Ensuring Lecturers’ Welfare Will Strengthen Human Resources Toward Golden Indonesia
ADI’s Central Board submitted its Related Party conclusions to the Constitutional Court, asking for a lecturer base-salary standard of at least twice the minimum wage, funded from the state budget.
Jakarta, 6 August 2026 — The Central Board of Asosiasi Dosen Indonesia (DPP ADI) submitted its Related Party conclusions to the Constitutional Court in case No. 272/PUU-XXIII/2025 on the judicial review of Article 52 (1), (2) and (3) of Law No. 14 of 2005 on Teachers and Lecturers.
ADI President Prof. DSc. (HC) Ir. Mohammed Ali Berawi, M.Eng.Sc., Ph.D., told the panel of Constitutional Justices that the future of higher education, human resources and national competitiveness depends heavily on the state’s ability to ensure the welfare of lecturers as key actors in science and technology.
ADI’s study stresses that a salary standard does not mean uniform pay. It sets a floor of protection, while allowances, research incentives, publication awards and performance-based pay continue according to competence, academic rank, productivity and contribution.
ADI also proposes a Minimum Base Salary Standard for the lecturing profession that could weigh decent living needs, academic qualification and rank, tridharma workload, years of service, research productivity and regional cost-of-living indices. According to ADI’s study, Indonesian lecturers’ average base income is around Rp3.37 million a month.
ADI’s expert witness Prof. Dr. Faisal Santiago, S.H., M.M., stated that lecturers are not ordinary workers but agents of the nation’s intellectual transformation. He highlighted the vagueness of the phrase income above minimum living needs, since the Minimum Living Needs instrument has not been used in the national wage system since 2015.
Another expert, Prof. Dr. Zainal Arifin Hoesein, S.H., M.H., described universities as centres of excellence and argued that a minimum-wage safety net as the floor for base salary is essential to guarantee lecturers a decent and humane income.
In its conclusions, ADI asked that lecturers’ base salary be read as at least twice the minimum wage where the institution is located, funded from the state budget and clearly separated from allowances and additional benefits. The standard is meant as a protective floor, not uniformity.
“Lecturer welfare is not a budget burden. It is an investment in excellent people, stronger innovation, technological self-reliance and Indonesia’s future,” ADI stated.
Contact the ADI secretariat: Phone/WhatsApp 0813-8525-5663 · Email info@asosiasidosenindonesia.id