"The Eijkman Institute has its own prestige in the global scientific community. We should not let the merger instead cause the decline of scientific integrity," member of Commission VII of the House of Representatives (DPR RI), Sartono Hutomo, said in Jakarta on Monday.
The mixed public response to the change in status of the institute is reasonable because the Eijkman Institute has played a great role in researching health issues, and the COVID-19 pandemic has augmented the prestige and importance of the institute for the country, he noted.
Human resource and performance quality control issues that often occur after institutional mergers must be properly addressed by the institute's new host, BRIN, he said in a written statement.
"We still remember the public's strong response against the dismissal of 57 Corruption Eradication Commission officers after they failed the civic knowledge test last year," Hutomo remarked.
The legislator then advised BRIN officials to address public concerns by providing assurance that scientists from the Eijkman Institute would produce research of the same quality as before the merger.
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"BRIN officials must also promptly respond to the public concern that competent Eijkman Institute researchers and scientists will be dismissed after the merger," he added.
Earlier, strong public reactions were recorded following information that 113 Eijkman Institute researchers and scientists, mostly not civil state apparatus and hired on a contractual basis, will be dismissed after the merger.
After the merger with the National Research and Innovation Agency, the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology has been renamed Eijkman Molecular Biology Research Centre.
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Translator: Putu Indah S, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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