Tobacco firm regrets scholarship rejections

SEMARANG: PT Djarum, Indonesia’s largest cigarette company, said it was not happy with the decision of two of the nation’s top universities to reject Djarum-funded scholarships.

The University of Indonesia and the Bandung Technology Institute have not offered the company’s scholarships to students since 2009, citing a need to keep cigarettes out of higher education.

“We would still accept them if they changed their minds by enlisting their students again in our scholarship programs,” Djarum’s public relations manager Suwarno Serad said, as quoted by kompas.com newsportal.

Suwarno added that his company wanted to give more scholarships to students from schools in eastern Indonesia, such as Maluku.

According to Suwarno, Djarum has given scholarships to 450 Indonesia college students, who were selected from 2,808 candidates from 73 universities in 24 provinces. — JP