JAKARTA: Former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (pic) has appointed a team of legal counsels to challenge a lawsuit accusing him of falsifying his high school and university diplomas, a rumoUr which has been circulating since as early as 2022.
In recent weeks, talks have been resurfacing on social media about Jokowi having a fake diploma as an undergraduate student at the Faculty of Forestry of Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta.
Jokowi reportedly enrolled in the university in 1980 and graduated in 1985.
A legal practitioner named Muhammad Taufiq filed a lawsuit with the Surakarta District Court on Monday (April 14) to contest the legitimacy of Jokowi’s diplomas and, by extension, of his illegal administration as then-mayor of Surakarta in Central Java from 2005 to 2012.
Besides targeting the former president, Taufiq also sued the General Elections Commission’s (KPU) Surakarta office, the city’s SMAN 6 state senior high school and the university. The plaintiff noted that the lawsuit served to “educate the public” about the issue.
“We are not looking for who would win or lose in court, but we aim to seek justice and [uncover] who is right and wrong. That is the basis of our [lawsuit],” he was quoted by kompas.com as saying on Tuesday.
Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Jokowi’s legal counsels hit back in a press conference on Monday, claiming that the former president’s diplomas have been repeatedly verified.
“[The diplomas] have been verified by competent and authorized parties, including KPU regional and central offices, university rectorate, the dean office of [UGM’s] Faculty of Forestry and other parties, including by [Jokowi] himself,” said one of the lawyers, Firmanto Laksana, kompas.com reported.
Another lawyer, Yakup Hasibuan, urged the plaintiff to provide evidence to back up his accusations.
Taufiq said there were several aspects that he found “off” about the diplomas, one of which is the “inconsistent data” between what was written on the diplomas and the supposed dates when SMAN 6 and the carpentry concentration at UGM were first established.
The plaintiff further called for Jokowi to show his university diploma to the public after social media users scrutinised it through circulating online pictures.
However, Jokowi’s legal team refused the request, calling it a “trap” and said they would only present them in court.
“We believe such a request only seeks to test what is already the truth and only wants to drive us into a corner,” team member Rivai Kusumanegara said on Monday, tribunnews.com reported.
The first trial for the lawsuit is slated for April 24, according to the Surakarta District Court website.
The growing allegations have led figures such as senior politicians Amien Rais and Roy Suryo to come to the UGM campus on Tuesday to pressure the university board to show Jokowi’s diploma.
But the university refused the request and defended the legitimacy of the diploma, saying the former president was an alumnus and had completed his study.
“UGM only wishes to present public data, whereas personal data [such as a student’s diploma] will only be provided if authorities request us to do so,” the university said in a statement published on its website on Tuesday.
When the rumours resurfaced last month, the faculty’s dean Sigit Sunarta refuted claims of forgery shown in differing fonts on Jokowi’s undergraduate thesis’ cover page and approval sheet.
“There were many student theses that used the cover and approval sheets from the local printing shops [like Jokowi],” Sigit said. This marks the fourth time Jokowi has faced lawsuits contesting his diplomas.
Jokowi won all three previous cases in the past few years. Jokowi’s legal team has also considered hitting the plaintiff back with a defamation suit, Tempo reported on Tuesday. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
