Inp.polri.go.id - Jakarta.  Universitas Indonesia (UI), the country’s oldest and prestigious university, issued a public apology after inviting Professor Peter Berkowitz of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, to deliver an address at its postgraduate orientation event.

“With all humility, UI admits its lack of caution and sincerely apologizes to the people of Indonesia for failing to properly conduct a background check,” said Arie Afriansyah, the Director of Public Relations, Media, Government, and International Affairs, in a statement on Sunday (24/8/2025), as quoted by antaranews.com.

He stressed the invitation was solely for academic purposes, aimed at offering perspectives from leading global institutions in social sciences and STEM. The university emphasized that Berkowitz’s speech, available on UI’s official YouTube channel, contained no political content.

The controversy erupted as Berkowitz is widely known for supporting Israel and writing articles defending the genocide in Palestine. UI pledged to be more selective in inviting international academics while reaffirming its constitutional commitment to oppose colonialism and support Palestine.

(mg/inp/pr/rs)