No Urgency, Prabowo's Meeting with the Rector-Professor is Allegedly Diminutive Academic Criticism

JAKARTA - Chairman of the P2G Expert Council, Rakhmat Hidayat, suspects that President Prabowo Subianto's meeting with thousands of rectors and professors is an effort to embrace and dampen the critical flow of campuses and academics.

Pasalny, the meeting had no strong reason, both in terms of urgency and substance.

"I see that there is actually no substantial and urgent reason, yes, inviting the rector and professors, especially in such a large number. What is the substance, what is the urgency, I don't see that way," he said, Sunday, January 18.

According to him, President Prabowo's move is a reflection of the country's concern about campuses that have recently become more vocal, from lecturers to students.

"If you read it more critically, this is actually a response or a mirror of President Prabowo's concerns when universities have begun to show their critical power, especially among academics and students," he continued.

Rakhmat assessed that the meeting was not just a face-to-face meeting, but an effort and potential to consolidate the strengthening of the legitimacy of power in the academic space.

"This is a kind of consolidation effort from the Prabowo regime by inviting professors and campus rectors, to be 'tame' by the state," he added.

The suspicion, he said, could be seen from the meeting format which only went in one direction and zero participation of participants.

"It seems that there is no discussion room, no opportunity for the rector and professors to ask questions or provide their perspectives," he said.

As is known, President Prabowo gathered 1,200 rectors, professors, and deans of social and humanities from state and private campuses at the State Palace, Thursday, January 15, 2026.

The government said this agenda was to provide guidance and strengthen higher education communication.

The Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology, Stella Christie, claimed that President Prabowo still provided direct dialogue space for academics, while also dispelling the government's assumption that it did not care about social studies of humanities.