What Was Discussed Between Students and Gibran During Mediation?

The Student Executive Board of Bung Karno University (BEM UBK) accepted a mediation offer from Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka in response to a demonstration titled ‘Tata Ulang Indonesia’ held on Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta, on 15 June 2026. Muhammad Abdi Maludin, Chair of BEM Faculty of Law at UBK and representative in the approximately 60-minute mediation, said various matters were intensively discussed with the former Mayor of Solo. “The Vice President noted down our demands, including the evaluation and improvement of all irregularities in the country today, such as the free nutritious meals (MBG) programme and the Merah Putih Village Cooperatives,” Abdi said after the closed-door mediation at the Vice Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta on Monday evening. During the meeting, he continued, BEM UBK and the alliance submitted a memorandum containing student studies and demands. The first point concerned the fiscal and education cluster, demanding a moratorium and transparent audit of the MBG project. Secondly, the memorandum also included a push to allocate the MBG budget to subsidise single tuition fees (UKT) or higher education operational costs to realise free and progressive education. The third point of the memorandum addressed the legal and civilian supremacy cluster. Students demanded that local governments send official recommendations to the House of Representatives (DPR) to conduct a legislative review of the newly passed Police Law. In the monetary and energy cluster, students urged central authorities to intervene to stabilise the rupiah and cancel the policy of increasing non-subsidised fuel prices, citing the destruction of public purchasing power. Abdi stressed that BEM UBK also gave Gibran a deadline to immediately realise all the demands in the memorandum, effective after the meeting. “We gave a maximum deadline of 5x24 hours to fulfil all demands,” he said. He also confirmed that BEM UBK would not stop demonstrating even though the demands had been conveyed directly to the government. “We will continue to hold successive demonstrations,” he stated. Separately, Vice Presidential Special Staff Nico Harjanto said that during the mediation, Gibran did not agree to anything with the students. “There was no agreement, including on the 5x24 hours. The Vice President only listened,” Nico said at the Vice Presidential Palace. He claimed that during the meeting, Gibran did intensively respond to discussions with the students, for example, regarding the implementation of the MBG project, which is considered very much needed in the 3T regions (frontier, outermost, and disadvantaged). “Students demand evaluation, it will certainly be evaluated continuously. But this is a government programme that is very much needed by our brothers and sisters in the 3T regions,” he said. Based on Tempo’s observation at the Vice Presidential Palace, around 15 student representatives accepted Gibran’s invitation. They entered the Vice Presidential Palace on Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan at around 17.25 WIB and left at 18.30 WIB.