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03/07/2005.
A
few days ago I read in the Internet an article
published in the Indonesian newspaper about
education. It was written by an author with four
degree titles: Drs. His name, S.H., S.Pd, M.M. Wait
a minute. How comes he has so many degrees? For
those who have no idea about them, here is the
relevant information. Drs is a degree title
equivalent to B.Sc., S.H. is bachelor degree in law,
S.Pd is bachelor degree in education and M.M. is
graduate degree title in management, which is more
or less
equivalent to M.B.A.
I
was skeptical of the individual’s honesty. Did he
really ever study law, education, and whatever major
of study that he took to earn his “Drs” title. Or did
he study law in his undergraduate but then apply
“Drs.” title to it? And if he has a SP.d. degree that
means the person went to undergraduate program in
education at IKIP (Institute of Teacher Training And
Education) somewhere in Indonesia. Unless the person
can really prove that he went to formal trainings for
his degree titles, I assume that the individual did
not really study, or only took informal training, to
earn at least one of them. And if that’s true, that is
a
tragedy since the individual is a teacher.
Education in Indonesia is about getting a diploma.
Practically
Indonesia
is a diploma society. Many Indonesians buy degrees
because titles are still held in high esteem. They
value degree title or diploma far more superior to
knowledge itself. People, especially who will only
utilize their “diplomas” to advance their career, will
do anything to obtain advanced degree titles including
buying the fake ones. Sadly, among this group are
people of stature such as government officials and
other citizens in positions of power.
The
famous example is the former vice president, Hamzah
Haz. The VP has openly acknowledged in published
interviews that he paid for his “doctorate” title from
the American World University in 1998 for only $2,000.
And as reported in Strait Times in 2002, a top
bureaucrat at a Jakarta municipal agency admitted that
he bought a fake doctorate for around US$1,200 in 1996
to advance his career. The bureaucrat also admitted
that he had been promoted twice already since he
bought the fake title. The Times also reported the
rise in the number of 'instant lawyers' in Indonesia
who spend no time in classrooms and yet practice law
after passing only one test.
The
Vice President’s scandal has triggered the debate over
fake diplomas in the early 2000 and the country’s
parliaments finally passed an education bill in 2003
which includes the provisions prohibiting the sale of
fake academic degrees. Under the bill, issuing fake
diplomas will be a crime that carries a maximum
penalty of five years in jail and a Rp 500 million
(US$55,000) fine. This is inline with the
International Chamber of Commerce which states that “a
person falsely claiming to have a qualification and
securing a job because of that lie, is committing a
crime”.
Only a few months after the bill was enacted, scandals
over fake diplomas were mushrooming. And this time,
ironically, the scandals were committed by legislative
candidates. According to the data released by the Election
Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) in 2004, there were
at least 405
candidates for legislative members implicated in false
diploma cases across
Indonesia.
They come mostly from East Java, where 53 cases have
arisen, followed by North Sumatra with 33 and Central
Java with 21.
Three elected members
of
the new council of North Sumatra—one from the National
Mandate Party (PAN) and two others from the Golkar
Party—could not be sworn in, as it had been proven
that they used fake school diplomas to qualify for the
election.
The
problem is not only fake diplomas, but also quasi-fake
diplomas. These are diplomas earned through diploma
mills. Since the recent years of legalization and
proliferation of private education, Indonesia has
experienced an unwanted burgeoning of diploma mills.
Mainly campus-based these mills offer master’s degrees
in six months and doctorate degrees can be earned in
one year. Honorary doctorates are also offered for a
price and other “schools” offer instant degrees in
return for little or no work.
Even the established universities such as
Bogor
Agriculture
University and Padjajaran University offer executive
doctorate program where the classes are held during the
weekends and research activities are very little. Even
to run the regular doctorate program the established
universities are not yet competent enough compared to
their counterpart in Malaysia and Thailand, much less
in developed countries. A friend of mine who once took
a regular doctorate program in economics at one of the
country’s leading universities finally said enough is
enough and then he went overseas to continue his study.
In addition to the extreme lack of research and
rigorous training, the program, he said, was run in a
bizarre way where the class can be held anywhere and
anytime depending upon the instructor’s demand.
All
these produce fake individuals. There is nothing worse
intellectually than faking diplomas. Unfortunately
most of those who go after fake and quasi-fake
diplomas are the ones who are running the country,
either through the public or private sector.
The
real doctorate program demands a lot of works and it
takes at least four years of full-time work (an
exception can be made for extremely brilliant
participants). It involves research, publications and
workshops. While those who take the real doctorate
program are doing things the honest way and toiling
through a life of struggle and hard works, some others
are smiling while tossing some amount of money and
little time and efforts for their “doctorate” diplomas
without even knowing how to spell “doctor of
philosophy”.
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