Indonesian educators plagued by lack of ethics, plagiarism

Indonesian educators plagued by lack of ethics, plagiarism

Simon Marcus Gower, Director, Research and Development,
Harapan Bangsa School, Kotamodern, Tangerang

In the annals of literature and learning of the Indonesian
archipelago there have been many significant figures that have
enlightened and informed the world about this remarkable and
wonderful "string of pearls" in Southeast Asia.

Around 300 years ago there was one such significant figure
whose contributions to learning and literature have since become
infamous, because this particular character would willfully
plagiarize and basically steal much of his material from other
writers.

Francois Valentijn was a Dutchman who left the Netherlands,
for what is now Indonesia, essentially to seek his fortune. As a
result of his time on the islands in the late 17th and early 18th
centuries he produced a descriptive work that is widely viewed as
an excellent guide to the archipelago at that time, namely Oud en
Nieuw Oost-Indien or the Old and New East-Indies.

Although being widely viewed as an important contribution to
the history and literature of the islands, it is equally widely
viewed as almost completely plagiarized

Yet there are still many who plagiarize their material and
gladly claim honors and rewards leaving people with the belief
that they have seen or heard something original.

What is most sad is that so many of the people who so
willingly plagiarize are engaged in the world of education.
Plagiarism is contemptible and unwanted but epecially in the
context of education the loathsome nature of plagiarism is many
times more offensive and completely without redemption.

An apparent "training" seminar organized for school principals
along with their senior teaching staff featured a speaker that
was to present ideas about organizing successful meetings and
exercising good leadership within meetings.

From the ideas that he was presenting to the handouts that he
was providing and the slides that he was showing, an ability to
copy was certainly on display but there was simply little or no
sign of originality in thought or even interpretation.

At an education conference in which apparent leaders of
education in Jakarta were set to meet and discuss the development
of Indonesian education, a speaker gave a speech that was quite
captivating for his audience. Although clearly using a text he
showed some ability to extemporize and responded well to
questions; but there was a familiarity to much of what he was
saying. Once the text of his speech was read that familiarity
became understandable because, once again, what had been
witnessed was not original thought.

The text revealed that much of his material had been gathered
from other thinkers and writers but he had failed to genuinely
acknowledge them with a full bibliography. He had claimed their
thinking to be his own.

This kind of behavior does rub off on students. For example, a
group of second year university students were set a task to
complete a research paper that would require them to examine the
work of eminent academics and researchers within their field of
study. It became clear that they had no understanding of
referencing sources, that would provide evidence that they had
done the necessary research. What they produced instead was a
paper that assimilated the work of others without any
accreditation and even included quotations that did not have
details of the person that made the original statement or remark.

In essence, then, these students were unable to represent
their own research efforts and, either consciously or
subconsciously, they were guilty of plagiarism in preparing their
work. It is quite likely that they were blameless because if no
one has ever shown them how to cite references and acknowledge
quotations and all of their teachers have, to lesser or greater
degrees, been guilty of plagiarism, they are quite likely to fall
into this trap.

The world of education and learning needs to have a sense of
respect for originality of thought and the contribution to
knowledge. In a sense there should exist within all educators an
unwritten but fully recognized and upheld honor code that holds
plagiarism in contempt. This kind of code and its accompanying
higher standard of ethics should make plagiarism an alien and
repugnant thought for all educators.

Presently though, as the above examples have illustrated, this
does not seem to be fully the case. Of course, economic realities
may have to be factored into the equation here, in the sense that
it might be economically expedient for some educators to be able
to "sell themselves" through seminars and speeches whilst in fact
plagiarizing and essentially selling someone else's ideas and
thoughts. But expediency should not be placed above principle and
responsibility and educators, in particular, have to have high
principles and are by definition in positions of responsibility.

It is to be hoped that Indonesian educators will be held in
higher regard than the above Valentijn. They will need to develop
greater originality so that they can maintain high professional
ethics and sweep away the plagiarism that currently seems to
bedevil them.