Viral Indonesia Smart College Card Case, Undip Will Call Recipients

A number of Undip students who received the Indonesia Smart College Card were suspected of not being eligible to receive this educational assistance.

KOMPAS/P RADITYA MAHENDRA YASA

Students attended a public lecture by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati on fiscal policies at Prof Sudarto Building, Diponegoro University, Semarang City, Central Java on Monday (October 23, 2023).

SEMARANG, KOMPAS — Management of Diponegoro University, Semarang City, Central Java, will call and conduct a survey at the homes of a number of students who received aid students a href="https://www.kompas.id/label/kipk?open_from=automate_body_url">Indonesian Smart College Card (KIPK). This was done after several KIPK recipient students were suspected of not being eligible to receive educational assistance.

Over the last few days, netizens have been shocked by a number of posts on social media X and Instagram questioning the luxurious lifestyle of a number of KIPK recipient students at Undip. In the upload, you can see photos of KIPK recipients using gadgets, bags and even expensive cosmetics.

The online posts received various responses from netizens. Some urged the recipients of KIPK, who were deemed unworthy of the assistance, to resign. KIPK is a government educational aid for high school graduates or their equivalent with good academic potential but limited economic means.

Not long after the case was widely discussed, some KIPK scholarship recipient students deemed unworthy of the aid admitted to submitting resignation letters from the program.

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Undip Student Affairs Manager Muhammad Muntafi confirmed that there were students who received KIPK who submitted their resignations.

"After the case came to light, one of the KIPK scholarship recipients came to us to report the issue. The individual also expressed a desire to resign so that their assistance could be transferred to other students in greater need," said Muntafi when contacted on Thursday (May 2, 2024).

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According to Muntafi, the student was previously eligible for KIPK assistance. This was based on data verification results that Undip had conducted in 2021 or when the student first applied for assistance.

Muntafi explained that during the early days of his studies, the student lived in his hometown because at that time Undip implemented online learning policies to curb the spread of Covid-19. After in-person classes resumed, the student moved to Semarang.

During his stay in Semarang, the student felt that the financial aid provided by KIPK was insufficient to meet his needs. Therefore, he then worked.

"Incidentally, his job is content creator. As a content creator, he has to look great, his products have to be good, so his (posts) on Instagram seem hedonistic. "From the results of this work, he gets a more decent income so he can save and make sure he is no longer a KIPK recipient," said Muntafi.

Muntafi stated that the process of determining KIPK recipients carried out by Undip is in accordance with the guidelines from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. According to him, recipients of the Smart Indonesia Card in secondary schools and whose families are included in the Unified Social Welfare Data are prioritized to receive the KIPK program.

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In addition, students who are also considered to receive KIPK are those who come from low-income families. This condition must be proven by attaching a certificate of inability to pay from the local village/district government.

"Every year, there are about 1,500 proposer candidates (KIPK). The verification process only lasts for two weeks," said Muntafi. Due to this limited timeframe, officials cannot possibly visit the homes of each potential recipient individually.

Muntafi acknowledges that their party has received reports regarding students who received KIPK scholarships by falsifying home photos to apply for the program. After conducting a visit or inspection, Undip found that the photo used by the student to apply was a photo of their grandmother's house, not the house where the student and their parents live daily.

Because the house where the student and his parents lived was considered good, the distribution of aid was stopped.

The person concerned also expressed the desire to resign so that his assistance could be transferred to other students who needed it more.

In the second semester of the academic year 2023/2024, Undip halted the distribution of KIPK assistance to 28 students for various reasons. 21 students chose not to re-register, two students passed away, three students resigned, one student received a scholarship from another party, and one student did not meet the academic achievement requirements.

"It is hoped that this case can be a lesson for the future. "If (his family's economic condition) is good, he can resign," said Muntafi.

Unified Service Manager and Public Relations of Diponegoro University, Utami Setyowati, stated that monitoring and evaluation of students receiving KIPK is periodically conducted by Undip and the Education Financing Services Center. According to Utami, after the viral case of alleged ineligible KIPK recipients, Undip has taken further steps.

"The follow-up action will be in the form of summoning or surveying the residence of KIPK receivers. Then, Undip will consider the continuation of providing KIPK assistance (to students who are considered ineligible for receiving assistance)," said Utami.

Doxing

On the other hand, in social media posts related to the KIPK issue at Undip, there has been doxxing or the dissemination of the identities of a number of KIPK recipients. The identities being spread include their full names, student ID numbers, and even social media accounts.

The Chairman of Diponegoro University's Student Executive Board, Farid Darmawan, regrets the dissemination of such identity. Farid is concerned that this could kill the character of students whose identities are being spread.

"BEM Undip, in cooperation with the Student Affairs Office of Undip, has opened a complaint channel so that fellow students who are aware of any misconduct or inconsistency related to KIPK can report it through us and we will process it with the student affairs office," said Farid.

Farid stated that the official complaint channel was created about two weeks ago. As of Thursday, there have been several complaints received. However, Farid said that these complaints have not yet undergone administrative processing. The administrative process will be carried out after the confirmation is made by the relevant party.

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"As students, we have high intellectual abilities, and cannot simply judge people. We need to investigate what the truth is, and what the certainty is," said Farid.

Farid hopes that in the future the KIPK acceptance system can be evaluated. BEM Undip also plans to propose to the authorities on campus to tighten the selection system for KIPK recipients.