Top 3: Papua Student Protest to Photo Frame Procurement
Several events have come into the spotlight at the start of this week. One of the highlighted news items concerns a demonstration by the Papua student alliance from the Anti-Militarism and Investment Front at the Ministry of Human Rights office in Jakarta. There is also the procurement of photo frames of the president and vice president to be displayed in all public school classrooms, costing a budget of Rp 4.14 billion. Finally, hundreds of students in Surabaya experienced poisoning after consuming free nutritious meals (MBG). Here are those three issues:
Papua Students’ Protest Labels Natalius Pigai as Prabowo’s Lackey
The Papua student alliance from the Anti-Militarism and Investment Front considers Human Rights Minister Natalius Pigai to have failed in resolving a series of human rights violations in Papua. Dozens of protesters who demonstrated at the Ministry of Human Rights office in Jakarta on Monday, 11 May 2026, urged Pigai to meet them and accept their aspirations.
The protesters regretted Pigai’s stance, which they viewed as not siding with the interests of Papua’s indigenous people since he became Human Rights Minister. However, according to the protesters, Pigai was once vocal in defending Papuans during his tenure as a Komnas HAM Commissioner from 2012 to 2017.
“Natalius Pigai, when he was at Komnas HAM, was quite vocal in discussing human rights issues occurring in Papua and even in Indonesia. But as time goes by, it seems like he has no bite,” said a protester named Veronica from the command vehicle.
Prabowo-Gibran Photo Frames for Public Schools Reach Rp 4.14 Billion
The Ministry of Social Affairs is procuring photo frames of the president and vice president to be displayed in all public school classrooms. The budget for the photo frames of Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka amounts to Rp 4.14 billion.
The purchase of the president and vice president photo frames is recorded in the report on the realisation of goods and services procurement by ministries/institutions published on Indonesia Procurement or Inaproc. Based on the realisation document downloaded by Tempo, there are four packages for procuring president and vice president photo frames.
The package name description states that the Prabowo and Gibran photo frames are for the needs of Public Schools. There are at least four procurement packages conducted. Three of them were carried out in the 2025 budget year, and one other in 2026.
In last year’s realisation, the Ministry of Social Affairs allocated Rp 806 million for a package named “Non-Operational Procurement of President and Vice President Photo Frames”. The status of the procurement project work remains “in process” to date.
The Ministry of Social Affairs, as the implementer of the public school programme, also used state budget funds of Rp 519 million to purchase a package named “President and Vice President Photo Frames SR 1C”. And procurement for similar goods in a separate contract worth Rp 91 million.
In this 2026 fiscal year, the Ministry of Social Affairs again purchased president and vice president photo frame packages. The value is much larger compared to the realisation of the same goods procurement last year, namely Rp 2.72 billion.
200 Surabaya Students Poisoned by MBG, Suspected from Meat Menu
As many as 200 students from 12 schools in the Tembok Dukuh area, Surabaya, experienced mass poisoning after consuming free nutritious meals (MBG) on Monday, 11 May 2026. The Head of Tembok Dukuh Health Centre in Surabaya, Tyas Pranadani, explained that hundreds of kindergarten, elementary, and junior high school students from 12 schools complained of dizziness, nausea, and vomiting after eating the MBG menu around 09:00 WIB.
According to Tyas, today’s MBG menu consisted of rice, krengsengan meat, vegetable dish, fried tofu, and oranges. Tyas suspects that the poisoning was caused by the meat preparation.
“From our observations with the teachers, this meat menu is the first time. So perhaps it’s from the meat,” said Tyas at Ibu and Anak IBI Hospital in Surabaya.
Currently, all poisoned students are still under health centre monitoring. No students have been required to be hospitalised due to this poisoning.
Tyas stated that her side has coordinated with the Tembok Dukuh Nutrition Fulfilment Service Unit (SPPG) as the MBG provider in the area. Now, MBG samples have been taken to the laboratory for testing.