Palace: No Agreement Reached Between Gibran and Students
Special Staff to the Vice President, Nico Harjono, claimed that no agreement was reached in the mediation conducted by Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka with representatives of the Bung Karno University Student Executive Board (BEM) on Monday, 15 June 2026. He said Gibran did engage in discussions, including receiving a memorandum containing the demands raised by students during a demonstration titled ‘Tata Ulang Indonesia’ (Reordering Indonesia).
‘However, there was no agreement. Mas Wapres only listened,’ Nico said at the Vice Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta on Monday, 15 June 2026.
Regarding the demand for a moratorium on the free nutritious meal (MBG) project, which was one of the students’ demands, he stated that Gibran conveyed the project is greatly needed by the community, especially those living in underdeveloped, frontier, and outermost regions, known as 3T.
Therefore, he said, Gibran sought to accommodate the demand through an evaluation of MBG governance, particularly in the 3T regions. ‘This is a government programme that greatly helps beneficiaries, especially the elderly and pregnant women in 3T areas,’ Nico stated.
On the same occasion, Acting Secretary to the Vice President Al Muktabar said that everything conveyed by the students during the mediation would be considered by Gibran for follow-up. ‘Of course, in accordance with the limits of authority and prevailing laws and regulations,’ said Al Muktabar.
The memorandum presented by BEM UBK to Gibran during the mediation was the result of an internal student study containing four clusters of demands.
First, the fiscal and education cluster. This cluster demands a moratorium and transparent audit of the MBG project. Second, a push to allocate the MBG budget to subsidise single tuition fees (UKT) or higher education operational costs to realise free and progressive education.
The third point of the memorandum addresses the legal and civilian supremacy cluster. Students demand that local governments send official recommendations to the House of Representatives (DPR) to conduct a legislative review of the newly passed Police Law.
Then, in the monetary and energy cluster, students urge the central authorities to intervene to stabilise the rupiah. ‘We also demand that the government immediately cancel the policy of increasing non-subsidised fuel prices on the grounds that it is destroying people’s purchasing power,’ said Muhammad Abdi Maludin, Chairman of BEM at UBK’s Faculty of Law, who represented the students.
Based on Tempo’s observation at the Vice Presidential Palace, the students entered the palace at around 5:25 PM WIB and left at 6:30 PM WIB.