Three State Officials Swarmed by Students During Discussion at UGM's GIK Joglo

Three state officials serving as speakers at a discussion forum titled ‘Pancasila Unites the Indonesian Nation’ were swarmed by hundreds of students at the Gelanggang Inovasi dan Kreativitas (GIK) Joglo, UGM, Sleman, on Monday evening. The officials were Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency Nusron Wahid, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Sudaryono, and Head of the Poverty Alleviation Acceleration Agency Budiman Sudjatmiko. Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi, who was previously scheduled to attend, did not appear at the event.

The incident occurred around 8:20 PM WIB while the discussion forum was still underway. The speakers had been delivering their views on stage in front of students from various universities. Prior to the disruption, the atmosphere of the discussion had been conducive. Budiman Sudjatmiko had even invited students to voice their criticisms directly through the open forum rather than on social media.

Shortly after the material presentation session, dozens of students suddenly climbed onto the stage. They unfurled several banners expressing rejection of the attending speakers, including ones reading ‘UGM Rejects Traitors to Reform’ and ‘UGM Rejects Regime Sycophants’. The action brought the discussion to a halt. The situation grew increasingly tense when water bottles were thrown in the forum area, prompting organisers and security personnel to attempt to control the crowd as masses continued to pack the area around the stage.