Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Through this letter I would like to alert the readers, the Indonesian media and definitely the Press Council to the fact that the Chinese idiom daily Harian Indonesia has blatantly committed an act of plagiarism.
On March 15, 1996, Harian Indonesia published an article on page 5 with the title (translated) Traffic and vehicles as if it were the original work of a certain Ho Djoe Leuw. In fact, it's an almost verbatim translation of an article (Kolom Khusus) called Lalu lintas, kendaraan dan kehormatan (Traffic, vehicles and honor) which I had published in Suara Pembaruan on Jan. 8, 1996.
As my knowledge of Chinese is limited to the basic 1,800 characters I learned as an exchange student in Japan, I do not subscribe to Harian Indonesia. It was thanks to some of my readers, who recognized the article, that I was alerted to the plagiarism.
Having checked out the texts, I immediately contacted Harian Indonesia by telephone and by fax, asking the chief editor, W.D. Sukisman, for an explanation. For three days I called and faxed all Harian Indonesia's telephone numbers.
I talked to the janitor, an administrative assistant, a proofreader, and a fearful person who just said that "nobody is in" and quickly hung up.
To add insult to injury, I was never connected to W.D. Sukisman, nor did I ever get the courtesy of a reply to my numerous phone calls and faxes. In the meantime, others have informed me that "this sort of thing happens all the time".
The questions which I want to ask through this forum are: Can we Indonesian writers safeguard our work from being hijacked right here in Jakarta? Have we no recourse to compensation and at least a public apology? and How can anybody know what is published in this Chinese idiom paper; is there no monitoring available?
I ask that the other media to beware, you may be plagiarized next, and I also ask the Press Council to take action against Harian Indonesia. Maybe when the council calls they will have better luck than I and be able to speak to more informed people than janitors, administrative assistants, etc.
MARIANNE KATOPPO
Jakarta