School certificate legalization

School certificate legalization

I have seen the photocopies of Leaving Certificates (STTB) of
Indonesian high school kids that had to be legalized by the
Ministry of National Education for authenticity. This is
requested by embassies for visa procedures, if those students
want to further their education abroad.

There is a small red stamp saying in all earnestness: "Bila
kemudian hari STTB tersebut tidak benar, persetujuan legalisasi
ini dinyatakan batal" (If in the course of time this certificate
proves to be fake, this verification is declared null and void).

Under this stamp is another red stamp stating: "Mengesahkan,
foto copy sesuai dengan aslinya" (Legalizing photo copy of
document in accordance with the original), the date (not filled
in), another line not legible (and also not filled in); the
legalized document is signed by the head of the education office
of Central Jakarta and the head of the section for high school
education.

Isn't this an embarrassing joke? They are only supposed to
legalize a photocopy and cannot/dare not vouch for the
authenticity of the original document. So they should say, "This
office does not vouch for the legitimacy of the original
document".

But this looks bad and they prefer to contradict themselves by
stating, "We put our stamp for legalization but if the document
is a fake our legalization is void!" (We just do this stamping
to get the payments involved.)

Is the legalization of a photocopy from the concerned school
not enough? A photocopy is not a legal document until verified.
However, if the original document is a fake (and found out), the
photocopy is of no use anyway, because the original and copy
normally have to be shown together and, in this case, the
original will be confiscated. If not, we are back at square one.
Who will know and tell whether an original is a fake, and thus
the copy stamped by the Ministry of National Education at least
does not need the ridiculous contradictory stamps.

MRS. SUHARTO
Jakarta