In June 2025, parents formed long pre-dawn queues at several high schools in Surabaya, Indonesia, to obtain registration PINs for the SPMB secondary-school admissions process. East Java’s education department said the congestion occurred mainly on the first two collection days and was driven by fear that PINs might run out. In fact, collection ran from 2 to 13 June and could be completed at five schools within a family’s local zone, not only at the preferred school.
Counters remained open into the afternoon, and an official said schools he inspected were empty by 2 p.m. The scarce item was therefore neither the PIN nor service time, but confidence in how the system worked. When people did not know that the same procedure was available across days and locations, anxiety compressed them into the earliest possible line.