Dr. Marisa Kurnianingsih, S.H., M.H., M.Kn. phone rang one day in June 2024. On the other end of the line, she heard the voice of the Vice Rector III, asking whether she would be willing to chair the Task Force for the Prevention and Handling of Sexual Violence, or PPKS.
Marisa, who at the time was a member of UMS' Student Discipline Team, accepted the request. At first, she believed this leadership transition would go smoothly. However, the PPKS Task Force had to rebuild its institutional foundations from the ground up, all while a violence-related issue was simultaneously drawing criticism on social media. "We had to run parallel processes," she said when met at the K.H. Ahmad Dahlan Edutorium, in late August.
Following directives from the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology, the PPKS Task Force underwent a change in nomenclature, becoming the Task Force for the Prevention and Response to Violence in Higher Education (PPKPT). This change took effect nationwide starting October 2024.
This change in nomenclature turned out to also affect the scope of work. While the PPKS Task Force had previously only handled cases of sexual violence on campus, the PPKPT Task Force now also handles cases of general violence and bullying.
Marisa confirmed the PPKPT Task Force has received 42 reports of violence, both sexual violence and other forms of violence, over the 2024-2026 period: four cases in 2024, 18 cases in 2025, and 20 cases as of August 2026.
She acknowledged the various reactions questioning the rise in the number of reports received by the PPKPT Task Force, and what that might suggest about the sense of safety the campus provides. However, when it comes to the numbers, Marisa viewed it differently. According to her, the rise actually showed that members of the campus community are increasingly trusting the PPKPT Task Force enough to report acts of violence.
"This is also homework for all of us together. We need to strengthen prevention efforts. We can't let it be that by mid-2026 we're already at 20 cases, and by the end of the year it's up to 40. Then in 2027 it climbs even higher. That would mean our prevention process isn't working," she said.
Covering up the number of violence cases on campus is not a wise move. According to her, that number is not something shameful.
What should be prioritized instead is how the campus works to ensure victims feel safe going forward, making sure victims are able to speak up about the violence they've experienced, while also creating an educational environment with dignity and worth of everyone within it.
She noted that a number of surveys and directives from the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology have actually stated that a campus reporting zero cases should raise questions. The performance index for PPKPT Task Forces across Indonesia is not measured by having zero cases.
The handling carried out by the PPKPT Task Force, Marisa said, reflects a commitment to accompany victims through to the conclusion of their report. Even so, Marisa has not infrequently encountered cases that stall midway.
"This usually happens when we call in the victim, and instead the victim backs out and doesn't want to continue," she explained.
The results of the PPKPT Task Force's investigations are then reported to the rector, including the official report, the chronology of events, and supporting evidence. The PPKPT Task Force then provides a recommendation to the rector regarding the sanctions that should be imposed on the perpetrator of the violence.
"The final decision on sanctions rests with the rector's judgment. For example, there was a student we recommended for suspension, but the rector ended up expelling them instead. That can happen," said the activist from UMS' Center for Gender Studies.
Marisa often received pressure from various parties to open up cases to the public. These demands push Marisa to reveal who the victim is, what the motive was, and who the perpetrator is. Yet Marisa held firm.
Revealing a victim's identity is not the right choice when handling a violence case, especially if the case involves sexual violence and the victim is a woman. Marisa acknowledged that plenty of negative stigma still falls on victims of sexual violence.
That stigma, she said, showed up in various forms and shapes, from dismissing a case with a remark like "Ah, it was nothing much," to blaming the victim by suggesting they provoked the perpetrator.
"We've seen it ourselves in the news, cases of (sexual) violence against dogs. So the question is, was the dog being flirtatious? No, right? So why is it that victims are the ones being labeled like that now?" Marisa said, visibly frustrated.
She believed it's high time violence victims, particularly women, are treated as subjects, not objects.
Marisa also did not carelessly disclose the identity of alleged perpetrators to the public. Throughout her handling of violence cases, Marisa stood by the principle of presumption of innocence. It declared that a suspect can only be formally named once there is concrete evidence of the act they are alleged to have committed.
Similar pressure also echoed across social media. Marisa saw this as a form of social sanction. Still, when a case did come out on social media, it's not uncommon for this to actually encourage other victims to come forward and report their own cases of violence to the PPKPT Task Force. This, in turn, allowed the investigation process to move forward more quickly.
Further still, Marisa, together with the PPKPT Task Force, continued working to align how the UMS campus community as a whole understands and responds to cases of violence, particularly sexual violence. "We need to eliminate the kind of thinking that trivializes these cases of violence," she said firmly.
Dr. Marisa Kurnianingsih (right, seated third from the front) during a meeting with students at the UMS Rectorate on June 12, 2026. UMS Public Relations/Imam Safii
Marisa Kurnianingsih's love of reading the news dated back to her junior high school days. Born in Surakarta, Central Java, on 10 March 1988, she still remembered reading a news story about a prison sentence handed down to a woman who had killed her baby, born from a secret affair. The man involved, according to the story, chose to run away, leaving the woman behind.
The lecturer at UMS' Faculty of Law and Political Science admitted she felt genuinely upset by that story. A question formed in the mind of Marisa as a teenager: "Why was it the mother who got sent to prison? Why wasn't the man made to take responsibility instead?" she recalled thinking.
Marisa then began reading news on legal and criminal topics with real enthusiasm. It was from there that her dream of becoming a lawyer took shape. She went on to complete her bachelor's, master's, and doctoral studies in law at UMS, and also took a master's program in notarial studies at Universitas Diponegoro.
She put her aspirations of becoming a lawyer into practice after joining as a lecturer at UMS' Faculty of Law in 2013. A year later, she became a lawyer at UMS' Legal Consultation and Aid Agency (BKBH).
BKBH UMS is an institution that provides free, or pro deo, legal aid. This assistance is aimed at members of the general public, covering the resolution of cases both inside and outside the court system.
During her time as an advocate at BKBH UMS, Marisa frequently handled cases and provided legal accompaniment to members of the public in need. Many of these cases left a deep impression on her. One of them was when she and a number of other BKBH UMS advocates helped represent thousands of Tyfountex employees in their fight to receive their severance pay entitlements.
At first, Marisa was confident this case would be easy to resolve. The workers held a number of strong pieces of evidence and held the upper hand throughout the case. However, several obstacles caused the case to repeatedly stall. "Our position was strong at the time, but we just couldn't get it enforced," she explained.
One of her friends at BKBH then reassured her. "I'll do tahajud prayer for it," Marisa recalled her friend saying. Marisa was doubtful at first. But two weeks later, representatives from Tyfountex came to BKBH UMS to hold mediation talks. As a result, the severance pay claims of the former Tyfountex employees were finally settled.
"It turns out every case doesn't just need ikhtiar from us. There also need to be prayers sent up to the heavens, and then we ask for help from Allah. That's the most important part," Marisa said.
Writer: Gede Arga Adrian
Translator: Farizal Luqman Majid
Editor: Al Habiib Josy Asheva
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