Jakarta (ANTARA) –
The University of Indonesia (UI) on Wednesday decided to suspend the doctorate awarded to Bahlil Lahadalia, who is currently Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) in the Prabowo Subianto government.

“UI apologizes to the public for the issues related to BL (Lahadalia), a PhD (S3) student at the School of Strategic and Global Studies (SKSG),” UI said in a press release following the results of a coordination of 4 organs. meet.

The awarding of the doctorate to Lahadalia, who is also the president of the Golkar Party, attracted public attention because he completed his doctoral program in less than two years.

The minister received his doctorate after one year and eight months, instead of the usual three or four years to complete doctoral studies at the prestigious university.

He received his PhD with distinction (cum laude) from the School of Strategic and Global Studies.

However, Lahadalia’s work has been scrutinized, with widespread speculation that it was the result of “joki” services, which involve someone being paid to complete academic tasks on someone else’s behalf.

UI, one of Indonesia’s largest universities, revealed that it had conducted an in-depth evaluation of the governance of the Doctoral Program (S3) at SKSG, which graduated Lahadalia and awarded her the doctorate on October 16, 2024, “as a commitment to to maintain academic quality and integrity”.

The university’s investigation team, consisting of the Academic Senate and the Council of Professors, conducted an audit of the doctoral program at SKSG — from student admission to the examination process.

Based on the investigation, UI has decided to temporarily suspend the acceptance of new students into the SKSG Doctoral Program until a comprehensive audit of the program’s governance and academic processes is completed.

The UI Faculty Council will also conduct an ethics hearing regarding potential violations committed during the supervision of doctoral program students.

“This step was taken to ensure that the implementation of education at UI is conducted professionally and is free of potential conflicts of interest,” the university stated.

“Considering the steps taken by the UI, the BL graduation from the SKSG Doctoral Program (S3) is suspended,” the university also said, informing that further actions will follow the ethics meeting’s decision.

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Reporter: Aditya Eko Sigit Wicaksono
Publisher: Azis Kurmala
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