People's Tax Fund Questioned, Government Still Calculating LPDP Scholarship Costs Husband Dwi Sasetyaningtyas

JAKARTA - The Education Fund Management Agency (LPDP) is still calculating the value of the return of scholarship funds by Arya Iwantoro alumni (AP), husband of Dwi Sasetyaningtyas, which has become a discussion due to social media uploads.

"If (money) is returned, it is still counted. We have data, there are calculations," said LPDP President Director Sudarto in a media briefing at the Ministry of Finance office, Jakarta, quoted from Antara Wednesday, February 25 evening.

Sudarto explained that the AP study period took place in 2015-2016, which was then continued again in 2017-2021. His party is still calculating the value of education funds to the value of interest that has been disbursed from the entire AP study period.

He also said he would announce the value of the refund later, considering that this issue involves public interest.

Previously, Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, an AP alumnus, would return all the scholarship funds he received to the state.

"The boss of the LPDP has spoken to the husband concerned. And he seems to have agreed to return the money used from the LPDP. So it includes the interest. The LPDP money, if I put the money in the bank, yes, there is interest, with a fair treatment," said Purbaya in a press conference for the February 2026 edition of the APBN KiTa in Jakarta, Monday.

The Minister of Finance regretted the attitude of the alumni who were considered to have insulted the country through uploads on social media. He emphasized that the LPDP funds came from the people's taxes as well as part of the state debt allocated for human resources development (HRD).

"That is money from taxes and part of the debt that we set aside to ensure that our human resources grow. But if it is used to insult the country, then we ask for the money with interest if that's the case," he added.

Purbaya also stated that he would put the person concerned on the blacklist so that he could not work in the government environment.

The controversy started from Dwi Sasetyaningtyas's upload on his personal Instagram account on Friday, February 20, 2026. In the video, he showed the British passport belonging to his second child who had just obtained British citizenship.

In the description of his upload, Dwi Sasetyaningtyas wrote a statement that later caused controversy because it was considered to belittle the Indonesian passport and was considered not to show pride as an Indonesian citizen.