Solidaritas Papua returns Veronica Koman’s scholarship money to the LPDP page all

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – The Ebamukai Solidarity Team for Veronica Koman returned the Veronica Scholarship funds previously billed by the Ministry of Finance Education Fund Management Institute (LPDP).

“Today at 13.00 WIB we will deliver it to the Ministry of Finance. So the funds requested for the return of LPDP have been met,” said a representative, Ambrosius Mulait, when contacted. Kompas.com, Wednesday (16/9/2020).

It is known that Veronica Koman received the scholarship money to pursue a master’s degree at the Australian National University in 2016.

Also Read: Amnesty: Request for Refund for Veronica Koman Scholarship Form Bullying

LPDP imposed sanctions on Veronica because it was found that she was not fulfilling her obligation to return and work in Indonesia.

Ambrosius said that the delivery of funds to the LPDP would be carried out in a symbolic way and three representatives of the team attended to comply with the Covid-19 protocol.

He said that the funds raised come from voluntary donations from the people of Papua and international solidarity partners.

The collection, he said, had been done since the scholarship refund request appeared in August 2020.

Also read: When asked to return the LPDP scholarship, Veronica Koman: This is a financial fine to pressure me

According to him, this was done because the people of Papua felt that Veronica Koman was instrumental in defending the cases that occurred in Papua.

“The people of Papua are very responsible for Veronica. Because Veronica is an Indonesian who can advocate for human rights violations in Papua and even talks about the problems of Papua,” he said.

Earlier, in Veronica’s explanation, she claimed to have returned to Indonesia in September 2018 after completing the master program.

In Indonesia, Veronica is back in the field of defending human rights. For example, join the Papua Association of Human Rights Defenders (PAHAM Papua) based in Jayapura.

Also Read: Veronica Koman Admits She Has Paid Multiple Scholarship Refunds

Then, providing free or pro-bono legal assistance in three cases involving Papuan activists in Timika.

Then Veronica flew to Australia on a three-month visa. She came to attend the graduation that took place in July 2019.

After that, Veronica stumbled upon a legal case until she was on the police wanted list.

ABC.net.au / ABC TV: THE WORLD Veronica Koman in an interview with ABC, Thursday night (3/10/2019).

Veronica Koman is known to have been named a suspect by the East Java Regional Police on charges of spreading false or hoax news and provocative content related to the riots in Papua and West Papua on September 4, 2019.

Veronica feels that the scholarship billing is a form of financial punishment.

“The Indonesian government is implementing economic sanctions as the latest effort to pressure me to stop defending Papua’s human rights,” Veronica said in a written statement on Thursday (8/13/2020).

Also read: Veronica Koman admits to returning to Indonesia after completing her studies in Australia

Bantahan LPDP

The LPDP was reported to have denied Veronica’s statement that she had returned to Indonesia in September 2018.

LPDP stated that Veronica returned to Indonesia in 2018 not as a former student, but as an intern or adjudicatory.

“VKL graduated in July 2019 and just reported his graduation in the system app supervision and evaluation of the LPDP on September 23, 2019 but not presented in full, “wrote the LPDP.

Also read: LPDP: Veronica Koman does not fulfill her obligations to return to Indonesia

The LPDP then issued a Decree of the President’s Director on the penalties for reimbursing the LPDP Scholarship Fund of IDR 773.87 million on October 24, 2019.

A few months later, the Letter from the first collection was sent to Veronica. According to the LPDP, Veronica applied for the 12-Installment Scholarship Reimbursement Method on February 15, 2020.

In April 2020, Veronica Koman was recorded to have made the first installment payment, with a face value of IDR 64.5 million.

However, as of July 15, 2020, Veronica has not yet continued to pay her scholarship reimbursement fees.