Questionable diplomas

The disclosure of an additional 19 more unlicensed educational institutes by the police, aside from Institut Manajemen Global Indonesia (IMGI), as reported in The Jakarta Post, Aug. 24, has further startled this nation. The IMGI has, since 1997, issued 9,000 fake diplomas, some to a former vice president, former ministers, a former senior police officer and Muslim clerics.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla, prior to the disclosure of the IMGI case, voiced doubts about the S2 and S3 degrees listed behind the names of would-be regents and mayors. As a matter of fact, the IMGI has branches in no fewer than 26 major cities in the country. It has "inaugurated" 103 professors, issued 1,060 doctorates, 288 PhDs, 948 Master's of Science and 2,999 Masters of Business Administration to mention but a few (Republika, Aug. 25).

Big wigs who bought such diplomas simply think about showing off to their people or using Plato's adage that only the Philosopher King is entitled to lead a country and/or a region. But they forget that it was intellectual integrity that Plato meant. By buying degrees for a few million rupiah, they think people will judge their personal capacity positively, while their actions speak otherwise, that is enriching themselves at the expense of their people.

This lack of integrity -- in the case of regional leaders -- has created oases of prosperity in the desert of poverty. The recent disclosure of severe malnutrition in many of the country's provinces has shown how regional leaders misuse their budgets. These leaders, be they governors, regents, mayors or high-ranking officials, including local councilors -- some with fake diplomas -- without proper accountability, abuse the state and/or local budget for their own personal or group interests.

In the meantime, it is quite paradoxical, that while the majority of people in the country still feel the pinch of the high cost of education that forces children to help their parents in rice fields or find work, some of the "haves", rather than attending formal classes to obtain legal diplomas, choose to buy fake diplomas to boost their careers.

What would a nation be with leaders without integrity and accountability?

Therefore, it is the responsibility of the education ministry, in cooperation with the police, to immediately close down these unlicensed institutions once and for all.

M. RUSDI, Jakarta