Students Are Still Trusted to Voice Public Interests

A Kompas Research and Development (Litbang Kompas) poll shows that students and academics are considered the group most likely to uphold idealistic values and voice public interests.

"When these two entities are combined, 60.3% of respondents overwhelmingly identified them as the group still trusted to champion public voices," wrote a Litbang Kompas researcher in their report on Monday, April 14, 2025.

At the time of the survey, the nation's political climate was tense, marked by widespread student-led demonstrations across various regions under the banner "Indonesia Gelap" ("Dark Indonesia").

"From the political upheavals of 1965 to 1998, campuses have been the engine of political change, and historical records show that the critical thinking of campuses has always been aligned with the interests of the people," wrote the Litbang Kompas researcher.

Civil society organizations were the next most trusted group to voice public interests, at 10.6% of responses.

This was followed by politicians (9.6%), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) (8.8%), and others (1.8%).

Furthermore, Litbang Kompas also found that a majority, or 74.9%, of respondents believe that campuses can still be relied upon to speak the truth.

The survey involved 535 respondents from 38 provinces, randomly selected according to the population proportion of each province.

Data collection was conducted from March 17-20, 2025, through telephone interviews. The survey's margin of error is approximately 4.25% with a 95% confidence level, under conditions of simple random sampling.