UTBK Marred by Cheating, DPR Member: Supervision Needs to be Tightened
Deputy Chairman of Commission X of the DPR, Lalu Hadrian Irfani, has called on the 2026 National Student Admission Selection (SNPMB) committee to tighten supervision after cheating was discovered on the first day of the UTBK-SNBT.
Lalu stated that the committee must detect potential cheating early, including ensuring that participants’ belongings and the UTBK rooms they enter are sterile.
“A thorough examination must be conducted before participants enter the room,” Lalu said in a written statement on Wednesday, 22 April 2026.
In addition to calling for tightened supervision, Lalu also reminded all 2026 UTBK participants to instil honesty more deeply in their hearts.
According to him, honesty will not only make the individual possess high integrity in the future but also prevent the nation’s future generations from drowning in cheating.
“It is better to fail honestly than to succeed through cheating,” said the PKB politician.
The 2026 SNPMB committee discovered several cheating practices carried out by UTBK-SBT participants on the first day of implementation, Tuesday, 21 April 2026.
General Chairman of the 2026 SNPMB Responsible Team, Eduart Wolok, explained that the cheating practices were found at several universities, for example at the UTBK Centre of West Sulawesi University.
Test participants substituted their attendance with others. “So, the same person who took the UTBK last year is participating again this year with a different name,” Eduart said at the UTBK Centre of Jakarta State University on Tuesday.
At Surabaya State University, he said, the committee found instances of proxy-taking. The proxies took the UTBK for two consecutive years with different names.
The cheating practices discovered by the committee, he continued, included the use of hearing aids. This cheating was found at Diponegoro University.
Eduart explained that the hearing aids were installed in the ear canal of the UTBK participant who was cheating. “By the committee (the participant) had to be taken to an ENT doctor to have the aid removed,” he said.
The implementation of UTBK-SNBT 2026 is being held simultaneously from 21 April to 30 April 2026. In terms of material, UTBK-SNBT 2026 has not undergone significant changes. The exam still covers scholastic potential tests (TPS), mathematical reasoning, Indonesian language literacy, and English language literacy.