Indonesia at Melbourne

Melbourne Law School (MLS) is pleased to announce the inaugural Ibrahim Sjarief Assegaf Fellowships, supported by the generosity of Assegaf Hamzah & Partners (AHP), one of Indonesia’s leading law firms.

In June 2025, Minister of Culture Fadli Zon went on the record questioning if sexual assaults and rapes had taken place during the May 1998 riots. A few months later, a group of advocates, including some of those directly involved in the fact-finding investigation and who provided support to victims at the time, filed a case against the minister in the Jakarta Administrative Cou...

The trial of Andrie Yunus’ acid attackers has demonstrated that the military remains a strong political force, similar to what it was before reforms began in 1998, but with a different level of visibility.

Indonesia does not need universities that merely repeat government policies and adopt its priorities. It needs universities that can examine and criticise them - and warn society when public power begins to exceed its proper limits.

Although more people disagree with the president’s statement, the fact that 39.5% of the public agrees with Prabowo’s statement cannot be taken lightly, especially given that the president’s supporters and aides continue to amplify allegations of foreign interference through Indonesian proxies on traditional and social media.