"We were disturbed and unhappy when the name [of a new species of bee, called Megalara Garuda] was used by a foreign researcher, without his mentioning the name of the Indonesian person who discovered it," he said during the dissemination of the results of LIPI`s International Cooperation Network on energy and environment here on Wednesday.
Lukman noted that the US researcher Lynn S Kimsey`s actions had violated the cooperation agreement and ignored the existence and the rights of Indonesian researcher Rosichon Ubaidillah, of LIPI as an institution, and also of the Indonesian nation.
He demanded that Kimsey seek an apology, be expelled from the cooperation team, and apply for a correction to the ZooKeys journal that published her article about the bee species without mentioning Rosichon`s name.
The giant bee was discovered during a Mekongga expedition in Southeast Sulawesi in 2009, which was a cooperative project between LIPI and a number of other institutions and UC Davis.
Around 6,000 insect specimens were allowed to be taken to UC Davis in the US for further studies.
"We want all specimens to be returned. Kimsey has violated the memorandum of understanding [MoU] by lending them to a third party," he said.
Lukman stated that LIPI was waiting for a response from other institutions, such as the US embassy or foreign department, before considering future research cooperation.
He said the experience would be used as a valuable lesson when making future international cooperation deals.
Lukman added that LIPI had actually been very careful in formulating the draft for the cooperation between the two institutions. It took around a year and several consultations with the foreign ministry and the director general of intellectual property rights to be worked out.
"The draft mentions clearly about authorship and intellectual property rights, as well as the use of genetics resources by the foreign party, including the sending and use of research samples put in the Material Transfer Agreement," he said.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
