Surabaya’s Airlangga University initially suspended the trio from the social and political science faculty student council over the banner, but later bowed to public outrage and reversed its decision. The banner was displayed in front of the university campus on October 22, two days after the inauguration of Prabowo and Gibran in Jakarta.

The message on the banner reads: “Congratulations on the inauguration of ruthless General Prabowo Subianto and ‘2.3 GPA Professor’ Gibran Rakabuming as President and Vice President of Indonesia, elected through a corrupt constitutional process. Signed Mulyono (Democracy Destroyer).”

Explaining the reason for the October 25 suspension, Bagong Suyanto, dean of the faculty of social and political sciences, told Asia Week on Monday morning: “The student council must adhere to academic standards instead of stooping to diction and coarse language. This is not the academic culture we want to cultivate. That’s our message.”

But in a return the same day, Bagong spoke to This Week in Asia again and said he had decided to reinstate the students but warned them against using “coarse language” and asked for their “adherence to academic culture”.

At the time of the initial suspension, Tuffahati Ullayyah Bachtiar, president of the student council, told This Week In Asia that she and two other members were informed on Oct. 25 that they were suspended indefinitely because of what the dean’s office called “their behavior unethical”.