JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – National media outlets made a big news coverage on new title of professor achieved by dangdut king Rhoma Irama in last two days.
The media report on this new title awarded to Rhoma Irama then attracted many negative reactions of various parties who are questioning the authenticity of the title.
This new title adds Rhoma’s current titles, the king of dangdut and the Presidential hopeful.
Rhoma told to Detik.com Wednesday (Feb 26) that the new title of professor was back on January 2005 awarded by the American University of Hawaii, as a respect to his roles and achievements in Dangdut music industry in Indonesia.
The public and national media outlets are intensifying the discussion dan reports on Rhoma Irama since Rhoma’s big banner was displayed at Jalan Tanjung Barat in South Jakarta. The banner displayed Rhoma’s picture along with the inscription, “Presiden Kita Bersama: Prof. Rhoma Irama” or “Our President: Professor Rhoma Irama”.
Rhoma Irama is tipped as one of three potential presidential candidates from the National Awakening Party (PKB). Another two candidates are former Vice President Jusuf Kalla and former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Mahfud MD.
Rhoma Irama might be a victim of a scam as the American University of Hawaii was years ago reported to have committed a scam on issuing fake and illegal degrees to people across the world.
An online site at www.casewatch.org, has released a Hawaiian Circuit Court’ rule dated on January 2005 ordering the American University of Hawaii and its owner Hassan H. Safavi aka Henry Dafavi to stop enrolling candidates and issuing academic degrees.
According to the court’s rule, the American University of Hawaii’s website itself had admitted that the school is not accredited by a recognized agency in the United States.
Furthermore, since January 2006, Ahmad Dinejad’s presidential administration of Iran had declared that Iran would not recognize any degrees obtained from the American University of Hawaii.
Ahmad Dinejad’s administration called the school as a pseudo-scholarly organization granting fake academic credentials to Iranians wishing to enter the private and public sectors, without having to actually go to school and earn the necessary qualification.
The report mentioned that the Iranian government found public servants have purchased these undergraduate, graduate, and/or post-graduate titles from the American University of Hawaii by paying about US$10,000 to the university in order to pass the higher education minimum requirement for their positions. (haryantos@yosefardi.biz)