Doctoral Journal Becomes Polemic, UI Ensures Bahlil Meets The Requirements For Graduating Masters

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia conveyed his dissertation at the Makara Art Center Building, University of Indonesia Campus, Depok, West Java, Wednesday (16/10/2024). (ANTARA)

Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Indonesia (FEB UI) Teguh Dartanto said that Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia had republished his article in another journal as a condition for the graduation of his doctoral education.

Teguh Dartanto, who is also the co-promotor of the dissertation, stated that the polemic regarding Bahlil's graduation article published in the predatory journal has been completed by the UI Stratejik and Global Study School (SKSG) since last April.

Previously, Bahlil had sent his writings to two journals registered in the Scopus index, namely Migration Letters and Kurdish Studies.

However, the two journals are already discontinuous, so they become predator journals (jurnals) that publish authors' works without going through review) when the article was published in July 2024.

He was then required to compile new articles in more input journals, such as Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, Springer, Sage, and Wiley & Son.

"Bahlil must rewrite in another journal for graduation conditions. It is not true that Bahlil graduated with a predatory journal," Teguh said as quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, October 23.

Bahlil has now met the graduation requirements by publishing his writings in three journals.

The three journals are the Journal of ASEAN Studies registered in the Scopus index, the Accredited Reviu Accounting and Finance Journal SINTA (Science and Technology Index) 2, as well as the Journal of Business and Management Applications which are also accredited by SINTA 2.

Teguh stated that he advised Bahlil to take a doctoral degree in the research route at SKSG UI, not taking a doctoral degree at FEB UI because in the first half there was a structured lecture on weekdays that Bahlil might find difficult to attend because of his duties as minister.

Bahlil pun telah memenuhi syarat untuk mendaftarkan S3 di SKSG UI karena telah melalui Magister Ilmu Ekonomi dari Universitas Cenderawasih (Uncen) pada 2009, seperti yang tercatat dalam diplomanya pada sistem SKSG UI.

"Bahlil has also taken 4 semesters (in his doctoral education), in accordance with Rector Regulation No. 26/2022, so it is feasible to advance to the promotion stage," said Teguh.

Bahlil also graduated for a doctoral degree in Stratejik and Global Studies at the University of Indonesia (UI) with cum laude predicate on October 16.

Meanwhile, regarding the plagiarism polemic in Bahlil's dissertation which is considered to have similarities reaching 95 percent with State Islamic University (UIN) student Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta based on Turnitin's plagiarism check application, the university stated that it was a mistake in their system.

UIN Professor Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta Maila Dina Husni Rahiem stated that a doctoral student and lecturer at UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta examined the authenticity of Bahlil's dissertation through the campus Turnitin account and obtained a similarity result of 13 percent.

However, the document was not immediately deleted and stored in campus Turnitin's repository. During re-examination, the system detected similarities of up to 100 percent because the document had been recorded in the Turnitin database as an official document.

"This condition raises the wrong impression that Minister Bahlil plagiarized the work of UIN students Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta," added Maila.