK’s Red and White Building in Jakarta on Friday.
Taufik said the other five suspects are Unsoed Vice Rector for Student Affairs Norman Arie Prayogo, ES as Head of the Academic Section of Unsoed, DMW and AW from the private sector, and MYN as the nephew of Akhmad Sodiq.
He explained that the six suspects are alleged to have violated Article 12 letter e or Article 12B of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001 in conjunction with Article 20 letter c of Law Number 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code.
The KPK then detained the six suspects for the first 20 days, starting from 21 August to 9 September 2026.