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Public Complaint No. 060/ADUAN/RW/09/2026: Malaka Project and "Perguruan Tinggi Malaka" (English Edition)

Rahmat Wibowo·

Case record: Public Complaint No. 060/ADUAN/RW/09/2026, Malaka Project

This post summarises the public complaint (Aduan Masyarakat) No. 060/ADUAN/RW/09/2026 that I dated 10 September 2026, addressed to the Criminal Investigation Agency of the Indonesian National Police (Bareskrim) and the Jakarta Regional Police (Polda Metro Jaya). It is my own complaint, not a police finding, court filing or judgment. I do not assert that Malaka Project, Mr. Ferry Irwandi or Mr. Sabda Putra Subekti has committed any offence. I have left out my personal identification and contact details.

What the complaint is about

The complaint concerns the plan to found a "Perguruan Tinggi Malaka" (Malaka College, also called "Kampus Malaka" or a "people's university") and the way it has been publicly marketed. It names three subjects: Malaka Project as the organiser, Mr. Ferry Irwandi as its founder and CEO, and Mr. Sabda Putra Subekti as its publicised co-founder.

The chronology I set out, from public sources:

  1. October 2023. Malaka Project launched as a digital education platform, passing one million YouTube subscribers by September 2025, with commercial partnerships including a scholarship programme and a telecom operator, and an industry award in 2024.
  2. 20 July 2025. A video announced that the two founders were establishing "Perguruan Tinggi Malaka", followed by a series called "Towards Malaka Campus". The planned entity was explicitly called a "college" and a "campus".
  3. August 2025. A co-founder spoke at student-orientation forums at several universities about the future of education and the "Malaka Campus" concept.
  4. March 2026. A public recruitment of teachers opened, with farmers, artists and activists positioned as prospective "teachers".
  5. September 2026. My search found no public evidence of a ministerial licence for a private university, as required by Art. 60(2) of the Higher Education Law (Law No. 12 of 2012), and none of a non-profit legal-entity organiser approved by the law ministry. The entity is still described as a "college", "campus" and "people's university" while it gathers prospective students' interest, markets scholarships and recruits teachers.

I also set out the regulatory context as I understand it: establishing new universities is under a moratorium, the legal route is to take over or merge an existing licensed institution, and an application needs a non-profit organiser, land title, minimum study programmes and permanent lecturers, financial statements and statutes. I estimated that this realistically takes 18 to 30 months. On the founders' credentials I cited press reports and stated that neither has a record in running higher education.

Suspected offences I described

The complaint lists, as possibilities for investigators: operating or pioneering a higher-education institution without a ministerial licence (Art. 60(2) with Art. 93 of the Higher Education Law); fraud (Art. 492 of the new Criminal Code) and fraudulent conduct causing economic loss (Art. 495); and misleading information in electronic transactions (Art. 28(1) with Art. 45A(1) of the ITE Law).

Limits, as the complaint itself states them

The complaint is candid that some elements are not met. It says that, to my knowledge, degrees have not yet been awarded, so the provisions on awarding degrees without a licence have not been triggered. It says the fraud and misleading-information elements depend on facts such as whether anyone acted on a false impression, and it treats the intent element as indicated but not proven.

Limits of this record

  • This is my account and my legal reading, drawn from public material; no authority has made a finding.
  • The legal entity behind the plan may exist in a form I could not find, or the licence process may be under way out of public view.
  • "Planning a college" and "operating a college" are different things, and a court could treat the plan as lawful preparation.
  • I have not reproduced the evidence here. The related analysis, including my critique of the project, is published separately on this blog.
  • I am not a lawyer, and this post is not legal advice.

Right of reply and correction

Malaka Project, Mr. Ferry Irwandi and Mr. Sabda Putra Subekti are invited to respond, correct, or add context. A substantive reply may be published alongside this article, edited only for privacy, safety and relevance. If reliable evidence shows any statement here is wrong, including that a licence or legal entity exists, I will correct it and note the change.

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