The new policy by the Yogyakarta Islamic State University (UIN) banning students from wearing a niqab while studying on campus has attracted support and opposition from the public.

Petunia – Students planning to convey concerns their about the commercialisation of education to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at the Hasanuddin University (Unhas) in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar have been blocked by fully armed soldiers and paramilitary police.

Prayudha, Makassar – Rezki Ameliyah, known by her friends as Melia, has had to swallow a bitter pill. Melia along with her friend and fellow student Mohammad Nur Fiqri have been suspended for two semesters after putting up posters reading “Campus feels like a factory” at the Hasanuddin University (Unhas) in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

Alpen Martinus, Tondano – Scores of Manado State University (Unima) students from the Student Struggle Centre for National Liberation (Pembebasan), the Minahasa Progressive Women and individual pro-democracy activist held a solidarity action at the Unima main gate on Monday November 27.

Muhammad Nur Abdurrahman, Makassar – The commemoration of Youth Pledge day on Friday October 28 at the Muhammadiyah University (Unismuh) campus in Makassar, South Sulawesi, has ended in a clash between students and police.

During the clash, students set fire to as many as six police motorcycles and threw a seventh into a water drain.

Moh Jumri, Jakarta – The Indonesia Student Union (SMI) held an action at the Ministry of Tertiary Education and Technology Research (Kemenristek-Dikti) in Jakarta on Monday October 23.

On Tuesday August 22 scores of protesters from the Anti-Militarism-Seize Democracy Student Front (FAMRED) launched an action in front of the Yogyakarta State University (UNY) Sports Building (GOR) in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta.

Jakarta – Using the momentum of Youth Pledge Day on Friday October 28, the Student Struggle Center for National Liberation (Pembebasan) held commemorations to mark the historic day in Jakarta and other cities around the country.

Jakarta action

Melbourne – Gadjah Mada University (UGM) historian Dr Abdul Wahid has put forward a hypothesis that intellectual genocide occurred in Indonesian tertiary education institutions following the 1965 affair.

This was marked with the dismissal and exclusion of thousands of lecturers and students who were accused of being leftist.

Faiq Hidayat – The Defense Department will be reviving the Student University Paramilitary Regiment (Menwa) on all campuses throughout Indonesia. The Defense Department’s (Kemenhan) Director of National Defense, First Admiral M. Faisal said that the regiments will be reactivated next year.