Paskah faces fake diploma rumors

Paskah faces fake diploma rumors

BANDUNG: A week after being installed as State Minister for
National Development Planning (Bappenas) Paskah Suzetta is
busy fending off allegations he holds fake diplomas.

Unnamed political rivals within the Golkar Party -- of which
he is a senior member -- circulated last week rumors through
several media publications that the former senior lawmaker held
fake university certificates, including MBA certificates from
Jakarta-based STIE IPWI and Bandung-based Padjajaran University.

Paskah quickly denied the rumors, saying he had obtained a
bachelor's degree in social and political sciences from West
Java's Garut University in 1990 -- confirmed by the private
university on Friday -- but had no diploma from the IPWI because
he never studied there. He, however, stopped short of clarifying
whether he had a diploma from the prestigious Padjajaran
University.

On Saturday, university spokesperson Evi Ariatne said the
university had never issued a master's degree diploma for Paskah.
She acknowledged that the minister registered in 2001 for a five-
semester master in business administration program, but said he
had never completed it.

The appointment of Paskah, previously a Golkar lawmaker in the
House of Representatives finance commission, as Bappenas chief in
the Dec. 5 Cabinet reshuffle was said to be the result of
negotiations between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice
President Jusuf Kalla -- whose Golkar Party had to let go of the
chief economics ministerial post -- but was criticized by some as
Paskah's academic background was not sufficient for the post. --
JP