ADI at the Constitutional Court: Lecturer Welfare Is Not a Burden on the State but a Strategic Investment
As a Related Party in case No. 272/PUU-XXIII/2025, ADI asked the Constitutional Court to interpret lecturers’ base salary as at least twice the minimum wage where the university is located.
Jakarta, 25 May 2026 — Asosiasi Dosen Indonesia (ADI) stressed that lecturer welfare is not merely an administrative or employment matter but a strategic national issue tied directly to the quality of higher education, research productivity, national innovation and the constitutional mandate to educate the nation.
ADI made the statement as a Related Party in case No. 272/PUU-XXIII/2025 on the review of Article 52 (1), (2) and (3) of Law No. 14 of 2005 on Teachers and Lecturers. ADI holds that the state must ensure a lecturer pay system that is decent, humane, fair and worthy of the academic profession.
According to ADI, lecturer welfare remains a concern. Many lecturers must take extra jobs outside campus to make ends meet, which distracts them from teaching, research, supervising students and writing scholarly publications.
ADI cited Southeast Asian comparisons: the average lecturer salary in Indonesia is about Rp3.36 million a month, far below Singapore (Rp85.50 million), Brunei Darussalam (Rp23.28 million), Cambodia (Rp22.19 million), Thailand (Rp21.9 million), Malaysia (Rp18.29 million), Vietnam (Rp10.56 million) and the Philippines (Rp7.65 million).
ADI also warned of brain drain, as top academic talent moves to industry, abroad or leaves academia altogether, and stressed that an adequate welfare system is vital to safeguard academic independence and scientific integrity.
In its petition, ADI asked that the phrase base salary in Article 52 (1) be read as at least twice the minimum wage applicable where the institution is located, and that the salary provisions of paragraphs (2) and (3) be read as income above minimum living needs, comprising base salary, professional, functional, special and honorary allowances, and additional benefits.
ADI President Prof. DSc (HC) Ir. Mohammed Ali Berawi, MEngSc., PhD, and Secretary General Prof. Dr. Mohammad Nur Rianto Al Arif, M.Si, attended on behalf of ADI, which counts more than 64,000 lecturer members from public and private universities across disciplines.
“Ensuring lecturers’ welfare means ensuring Indonesia’s future. From lecturers’ classrooms, laboratories, research and community service comes the generation that will shape the nation’s course,” ADI said in its key message.
Contact the ADI secretariat: Phone/WhatsApp 0813-8525-5663 · Email info@asosiasidosenindonesia.id