Supervision of foreign researchers poor

Supervision of foreign researchers poor

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI)
conceded yesterday that supervision of foreign scientists doing
research in Indonesia is still poor.

The poor supervision that has given rise to the misuse of
research permits issued by the government is largely due to the
lack of supervisors and ignorance of administrative procedures,
said Apriliani Sugiarto, the institute's deputy chief.

LIPI, which directly answers to the President, is the
government agency which issues permits for foreign scientists
intending to do research in Indonesia.

Sugiarto said not all relevant officials and agencies know the
procedures. Many, he said, feel they have the authority to issue
the necessary permits.

"Local authorities and university people feel honored when a
foreign researcher comes," Sugiarto told journalists. "They do
not question the researcher's real intention."

Sugiarto's remarks came at a time when the institute is
stepping up efforts to ensure the transfer of technology from
foreign researchers to local scientists.

The transfer of know-how will be one of the issues in next
month's second international meeting here on the Convention of
Biodiversity, which was issued at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil.

LIPI has been trying to tighten control over foreign
researchers ever since American anthropologist Donald E. Tyler
sparked a controversy in 1993 when he claimed to have found the
fossils of a prehistoric man in Central Java.

Tyler's claim was shot down by local villagers who could prove
that he bought the fossils from them. He was in trouble after the
authorities put him under close surveillance on suspicion of
trying to smuggle the fossils to the U.S. However, he managed to
sneak out of Indonesia before the authorities could take action.

Sugiarto maintained that foreign researchers wanting to study
in Indonesia are required to carry out a standard procedure to
make sure the scientists do what they have proposed.

Anugerah Nontji, who heads the Institute's Research and
Development Center for Oceanology, said the lack of trained
personnel to assist foreign researchers is also a weakness.

"We have all the preventive measures (to ensure equal benefit
in research) like the involvement of our own researchers and we
have the principle that all found specimens are under our
government's ownership," Anugerah said.

"However, as we have insufficient personnel, our researcher
may only be an assistant to a lecturer, whose knowledge is not
yet compatible with the foreign professor."

S. Wirjoatmodjo, the head of the institute's biology
department, said some foreign researchers have also posed as
tourists.

"We are still informing all authorities, and also travel
agencies, of research procedures and the rules against
transporting organisms out of the country," he said,
acknowledging that the detection of small items such as seeds
would be difficult.

Aca Sugandhy, an assistant to the Minister of Environment
which will organize the November event, said the grants for the
studies under the Biodiversity Collections Project are meant to
enhance knowledge of natural resources here.

Yesterday, four Indonesian biologists received grants from the
Global Facilities Environment. The money was provided to
implement the action plans on conservation, another result of the
Earth Summit. (anr)