PDIP Politician Suspects Orchestration Behind Rp20 Million Payment to UBK Student Leader

PDIP politician Deddy Sitorus has responded to the controversy surrounding alleged payments received by several students from Bung Karno University (UBK) following a demonstration at the Patung Kuda area in Jakarta some time ago. Deddy assessed that the case serves as a reminder that student movements are often vulnerable to being co-opted by certain interests.

His statement came after a confession from the Chairman of UBK’s Faculty of Law Student Executive Board (BEM) to the university, admitting to receiving Rp20 million, which was said to have come from an alumnus and handed over through a police officer. UBK has stated it has formed an investigative team to look into the allegation.

According to Deddy, PDIP has frequently been accused of being behind various student movements. However, he believes the current uproar actually reveals alleged intervention from another party. “This shows that in every commotion, in every student movement, there are indeed parties with the potential to co-opt them. Unfortunately, those who are accused and those who actually do it are often not the same. We are accused of co-opting student movements,” Deddy said at the Parliament complex on Wednesday.

For context, according to the confession, the money was given so that the students would not hold a demonstration in front of the Presidential Palace. The UBK students still went ahead with their demonstration at Patung Kuda. Afterwards, student representatives were received by Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka.

Deddy then alluded to parties around the Vice President in this polemic. He said he did not know whether there was a specific directive from the Vice President or from people around him. He also highlighted the students’ admission of a money trail through a police officer. “But if it was the initiative of subordinates, I think it’s strange. Because according to their confession, the students were given money by a police officer, around more than Rp20 million, Rp20 to 30 million, to divert the direction of their demonstration so they would meet directly with the Vice President,” he said.