Purbaya Blacklists and Sanctions Viral LPDP Scholarship Recipient Couple — Here Are the Consequences

Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has placed two recipients of scholarships from the Education Fund Management Institution (LPDP) — Dwi Sasetningtyas and her husband Arya Iwantoro — on a permanent blacklist after Arya failed to complete his mandatory domestic service following his studies abroad.

The action follows the viral spread of a video posted on the wife’s Instagram account @sasetyaningtyas, in which she was seen showing off a letter from the United Kingdom’s Home Office regarding British citizenship for her second child.

Purbaya stressed that the blacklisting would permanently bar both individuals from working with the Indonesian government.

“This means they can no longer work with the government here, for as long as I am here — or they are permanently blacklisted, both of them,” Purbaya said at the February 2026 edition of the APBN KITA press conference at the Ministry of Finance in Jakarta on Monday, 23 February 2026.

He confirmed that LPDP had already contacted Arya Iwantoro, and that the husband would be required to repay the full scholarship costs including interest. As for the total amount, Purbaya said LPDP was still calculating the figure.

“We will enforce the existing LPDP regulations, so that the individual concerned fulfils their obligations to LPDP,” he said.

The couple went viral after the wife posted the Instagram video flaunting the Home Office letter on her child’s British citizenship.

“I know the world seems unfair. But let me be the only one who’s an Indonesian citizen — not my children. We’ll make sure the children have strong foreign passports,” she said in the video.

Her remarks drew widespread public condemnation, and the issue quickly went viral on social media. She subsequently issued an apology, acknowledging that her statements in the video were born entirely out of personal disappointment, exhaustion and frustration as an Indonesian citizen over various conditions she had experienced.

Dwi is known to have been a scholarship recipient who completed her master’s degree on 31 August 2017 and has fulfilled her service obligation. However, her husband Arya has reportedly not yet completed his mandatory contribution period after finishing his studies in the Netherlands.