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Plagiarism forces Anggito to resign
Anggito Abimanyu has resigned from his post as a lecturer at the Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University (UGM) following an accusation that he had plagiarized an article for a piece he submitted to Kompas
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Anggito Abimanyu has resigned from his post as a lecturer at the Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University (UGM) following an accusation that he had plagiarized an article for a piece he submitted to Kompas.
He tendered his resignation from the department of economics and business to UGM rector Pratikno during a press conference at UGM's University Club on Monday.
Anggito, who is also director general for the haj and umrah (minor haj) at the Religious Affairs Ministry, was accused of plagiarizing an article jointly authored by former PT Jamsostek president director Hotbonar Sinaga and Munawar Kasan, which had been published by Kompas on July 21, 2006, for his article, 'Gagasan Asuransi Bencana' (An Idea for Disaster Insurance), which was published in Kompas on Monday last week.
'I am resigning in order to maintain UGM's credibility as a higher learning institution that values honesty, integrity and academic responsibility,' he said in a statement.
Pratikno clarified that although Anggito had formally submitted his resignation, it would not become official until a three-month legal process ' involving the university's Academic Senate and Ethics Committee ' had been carried out in order to determine whether or not he was guilty of plagiarism.
'If he is found innocent, we will decline his resignation, as he is a great asset to UGM,' Pratikno added.
The alleged plagiarism came to light when a writer, using the name Penulis UGM (UGM Writer), posted a blog on Kompasiana, run by Kompas on Fridays, titled 'Anggito Abimanyu Menjiplak Artikel Orang?' (Did Anggito Abimanyu Plagiarize Someone's Article?)
The Kompasiana blog conducted a side-by-side comparison of excerpts from Anggito's article and the one written by Hotbonar and Munawar, entitled 'Menggagas Asuransi Bencana' (Initiating Ideas for Disaster Insurance). A number of sentences and paragraphs were almost identical.
Anggito, who has taught at UGM for 25 years, said the alleged plagiarism may have occurred due to an error in referencing some articles in a folder on his personal computer.
'In writing the opinion piece, there was a mistake in quoting a reference [located] in a folder on my personal computer. It was later revealed that it was a working paper written by Hotbonar and Munawar.'
Separately, Hotbonar said Anggito's decision to resign from his teaching post was brave and responsible.
Fellow UGM lecturer Arie Sujito, who teaches political and social sciences, questioned Anggito's excuse.
'There are many reasons why such a mistake can happen during the writing process. It may be true that he selected the wrong file, but it makes little sense,' he said.
In 2010, Anggito resigned from his post as head of the Finance Ministry's fiscal policy division, following the appointment of Anny Ratnawati ' the ministry's then-director general of budgets ' as deputy finance minister, a position that Anggito had been offered six months earlier.
The Presidential Office cited at the time Anggito's lack of seniority to become a deputy minister. He later returned to academia before being offered the post at the Religious Affairs Ministry in mid-2012. (fss)
