Top officials at Gadjah Mada Universtiy (UGM) have protested against the huge revisions made by the rectorate to a draft sexual violence prevention regulation in the university, calling the revisions “pro-perpetrators”.

The rectorate, however, claimed that a plenary session of the Academic Senate on the guidelines on Dec. 26 had agreed to quickly pass the regulation, prompting Muhadjir Darwin, the head of the drafting team to rush to meet Rector Panut Mulyono the following day to ask for a delay to give room for the debates on the revisions.

“In the end, we agreed to delay the passing of the draft to January [2020]. The rectorate will host a meeting between the Law and Organization Team, the rectorate itself and the Academic Senate to discuss and perfect the draft,” said Muhadjir on Dec. 27.

Muhadjir said the drafting team objected to UGM’s revisions to the long-awaited regulation. He said the rectorate cut the regulation from 11 chapters and 36 articles to 18 articles without chapters. The team drafted the regulation after consulting with several institutions including the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), gender experts and students through public discussions.

“Overall, the removal of articles and revision of several terms have compromised the sharpness and firmness of the regulation in handling sexual violence,” he said.

After delaying the passing of the regulation for months, the UGM rectorate received harsh criticism from student unions last month. The students made hashtags on Twitter that went viral: #UGMBohong (UGMLies) and #UGMBohongLagi (UGMLiesAgain). They also staged a protest on campus to push the rectorate to pass the regulation, which was submitted by the drafting team in April 2019.

After the prompting from the students, the rectorate hastened the process, but with huge revisions. Deputy rector for education, teaching and student affairs, Djagal Wiseso Marseno, claimed that everyone had agreed to pass the regulation on Dec. 26, despite the objections from Muhadjir and also from some of the members in the senate.

He said the objections from several senate members would be included in an “addendum”. “It will be difficult to ask for an ideal one, we will need more time. People will think we just don’t show any progress,” he said.

The Jakarta Post and Tirto.id, in this collaborative report as part of a project called #NamaBaikKampus (CampusReputation), obtained the regulation from the drafting team as well as the revised draft from the rectorate and found several major revisions.

One of the Academic Senate members, Law School Dean Sigit Riyanto, told the Post and Tirto.id that several other members objected to the revisions. He said UGM’s second revisions would be submitted before they had another plenary meeting in January.

Sigit said the latest draft from the rectorate did not have a clear philosophical foundation and the articles were “not coherent”. He said the draft also failed to show a clear perspective about whom it protects.

“It’s not clear, is it to protect victims or perpetrators?” he said.

“The philosophical foundation has to be explicit because it will show in the following articles,” he went on, referring to the basic consideration at the beginning of the document. The rectorate cut down the considerations from five to one.

Sigit also commented on the role of the rector’s secretary that would handle the verification of reports and decide the ruling. “It’s not feasible. Please remember, we have 60,000 students in UGM. In law, there is a principle of justice delayed, justice denied,” he said.

He also regretted that the sanction on lecturers who became perpetrators were not stipulated clearly in the rectorate’s version.

“Don’t treat the making of regulations carelessly, because it would be hard to implement and victims would experience double victimization from this unclear regulation,” he said