Councillor receives probation for using fake school diploma

Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post/Semarang

Mundir Alif, a Central Java councillor from the Democratic Party, was sentenced on Friday to four months in jail with a probation period of eight months for using a fake diploma to run for office.

In a separate development, a Semarang councillor, Sri Mariatiningsih, who is also from the Democratic Party, was faced with a similar charge and is being questioned by police.

Judge Budi Hartono, who presided over the trial of Mundir, said the defendant was found to have used a fake diploma in violation of General Elections Law No. 12/2003.

Based on testimony from witnesses, the court concluded that the diploma from Walisongo Islamic State Institute in Semarang was fake.

Mundir had also used another diploma he claimed to have received in 1973 from the Kudus Islamic State Institute.

"But the institute opened in 1975," said the presiding judge.

The sentence handed down means Mundir will not serve the four- month prison term unless he commits a crime during his eight- month probation.

The case surfaced a few weeks before the Central Java councillors-elect were inaugurated on Sept. 3. Despite the controversy over the case, Mundir was sworn in along with 99 other councillors, pending due process of law.

It is unclear whether he will be replaced by another councillor following the verdict.

Fitriyah, head of the Central Java General Elections Commission (KPU), was not available for comment on Friday.

Sri Mariatiningsih was still being questioned as of Friday upon suspicions that she had used a fake Bethesda Senior High School diploma to run in the April 5 legislative election.

She claimed to have graduated from the school in 1982, but preliminary investigations by the Semarang Police discovered the possibility of fraud.

Yusuf Sely, a former principal of Bethesda, told police the diploma was a fake, as the signature at the bottom -- while it resembled his -- was certainly not his signature.

The two Both fraud cases are two of among dozens of other fake diploma cases that surfaced following the April election.