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Indonesian university suspends students over viral lewd chat

By AFP
April 17, 2026
This representational image shows a person chatting on WhatsApp. — Unsplash/File
This representational image shows a person chatting on WhatsApp. — Unsplash/File

JAKARTA: A leading Indonesian university suspended 16 law students on Thursday after a sexually explicit group chat about their female peers went viral, sparking a debate about gender violence in the Muslim-majority country.

Screenshots of a conversation between 16 male students at the University of Indonesia (UI) were posted on social media this week, eliciting shock and anger from female peers and a wider societal discussion.

The university said in a statement on Thursday it had suspended the young men for two weeks pending an investigation.