Council speaker jailed for three years over fake diploma

Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Tanjung Pinang

Tanjung Pinang's municipal council speaker, Bobby Jayanto, was given three years sentence by the Tanjung Pinang district court in Riau Islands on Monday, after being proven guilty of using a fake senior high school diploma when running for his position.

Presiding judge Tjaroko said that Bobby, who is serving his 2004-2009 term in the Tanjung Pinang municipal council, had been proven guilty as charged for faking his senior high school equivalency diploma supposedly issued by Jakarta province's Education Office, in order that he could meet the requirements to become a legislative candidate.

Bobby, also known by the name Jaw Bu Hui, was charged for violating article 263 of the Criminal Code which carries a maximum penalty of three years in jail.

"Bobby Jayanto has disadvantaged Tanjung Pinang city because he does not deserve to be elected a council member. But (by faking his diploma) he has enjoyed facilities and salaries raised from Tanjung Pinang people's money," Tjaroko said when he handed down the verdict.

Bobby, of the Pancasila Patriots' Party, has been in the custody of Tanjung Pinang police since Jan. 26, 2005 following a report from Tanjung Pinang's mosque communication forum, which suspected he was using fake diploma to qualify as a candidate in last year's election.

Tanjung Pinang police had also received letter from Jakarta's Education Office confirming that Bobby was not listed as a participant in any of its senior high school equivalency examinations.

The sentence was less than that demanded by prosecutor Kasmin, who asked for a five year jail term.

Responding to the verdict, the prosecutor said on Monday he would think about appealing the decision or not.

However, Bobby immediately said he would appeal the decision. The council speaker cursed the judges, considering them to be not objective.

"From the start I saw that the court proceedings, including the judges, were not objective. I'll appeal," said Bobby, trying to suppress his anger.

During the trial, the court, which is located in the Pamedan area, was heavily guarded by police, as Bobby's supporters as well as members of the mosque communication forum followed court proceedings. However, no clashes were reported.

The case was not the first of its kind.

In August last year, the Election Supervisory Committee released data disclosing that there were at least 405 councillors implicated in false diploma cases across the country.

The announcement was issued only after a large number of the over-12,000 newly elected councillors nationwide had already been installed in their new positions.

Some of the cases have reached court. For instance, in October last year, Mundir Alif, a Central Java councillor from the Democratic Party, was sentenced to four months in jail with a probation period of eight months for using a fake diploma.

In Lampung last year, councillor Dwi Sutarno of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle was sentenced to 10 months in jail with a probation period of 20 months for forging a school diploma.