University of Hayam Wuruk Perbanas in collaboration with the National Consumer Protection Agency (BPKN) of the Republic of Indonesia held the Consumer Rights Protection Education Festival. In addition to commemorating Consumer Protection Day which fell on April 20, this activity is a follow-up to the MoU of the two parties in order to educate the public about the importance of consumer rights in utilizing goods and services.

Vice Rector 3 for Student Affairs and Cooperation, Dr. Soni Harsono, M.Sc., said that the festival was themed "Becoming a Smart Millennial Consumer". The aim is to encourage the literacy spirit and critical skills of students in relation to the protection of consumer rights in Indonesia. "There are three competitions that we hold, namely: Poster Competition, Video Competition, and Debate Competition," said Soni on the sidelines of the activities on Saturday (14/8).

In addition to competitions for high school students or equivalent, a number of academics, practitioners, and the general public participated in the Consumer Education Room with BPKN and the East Java Regional Financial Services Authority (OJK). "We hope that this activity will benefit all of us, especially children in high school so that they can become smart millennial consumers in the digital era, which is developing so fast," he hoped.

Chairman of the RI BPKN, Dr. Rizal E. Halim, explained that the function of BPKN RI is to provide advice and considerations to the Government in an effort to develop Consumer Protection. Its legal basis is from the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, the 1945 Constitution and Law Number 8 of 1999 concerning Consumer Protection.

In his presentation, from 2017 to July 30, 2021, the total complaints received by BPKN RI reached 6,597 complaints. In 2021, his party experienced a significant increase in complaints. The reason is that in one semester until July 30, 2021, there were 2,787 complaints. "There are many cases, and the most crowded are E-Commerce and Financial Services in 2021," said Dr. Rizal E. Halim during a discussion in the Consumer Protection Education Room.

Meanwhile, Inggit Mawarsih Puspitasari, Head of the Division. Consumer Education and Protection OJK has added challenges to consumer protection, one of which is asymmetric information outside of financial service institutions. Asymmetric information circulating in the environment found that literacy rates were lower than inclusion. "In fact, fundamentally we have to strengthen the side of knowledge or literacy. Only when utilizing financial products can they be put to good use and will not cause problems in the future,” he explained. (eko/hms)