RR.CO.ID Jakarta - The stark contrast between lecturers’ salaries and the regional minimum wage has sparked strong calls for government intervention.

Deputy Speaker of Commission X of the House of Representatives (DPR), Lalu Hadrian Irfani, said the issue goes beyond welfare concerns and touches on social justice in the academic profession.

He made the statement after a follow-up judicial review hearing of Law No. 14/2005 on teachers and lecturers at the Constitutional Court, which revealed a significant income disparity between lecturers, particularly non-civil servants (non-ASN), and their workload.

“The government urgently needs to intervene,” Lalu said on Tuesday, May 5, 2026, as quoted by Antara.

He highlighted the disparity between the salary received and the workload carried.

“If non-ASN lecturers are treated like daily workers with variable pay while carrying the same workload as ASN lecturers, it is not merely an economic issue but also a matter of social justice,” he said.

Lalu urged the government to address systemic pay inequities in the teaching force, saying it is unfair that lecturers with equal workloads receive different salaries.

He proposed a national minimum wage for lecturers, warning that leaving salaries to universities’ internal policies or market mechanisms could worsen inequality.

The House, he added, will respect the Constitutional Court’s judicial review process and use its ruling as a reference for future legislation, including revisions to the National Education System Law.

“We will await the decision as a guide for determining the next steps, both legislative and oversight,” he said.

The judicial review petition was filed by the Campus Workers Union and two private university lecturers. They requested clarification of the phrase “basic salary” in the law, demanding that it be set at least equal to the regional minimum wage, and called for allowances and other income components to be included.

During the hearing, Indonesian Lecturers Communication Forum chairman Andi Herenal Daeng Toto presented data highlighting the problem.

In South Sulawesi, private lecturers earn an average of only IDR 1.75 million (approx. USD 100) per month, far below the minimum wage of IDR 4.14 million (approx. USD 239).

In East Java, some lecturers receive just IDR 300,000 per month, compared with the minimum wage of IDR 3.32 million. Similar conditions exist in West Sumatra, where lecturers earn around IDR 1.5 million against a minimum wage of IDR 3.18 million, and in West Sulawesi, where some are paid per course taught, receiving only IDR 1.2 million over six months.

According to Andi, these conditions show that the Teachers and Lecturers Law has failed to provide minimum protection and could result in constitutional losses for lecturers. ***