Councillor receives probation for using fake school diploma<\/p>\n
Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post\/Semarang<\/p>\n
Mundir Alif, a Central Java councillor from the Democratic Party,
\nwas sentenced on Friday to four months in jail with a probation
\nperiod of eight months for using a fake diploma to run for
\noffice.<\/p>\n
In a separate development, a Semarang councillor, Sri
\nMariatiningsih, who is also from the Democratic Party, was faced
\nwith a similar charge and is being questioned by police.<\/p>\n
Judge Budi Hartono, who presided over the trial of Mundir,
\nsaid the defendant was found to have used a fake diploma in
\nviolation of General Elections Law No. 12\/2003.<\/p>\n
Based on testimony from witnesses, the court concluded that
\nthe diploma from Walisongo Islamic State Institute in Semarang
\nwas fake.<\/p>\n
Mundir had also used another diploma he claimed to have
\nreceived in 1973 from the Kudus Islamic State Institute.<\/p>\n
\"But the institute opened in 1975,\" said the presiding judge.<\/p>\n
The sentence handed down means Mundir will not serve the four-
\nmonth prison term unless he commits a crime during his eight-
\nmonth probation.<\/p>\n
The case surfaced a few weeks before the Central Java
\ncouncillors-elect were inaugurated on Sept. 3. Despite the
\ncontroversy over the case, Mundir was sworn in along with 99
\nother councillors, pending due process of law.<\/p>\n
It is unclear whether he will be replaced by another
\ncouncillor following the verdict.<\/p>\n
Fitriyah, head of the Central Java General Elections
\nCommission (KPU), was not available for comment on Friday.<\/p>\n
Sri Mariatiningsih was still being questioned as of Friday
\nupon suspicions that she had used a fake Bethesda Senior High
\nSchool diploma to run in the April 5 legislative election.<\/p>\n
She claimed to have graduated from the school in 1982, but
\npreliminary investigations by the Semarang Police discovered the
\npossibility of fraud.<\/p>\n
Yusuf Sely, a former principal of Bethesda, told police the
\ndiploma was a fake, as the signature at the bottom -- while it
\nresembled his -- was certainly not his signature.<\/p>\n
The two Both fraud cases are two of among dozens of other fake
\ndiploma cases that surfaced following the April election.<\/p>",
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