Veronica Koman Scholarship returned, LPDP office closed



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Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –

The symbolic delivery of money for the Ministry of Finance’s Education Fund Management Institution (LPDP) scholarship that human rights activist Veronica Koman received was not made by the Papua People’s Solidarity Team. This is because the LPDP office is closed on Wednesdays (9/16).

Supervision CNNIndonesia.com, Initially, several representatives of the solidarity team, namely former Papuan Tapol Ambrosius Mulait, Dano Tabuni and accompanied by Papuan human rights lawyer Michael Himan, arrived at the LPDP office.

The solidarity team brought Rp3 million in cash for delivery along with a red and white flag and a copy of the transfer receipt. Ambrosius and Dano were seen wearing traditional Papuan clothing with a koteka.


“I am disappointed in the LPDP office, we sent a letter on September 15. (LPDP) I did not respond when we arrived with the excuse that the office was closed,” Michael Himan told reporters on Wednesday (9/16) .

The team that came was unable to enter the LPDP office because the door was closed. The security guard on duty said the office was not operational due to the period of Large Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) in DKI Jakarta.

Although the token handover did not take place, Michael emphasized that the Rp773,876,918 that were billed by LPDP to Veronica had actually been returned by transfer.

“This is a symbol of the delivery of Rp. 3 million to Papua mothers,” he said.

Furthermore, he claimed, his party would continue to wait until the LPDP office was opened to deliver the money.

“We are not going to eat this money because it comes from the little people. Surely he will come when the office opens, we will go, ”he said.

Veronica previously admitted that she was asked by LPDP to repay the scholarship in the amount of Rp.773 million that she received while pursuing her master’s degree in Australia in 2016.

The refund of the scholarship money is seen as a form of pressure from the government to stop speaking out and advocating for human rights issues in Papua. Veronica is currently a suspect in a provocative case in a student dormitory in Papua, Surabaya.

However, LPDP management denied Veronica’s allegations. Based on the information and the LPDP system, Veronica did not fulfill the contract and had to return to Indonesia after receiving the LPDP scholarship. Veronica returned to Indonesia in 2018, but then flew back to Australia and had not graduated from her study period.

Veronica then graduated in July 2019, but only reported her graduation to the LPDP monitoring and evaluation system application on September 23, 2019.

For this reason, the LPDP issued a Decree of the President’s Director on the Sanction for Refund of the LPDP Scholarship Fund of IDR 773.87 million to Verónica on October 24, 2019. Then, the First Collection Letter was issued on November 22, 2019 .

From the letter of sanction and collection, the LPDP indicated that Verónica agreed with the presentation of the method of repayment of the scholarship in 12 installments on February 15, 2020. The first installment was paid and reached the state treasury for an amount of IDR 64.5 million in April 2020.

Following this financial bill, the fundraising was carried out by the solidarity of Papua and international solidarity.

The fundraising is said to be a form of solidarity of the Papuan people with Veronica, who has been actively advocating for problems in the land of paradise.

So far there has been no statement from the LPDP about his closed office.

(yoa / south)

[Gambas:Video CNN]



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