Joy of rare Indonesian flower find wilts over Oxford’s failure to name local researchers

A recent rediscovery of the extremely rare Rafflesia hasseltii, a giant parasitic red flower, in a forest in Indonesia’s West Sumatra has sparked backlash following an initial social media post by Oxford University that left out local researchers involved in the search and credited only its scientist.\nThe uproar has exposed the perceived lack of equal recognition for Western researchers and their Global South counterparts when they collaborate, and the lingering legacy of colonialism in academia, observers say.\nThe encounter on November 17 with the white-speckled blossom with its giant petals was made possible through a partnership between Indonesian flower hunter Septian Andriki, a team from the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) led by Joko Witono, Oxford’s Chris Thorogood, an associate professor of biology, as well as local guide Iswandi.\nThorogood posted a personal video on social media of Septian on his knees and sobbing with joy upon finding the flower, which later went viral and attracted international attention.\n“I witnessed the blooming process. After 13 years of searching, a 20-hour journey, and a three-hour hike, it bloomed right before my eyes. I was moved. Chris said I was over-hallucinating, and Iswandi said I was possessed,” Septian quipped to This Week in Asia.\nThe buzz over the rare flower quickly turned sour, however, when Oxford University did not mention Septian and his Indonesian colleagues in its social media post.\n“Yesterday, Oxford Botanic Garden’s [Chris Thorogood] was part of a team that trekked day and night through tiger-patrolled Sumatran [an island in Indonesia] rainforests to find Rafflesia hasseltii,” the university tweeted on November 19.\n\nOutrage ensued, including from prominent figures in Indonesia’s academic circles, such as Anies Baswedan, a former minister of education and a presidential candidate in last year’s election.\n“Dear @UniofOxford, our Indonesian researchers, Joko Witono, Septi Andriki, and Iswandi, are not NPCs. Name them too,” Anies said, referring to non-playable characters in video games.\nLailatul Fitriyah, an associate professor of interreligious education at Claremont School of Theology in the US, argued on social media that Oxford’s post underlined “the coloniality of knowledge” and “part of the epistemological plunder carried out by the empire”.\nAnother user pointed out that in 2012, researchers from the United States and Germany published the discovery in Sulawesi of Megalara garuda, dubbed the king of wasps, in the scientific journal ZooKeys, without mentioning Rosichon Ubaidillah, the Indonesian researcher who was also involved in the search.\nIndonesian Institute of Sciences, the former name of BRIN, at that time called the snubbing “a violation of the memorandum of understanding” signed before the collaboration.\nBagus Muljadi, an assistant professor of engineering at the University of Nottingham, said on social media that Oxford’s post was normal practice in academia. He urged Indonesian researchers to do their own studies about the country’s biological wealth and not “hand over our narrative to others”.\n\nLast week, Oxford Botanic Garden’s Chris Thorogood (@thorogoodchris1), working with local conservation hero Septian (Deki) Andriki and their local guide Iswandi, saw Rafflesia hasseltii in Sumatra.\nTheir expedition was supported by @brin_indonesia’s Joko Witono and… pic.twitter.com/QoBQY3kuLa\n— University of Oxford (@UniofOxford) November 27, 2025\n\nFollowing the uproar, Oxford finally published the names of the entire team, including Septian, Iswandi, Joko, and researcher Agus Susatya, in a new tweet on November 27. The university referred to Septian as a “local conservation hero” and thanked Iswandi for “leading us to the bloom” in its tweet.\nAccording to Benni Hasbiyalloh, a lecturer in international relations at Paramadina University, the erasure violates an article in a 2019 law on the national system of research and development, which mandates the naming of Indonesian researchers in any published studies conducted in joint partnerships with foreign researchers.\n“Often, large universities only list the names of their researchers, without mentioning that the researchers can come to a site, conduct observations, research, take specimens, because Indonesian researchers [contribute to] a very specific knowledge about that place,” Benni told This Week in Asia.\nBenni said the practice of foreign academics publishing papers without proper attribution to local researchers was called “parachute science”, a move “ingrained” in scientific circles.\nHe voiced fears that such snubbing could lead to Indonesian scientists getting fewer state resources as they were seen as less capable than their Western counterparts.\n“Indonesia has become a breeding ground for research, but Indonesian researchers will flee abroad due to a lack of funding and structural support. That’s what we fear most.”\n\nResponding to the controversy, Septian said he had “no problem” with Oxford’s initial social media post as “I am not an academic, I am not a researcher”.\n“Chris said in the video, ‘We found it,’ meaning that we were involved. But the public didn’t hear that. Our netizens are too cruel,” the 36-year-old said, adding he had been told he was “famous” among botanist circles at Oxford.\nIn a social media post, Thorogood also said Septian was “the real hero of the expedition” as he helped him find “wondrous” flowers during the journey to find R hasseltii.\nSeptian’s obsession with the Rafflesia began in 2012, when he first spotted one in Boven Lais forest, about a 15-minute scooter ride and one-hour hike away from his house in Bengkulu province.\n“When I first spotted Rafflesia, I returned to the habitat almost every day, thinking that it would blossom every day. As it turned out, it would blossom again nine months later,” he said.\nHe later quit his job as a sports teacher in a junior school, where he was paid 100,000 rupiah (US$6) every three months, and switched to selling satay, or skewered grilled meat, to fund his expeditions to find Rafflesia flowers across Sumatra, all the way to East Java. The expedition would cost him at least 1 million rupiah if it were to take place outside Bengkulu, he said.\nI will always remember that day because that was a very historic moment for me\nSeptian Andriki, Indonesian flower hunter\nHe has spotted 12 species of Rafflesia blooming in their habitat so far, out of 17 identified across Indonesia.\nThe father of two is currently working as a farmer of rice, cucumbers, corn and bananas, as well as an organiser of private trips for foreign tourists to spot wild fauna and flora, including Rafflesia, in Bengkulu and other areas in Sumatra. Most of the tourists he has guided are from Singapore, China or Europe.\nSeptian has called for Rafflesia to be listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List for biological species at risk of extinction due to the conversion of many forests into coffee and oil palm plantations and the adverse impact on the flower’s habitat.\n“It doesn’t matter if my name isn’t published. I will always remember that day because that was a very historic moment for me. The important thing is that we’re trying to educate the public about conservation.”\n