Research Agency Merger Chain Reaction

The Indonesian government has merged several research institutions into the Indonesian Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), which include the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), the National Nuclear Energy Agency (Batan), the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan), and several institutions under the Ministry of Research and Technology. The Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology (LBM) under the ministry has now changed to the Eijkman Center for Molecular Biology Research (PRBM).

Head of BRIN Laksana Tri Handoko said that PRBM Eijkman would be under the Deputy of Research and Innovation Infrastructure of BRIN with this change in status. "PRBM Eijkman is also under the Life Sciences Research Organization," Laksana said on Sunday. The status change has consequences for the employment status of researchers under LBM Eijkman. In contrast to LIPI and government research institutions, Eijkman LBM researchers are mostly non-state civil servants (ASN). According to Laksana, most researchers were transferred with various schemes to comply with regulations as government institutions.