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span class="caption" style="width: 398px;">JP/P.J. LeoThe much ado about actress-turned-politician Marissa Haque’s PhD might come to an end as she is reported to have obtained her doctorate from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB).

According to vivanews.com, Marissa defended her thesis on Tuesday and passed.

The thesis was titled “The Model for Development of Policy and Legal System for the Eradication of Illegal Logging (Case study of Riau Province)”.

“She passed after a long discussion and not only during the open test,” Yonny Koesmaryono, IPB’s deputy rector for academic and students affairs, said.

Marissa said she would change after obtaining the degree.

“I will become better and change. Therefore, I will apologize if someone is offended,” she said.

Marissa, who is married to musician Ikang Fawzi, previously responded to a claim that she had a fake PhD by saying that she had received a high grade in her doctoral test.

“Pardon me, during the doctoral exam I got an A and Insya Allah [God Willing] I will have my graduation ceremony in February,” she said on Jan. 9, as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Marissa was reacting to a tweet of @deedeekartika, allegedly the account of newcomer singer Kartika Djoemadi. The tweet claimed she had a bogus degree and that her dissertation had been penned by another person.

She retorted by accusing Kartika of lying when the latter claimed to have graduated from the University of Amsterdam.

“Buniyani told me that Dee Kartika Djoemadi is not a PhD graduate from the Netherlands. She in fact didn’t even finish her master’s degree at the University of Indonesia …” she said, referring to twitter user @buniyani as her informer in the matter.

Marissa has also previously accused Ratu Atut Chosiyah, a former rival in the Banten gubernatorial election, as having a bogus degree.

The twitwar between her and @deedeekartika was preceded by another spat between Marissa and couple singer Memes and composer Addie MS.

She criticized the attire of Memes and veteran singer Vina Panduwinata as being un-Islamic, describing them as giving “breast charity” and disapproved of stage interactions between Vina and Ikang.

Memes and Addie’s son, Kevin Aprilio, who is a member of the band Viera, later joined in the fracas by defending his mother, and so did Marissa’s daughter Isabella Muliawati Fawzi, who demanded forgiveness from Memes and Addie for “the disaster”, tribunnews.com reported.

According to Marissa, Dee Kartika is a member of a trio that made an album of religious songs along with Memes and singer Rida. The album was allegedly produced by a dean of IPB.

“I have been preparing a criminal charge, because I FEEL DISTURBED and DISGRACED. @deedeekartika or Dee Kartika Djumadi clearly says that she attacked me because she was irked that I was against Memes and Addie MS,” she wrote in a blog entry on Jan 2.

Marissa said that Dee Kartika had used the name of the dean to support the latter’s accusation of a
bogus PhD.