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