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UI to decide fate of Bahlil’s controversial dissertation soon
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Energy and Mineral Resource Minister Bahlil Lahadalia (left) presents his dissertation on Indonesia's nickel industry management at University of Indonesia's campus in Depok, West Java on Oct. 16, 2024. (Antara/Indrianto Eko Suwarso)
T
he University of Indonesia (UI) is slated to hold a meeting this week to discuss its board of professors’ (DGB) findings related to the controversial awarding of a doctorate by the university’s School of Global and Strategic Studies to Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia.
The board, consisting of nine professors and having conducted their inquiry into the matter since October last year, confirmed that the energy minister had violated a number of the university’s academic standards, such as using data without permission from resources and concluding the program in less than four semesters as required.
Bahlil enrolled in the program in the second semester of the 2022/2023 academic year and finished his study by the first semester of the 2024/2025 academic term while he still served as investment minister under former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration. His dissertation, titled “Policy, institutions and governance of equitable and sustainable nickel downstreaming in Indonesia”, was widely condemned due to the aforementioned violations.
The DGB, during an ethics hearing on Jan. 10, subsequently recommended the university to cancel Bahlil’s dissertation. The Golkar Party chairman is allowed to rewrite the academic paper as long as he changes the subject.
The final say, however, is in the hands of four UI bodies, namely the DGB itself, the university’s board of trustees (MWA), the academic senate, as well as the rectorate. The four bodies convened on Jan. 14 to discuss the results of the ethics hearing, but they have not yet reached any conclusion.
The bodies planned to hold a follow up meeting on Feb. 11, but the MWA chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf, who also serves as the chairman of the country’s largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, failed to attend the gathering, as reported by Tempo.
Read also: UI forms team to investigate Bahlil’s doctorate amid public uproar
