Indonesian Lecturer Tells Court His Rp3.3 Million Pay Is Too Low

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In front of the judges of the Indonesian Constitutional Court, Cenuk Widiayastrisna Sayekti recounted his life as a non-civil servant lecturer at Airlangga University (Unair). Cenuk admitted to receiving a monthly salary of around Rp3.3 million. The details consisted of a basic salary of Rp2.6 million, plus other additional amounts of allowances for 'professional lecturer allowance', 'meal allowance', and 'rice allowance'.

Cenuk's testimony has drawn public attention as it sheds light on the welfare of non-civil servant lecturers. Cenuk is one of the witnesses presented at the continuation of Case Number 272/PUU-XXIII/2025 and Number 24/PUU-XXIV/2026 on Tuesday, June 30, 2026. The petition was filed, among others, by the Campus Labor Union.

The petitioners filed the case as they believed that the regulation regarding lecturer functional allowances in Article 54 paragraph (1) of the Teacher and Lecturer Law did not provide legal certainty for lecturers. According to the petitioners, the norm only mentions that the government provides functional allowances to lecturers appointed by the government without specifying the qualifications or ensuring that the lecturer's income is sufficient to meet the minimum living needs. As a result, the welfare of lecturers is considered to depend on the policies of each university and the government.

In response, Unair believes that a lecturer's income cannot be measured solely based on the basic salary.

Following are some points regarding Cenuk's story:

Foreign Graduate

Cenuk started his career in 2010 as a lecturer at Lancang Kuning University. He received a salary of Rp1.2 million per month. Cenuk continued his studies and obtained a doctorate from Macquarie University in 2016. By 2020, he received a lecturer certification and in 2022, he became a lecturer at Airlangga University.

"When I started working at Airlangga University, the basic salary I received was around Rp2.6 million per month. This means that after more than a decade of being a lecturer, pursuing a doctorate, and obtaining the lecturer certification, my basic income as a lecturer still remains at a very limited level," said Cenuk.

Salary Does Not Provide Security

Cenuk admitted to receiving a salary of around Rp 3.3 million per month, consisting of a basic salary of Rp2.6 million and professional lecturer allowances, meal allowance, and rice allowance.

Despite the additional income from lecturer certification allowances, this income does not provide security because a large part of it depends on components outside the basic salary.

He mentioned that the uncertainty of income has impacted academic freedom. He shared an incident where he was summoned by his superiors after criticizing a state institution through social media and participating in the International Labor Day in 2025.

After that, his teaching workload was reduced, he was removed from several academic teams, and was no longer involved in certain campus activities.

Seeking Additional Income

Furthermore, Cenuk admitted to once applying for a home ownership loan, but was rejected due to his income being considered insufficient. To meet his living needs, he works as a consultant outside of teaching activities.

Unair's Response

The Director of Human Resources, Talent Management, and Organizational Development at Unair, Radian Salman, stated that the basic salary is just one administrative component on a lecturer's pay slip. He mentioned that there are other components received by lecturers every month, which accumulates as the take-home pay (PHT).

"A lecturer's income cannot be viewed solely based on the basic salary, but it must be based on the take-home pay, which consists of various income components," said Radian as quoted from Antara on Saturday, July 4, 2026.

The fixed income components received by lecturers every month consist of the basic salary, functional allowance, family allowance, and additional functional allowance paid around mid-month.

In addition, lecturers also receive a 13th-month salary, lecturer income improvement allowance (TPK), and holiday allowance equivalent to the basic salary, resulting in a total income received being equivalent to 14 times the monthly salary in a year.

Furthermore, Radian continued, lecturers can also obtain non-fixed income, such as meal allowances and lecturer certification allowances for non-civil servant lecturers. It can also be through additional work such as supervising internship lectures or community service programs, examiners' fees, correction fees, incentives for academic publications, and incentives for other academic achievements.

Radian mentioned that there are salary increases every two years at the university. The increase value is relatively small because it only comes from the basic salary increase, which is around Rp96,000 to Rp120,000.

Unair Claims Cenuk's Total Income Reaches Tens of Millions per Year

Specifically regarding the salary obtained by Cenuk, Rahadian elaborated that the Human Resources Directorate of Unair recorded Cenuk's basic salary when he first joined as a lecturer at around Rp2.6 million.

However, his total income in 2025 was reported to reach around Rp94 million to Rp95 million per year, or an average of around Rp7.8 million per month. Up to July 2026, Cenuk was claimed to have received an income of more than Rp50 million or an average of around Rp9.2 million per month.

Dede Leni Mardianti contributed to this article.

Read: Prabowo Returns to Address Thousands of Indonesian Academics

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