JAKARTA: Recently viral conversations filled with graphic language between 16 University of Indonesia (UI) law students have sparked public condemnation and renewed concerns over widespread sexual violence on campuses.
A post on X on April 12 shared screenshots of text messages from student group chats containing vulgar remarks, sexually explicit jokes and objectification of female students and lecturers.
The post quickly gained attention, prompting other students to step up and hold a student forum on April 13 on the university’s campus in Depok, on the outskirts of Jakarta.
Social media clips showed enraged students demanding an apology from the 16 alleged perpetrators, some of whom are officials of student organisations.
The university’s student union BEM UI demanded on April 14 that the students be subjected to an ethics hearing and that they be expelled, while urging the university to “fully investigate all unresolved sexual violence cases at UI”.
The university said it had launched an investigation involving its own anti-sexual violence task force and revoked the organisational membership of several students.
“Should the investigation find violations, the university will impose sanctions, including academic penalties up to dismissal,” UI said in a statement on April 13.
The university also said it would not rule out “coordinating” with law enforcement, signalling a possibility to report the case to the police if the investigation uncovers criminal elements.
The scandal has drawn wider attention to persistent normalisation of sexual harassment and rape culture on campuses, with netizens reporting similar cases at other universities.
Among them was a resurfaced clip of mining engineering students at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) in West Java singing a song with sexist lyrics that objectify women at a 2020 event.
The clip prompted the faculty’s student association to issue a public apology on April 15.
“We do not condone any actions that degrade the dignity of any person or group,” the student association said on the ITB website.
On April 13 in Jakarta, student groups at Budi Luhur University filed a petition to urge the campus to investigate the alleged sexual harassment of a female student by a lecturer.
The move came after the university suspended the lecturer but cited insufficient evidence to name him the perpetrator.
On the same day, Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa University in Banten expelled a student for recording a female lecturer in a campus restroom on March 31. The case has been reported to the police.
No longer safe
Education watchdog the Network for Education Watch Indonesia (JPPI) recorded 233 cases of violence in schools, universities and other education settings in 2026, nearly half of which involved sexual violence.
Most occurred in schools and 11 per cent were reported in universities. Most perpetrators were educators, followed by students.
The JPPI’s Ubaid Matraji described on April 15 the persistence of sexual violence on campuses as a crisis reflecting systemic failure to ensure educational institutions are safe for students.
He stressed the need for mandatory gender and sexual education in university curriculum, citing insufficient preventive measures from universities’ anti-sexual violence task forces, also known as Satgas PPKS, which he said often prioritise institutional reputation over victim safety.
He said campuses have yet to become academic spaces with adequate protection against violence. “Existing regulations may look good on paper, but the implementations are toothless,” he said.
Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Arifatul Choiri Fauzi condemned the case in UI and pledged to ensure the university handles the case transparently and without interference.
The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), which recorded a surge in online gender-based violence in recent years, said that internal ethics hearings cannot replace legal proceedings, warning that would risk perpetuating impunity and suggesting that such violence can be resolved only within universities. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
