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