The leadership of the House of Representatives appealed for calm and called for an end to the controversy surrounding speaker Marzuki Alie's statement suggesting that prominent universities in the country including the Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and the University of Indonesia (UI) were a training ground for corrupt officials.

House Deputy Speaker Pramono Anung Wibowo said that alumni of the two colleges had overreacted to the statement.

"Why should they sue Pak Marzuki? What are they suing for? For me, as someone who is not involved in corruption, I have no problem," said Pramono, who graduated from UGM's engineering department. Pramono said that Marzuki's statement could also have been misrepresented by the media.

Lawyer David Tobing, who is a student of the UI's graduate program, filed a suit at the Central Jakarta District Court on Wednesday against Marzuki for defamation. David demanded that Marzuki publicly apologize for his remarks and that he pay a token Rp 1,000 (US$0.11) in damages, along with legal fees for the lawsuit.

"As an alumni of this university, I always want to protect my alma mater's reputation and integrity. As House speaker, Marzuki Alie has hurt me with his comments. I also fear that his words could tarnish UI's good name," David said as quoted by tempo.co.

Speaking to UI's scholars during a discussion on the future of Indonesia's higher education institutions, Marzuki was reported to have said that most corrupt individuals who were educated had graduated from Indonesia's top universities.

He further cited UI and UGM, as well as other prominent organizations such as the Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals Associations (ICMI) and the Islamic Student Association (HMI), as examples of high quality institutions where the corrupt might have pursued their studies.

Marzuki was unfazed by the furor and was ready to face the suit in court. In spite of Marzuki's claim that his statement had been taken out of context, some figures have continued to pound him for the statement.

Lawmaker Martin Hutabarat, who is a member of UI's graduate advisory council, challenged Marzuki to back up his claim with scientific data. "Without enough data to back the claim, his statement could mislead the public," he said.

Education expert Arief Rachman also called on Marzuki to provide evidence for his statement. "Maybe he could have done some research before he made the statement to find out the names of people who are corrupt. If I were UI rector I could have asked him to give examples," Arief said.

However Arief said that Marzuki's comment should also serve as an impetus for the two colleges to begin soul-searching efforts. "Indonesian education has been unable to instill morality in individuals. It focuses more on logic and cognition. Morals don't get enough attention. In a sense, Marzuki is a whistleblower for higher education," said Arief, who is also a professor at the Jakarta State University (UNJ).

Areif said that universities needed to set up rules that could allow them to name and shame corrupt alumni, although there was no guarantee of success. "After all, there are corrupt people who are simply shameless," Arief said.