Fake diplomas keep lecturer employed

PURWOKERTO, Central Java (JP): For five years, Djar had been part of the senior academic staff of Soedirman University. Only recently did the university discover that every one of his degrees -- from undergraduate to doctorate -- were fake!

Rector Rubiyanto Misman admitted that the university had been careless and duped by the 35-year-old phony.

"We never thought or ever suspected that Djar was a fake doctor," he said here Saturday.

"Since he arrived at the university all those years ago we proudly accepted him".

Djar had apparently cleverly forged his documents and was immediately accepted for a teaching position in 1993. Because of his high credentials he was also quickly accorded a civil servant grade of IVB.

The deception was recently uncovered when the university was about to appoint him a graduate supervisor. For this new post the university had to update their files and it was during this process that many discrepancies began to unfold.

Djar had claimed to possess two undergraduate degrees, on literature and psychology, from the prestigious University of Indonesia, while he supposedly received his doctorate from the Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic Institute in Yogyakarta.

However when checked upon, both universities said they had never presented a degree to Djar.

Rubiyanto did not say how Djar could have been accepted in the first place without his degrees first being verified.

"This is both a lesson and an embarrassment for us," he said.

Djar himself suddenly disappeared on Friday. (45)