Datuk Fatimah Abdullah
KUCHING: Those who obtained fake Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) have been warned that they could be charged and that state government is looking into claims of fraudulent tertiary titles seriously.
The warning came from Minister of Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing Datuk Fatimah Abdullah who said the usage of fake doctorates had become so serious that the Ministry of Higher Education was setting up a committee to look into the issue.
“Not everyone can get PhDs as it required a lot of hard work and that level is the highest in intellectual pursuit. So those who have them, they really have gone through the lengthy process. So the integrity must be upheld,” Fatimah who oversees education in the state told The Borneo Post on the sidelines of the State Legislative Assembly Sitting here yesterday.
When asked whether there have been cases of abuse of such qualification in the state, she said she could not substantiate it with statistics but stressed that she had heard of some individuals who obtained their PhDs through dubious means.
Fatimah was commenting on the recent announcement of the Ministry of Higher Education that it planned to set up a national directory that will automatically register those who graduate with a doctorate degree from a local university.
The ministry said the move was in accordance to the University and University Colleges Act 1971 (Act 30) and the Private Higher Educational Institutions Act (Act 555) to regulate the use of the title “Dr” which it acknowledged to be the most commonly abused academic qualification locally.
“The setting up of this registry is to facilitate and complement existing laws in addition to the legal safeguards provided under the Penal Code which allows for criminal action to be taken against the production and usage of fraudulent academic titles.
“The Ministry believes that this move will ensure credible use of academic titles, enable the public to verify information, and deter bogus issuance of academic certificates,” it said in a statement recently.
The registry was set up after questions were raised over the academic qualifications of a prominent motivational speaker Azizan Osman whose website previously stated he had been conferred several doctorates from local and foreign universities but his claims was refuted first by Universiti Malaya (UM) and later by the other universities he named.