'Fake' Phenomenon Sweeping Over Indonesia

By Azeman Ariffin JAKARTA, June 18 (Bernama) -- Call it a phenomenon or what, but fake items have been making their rounds in Indonesia over the past two months, and making news in the local media. Bogus doctors, imitation medicines, counterfeit money and even fake rice, university degrees and marriage certificates have made an appearance, no thanks to irresponsible parties who are out to make a fast buck by deceiving the people. The modus operandi employed by the fraudsters seem illogical at times but the people are still easily swayed and fall prey to their deceptions. BOGUS DOCTOR OPERATING FROM PUBLIC TOILET In a bid to make themselves look better, hundreds of men and women in Jakarta have reportedly sought the services of a sham aesthetician, only to end up with a host of side-effects as a result of the "beauty treatments" they had received. Some people's desire to look good is sometimes so overpowering that they are willing to ditch logic. In this case, the female bogus doctor was said to be operating from a public toilet, but her clients had full faith in her. She was reported to have been running her "practice" for three years and had many clients, who were willing to fork out up to six million rupiahs, or about US$536 (RM2,000), for each treatment. The police were alerted to her activities following reports lodged by some of her clients, who had suffered hepatitis and kidney disease, as well as facial pain, believed to have been caused by her treatments. The 34-year-old imposter was eventually detained by police in a public toilet at Plaza Semanggi, here, while she was administering treatment to a client. In another development, it was reported that a member of Indonesia's House of Representatives (DPR), Frans Agung Mula Putra, was using a fake doctorate title. This was revealed by Frans' former personal secretary Denti Noviany Sari at the DPR's honour tribunal, after she was sacked by Frans. Denti had claimed that she was assigned to put the fake doctorate title on Frans’ business cards. Checks with the university concerned, Universitas Satyagama, showed that Frans had yet to complete his doctorate studies. FAKE MEDICATIONS The sale of fake medicines has also become a cause for concern. The local media has exposed that fake medications were being sold at sundry shops and unregistered pharmacies, and were even available online. It is hard to differentiate the imitation products from the genuine ones because the packaging used is an exact replica of the original; consumers are easily deceived, unless they observe the contents closely. According to Indonesia's National Agency of Food and Drug Control, there had been an increase in the distribution of fake medications in recent times, with most of them found in cities of Jakarta, Tangerang, Jawa Tengah, Jawa Timur and Yogyakarta. In certain parts of Jakarta, imitation medicines are openly sold in the public and people can be seen buying them, without any concern for the nasty consequences on their health. FALSE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES Then came the false marriage certificates. It all started with an online service in Indonesia that helped its clients to secretly find life partners. Then reports started surfacing about the availability of forged marriage certificates, which enabled couples to get married without having to register their marriages at the religious office. The regional office of Indonesia's Ministry of Religion in Kota Pekanbaru, Riau, has received numerous complaints on the easy availability of false marriage certificates in the province. A ministry spokesman was reported to have said that although the false marriage certificate resembled the original document, it could be easily detected because it carried neither the serial nor registration numbers. The police is said to be carrying out investigations into the syndicate behind the fake certificates. FAKE RICE News of fake rice - made from a combination of plastic and tapioca - being sold in the district of Bekasi, near here, came as a shock to the locals. One of the residents, Dewi Septini, claimed that she had purchased the rice for 8,000 rupiahs (US$0.60) per litre at one of the local market and when she cooked it, the grains expanded and became unchewable. Dewi said her child complained of stomach ache after eating the rice, following which she lodged a police report. National Police Chief General Badrodin Haiti was quoted by the press as saying that lab tests carried out on samples of the rice showed no elements of plastic. However, a report submitted by Sucofindo Laboratory's testing division head, Adisam NZ, stated that tests carried out on two rice samples provided by the Trade Department in Bekasi city revealed the presence of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is usually used in making products like cables and pipes. The furore over the fake rice evaporated just like that, after having grabbed the attention of local newspapers and television stations for weeks. COUNTERFEIT MONEY, UNIVERSITY DEGREES The bustling town of Bandung, a weekend shopping haven and popular holiday destination for thousands of visitors and tourists, was also not spared by the fraudsters. Recently, Bandung police detained four members of a syndicate, which allegedly circulated counterfeit currency. The syndicate was said to have cheated several local traders and the police managed to confiscate forged rupiah and US dollar notes. The syndicate members operated by buying goods and paying for them using forged US$3.75 (50,000 rupiah notes), while the traders concerned returned their change using genuine currency. Then came news that certain syndicates were producing and selling fake degrees and certificates, purportedly issued by local and foreign universities. This issue became a topic of heated discussion and police managed to apprehend several members of a syndicate said to be linked to the fake degrees. The syndicate's shady operations were uncovered when a media survey found the existence of an institution of higher learning which issued degrees but did not have a campus and neither did it conduct courses. Instead, it operated from an office located in a shophouse. Indonesia has 4,264 public and private institutions of higher learning and it is believed that there were hundreds of unregistered institutions which offered degree programmes in collaboration with foreign universities. --BERNAMA