Office boy blamed for exam paper leak
JAKARTA (JP): Two witnesses have denied any involvement in the leaking of examination papers and attempted to shift the blame on to the defendant, an office boy with the Directorate General of Elementary and Secondary Education (Dikdasmen).
"It was not my fault. Yes, I did hold the key, but the key was not in my hands from March 30 until April 25 this year," Purwoto told a hearing at the Central Jakarta District Court, presided over by Judge M. Daning Sunusi.
"Dwi (Dwi Santoso) had told me that the ceiling in the conference room was leaking and that he needed to fix it. So, I lent him the key. Never in my life did I guess that he would steal the exam papers and make copies of them."
Purwoto was responsible for the safekeeping of the key to the conference room on the building's fifth floor, where the master copies of the examinations' papers were kept in a safe.
The three-day examinations for high school students were held from May 22 until May 24.
Being accused by prosecutor So'imah of violating Article 362 of the Criminal Code on stealing and Article 322 on deliberately revealing confidential information gained by virtue of one's employment, Dwi told Monday's hearing that what Purwoto said was lies.
"He's lying. I found the key hanging on the door of the conference room... I entered to clean the room. Nothing else," Dwi said.
Article 362 carries a maximum punishment of five years in jail, while Article 322 carries a maximum punishment of nine months in jail.
Earlier, exam leaks in West Jakarta were found at the following state high schools: SMU Negeri 2, SMU Negeri 55 Durentiga, SMU Negeri 19, SMU Negeri 38, and SMU Negeri 101.
Leaks were also found at SMU Negeri 71 and SMU Negeri 100 in East Jakarta, Sumbangsih private high school and Al Azhar Islamic high school in South Jakarta.
In West Java, leaks were found in at least four high schools, namely SMU Negeri 2, SMU Negeri 4, SMU Negeri 5, and SMU Negeri 7 in Tangerang.
Dwi won praise from witness Sri Yudiani, subdivision head of systems and procedures at Dikdasmen, who said that Dwi was a "kind worker" and never gave her problems during the three years he had worked at Dikdasmen.
However, Sri defiantly argued with Judges Daning and I Ketut Gede stating that Dwi's wrongdoing was not her concern, as he was accountable to her superior (Purwoto) and not her.
"He may have worked under my supervision, but he reported to my boss," she repeatedly said, stating her boss's name as Bambang Suranto.
So'imah had earlier said that on March 30 this year, the defendant had taken the master copies of examination papers in economic studies, sociology, mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology.
"He made copies of them, distributed those copies to students of South Jakarta state high schools, and then placed the original copies back in the safe in the conference room of Dikdasmen," she said.
Earlier, chairman of the Jakarta Examinations Committee, Sulaeman Hariadi, said that in order to prevent leaks during the national junior high school examinations from June 5 to June 7, the Jakarta office of the National Education Ministry had conducted tighter supervision of the students, including the conducting of body searches. (ylt)