“Some of them are now doctors, engineers and researchers. I’m very proud of them,” he said with noticeable delight.

“(A+B)2 = A2 + 2AB + B2 is the ultimate mathematics formula that you will use for a long time. I used it extensively during my university days and my career in the industry,” he said to Amanda, a sophomore in high school, who studies math with Ing Han three times a week.

The way Ing Han teaches Amanda is something that one doesn’t find in today’s education system. For one, unlike today’s book-centric teachers, Ing Han has all the formulas in his head, and at 63 years old, he counts at the snap of a finger.

Ing Han also always breaks down formulas for students in the hope that they will have a deeper logical understanding of them.     

He does all this with his eyes closed — literally. In 1987, Ing Han went blind for reasons that remain unknown to date.  

“I was told that my optical nerves had been damaged. But as to why they were damaged, there was no definite explanation,” he said.

It started on Oct. 3, 1987. Upon waking up, Ing Han noticed that his right eye was not functioning well.

Soon, both eyes were deteriorating. And precisely a month later he lost his eyesight altogether.

Three days before Christmas that year, he was told by a Scottish doctor in Singapore that he would be blind for the rest of his life. Ing Han spent the next two years in mourning.

“Not only had I lost my eyesight but I also lost my faith in God. I questioned God’s existence every day. But I woke up one day thinking I had been wasting my time — whether or not God exists, my family and I still needed to eat,” he said.

One of the things that motivated him to move forward was a special timepiece for the blind his former colleagues bought him as a gift from Europe.

“Being able to tell the time was a big boost in my appetite for life, because I could finally have a sense of orientation and direction,” he shared.

With a new outlook on life and a timepiece in his pocket, Ing Han embarked on what would be the best career option of his life: teaching.  

“God has prepared me to be a teacher,” said the electronic engineering graduate from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).

Born into a modest pre-independence Chinese-Indonesian family, Ing Han is the eldest of three sons.

His father, a teacher at a government school, had a career that spanned the Dutch, Japanese and independence eras in Indonesia.

Unsurprisingly, education has always been a top priority in Ing Han’s family. Ask about his alma mater and he will show you a warm, ear-to-ear smile indicating his pride.

“A lot of my peers at university have now become successful people. Bakrie is one of them. Send him my regards if you ever interview him,” he said with a chuckle.

Ing Han has fond memories of his university days despite having to stretch the allowance given to him by his father.

“While studying [at university] I worked as a tutor to earn extra money. Teaching came natural to me, as not only did I teach younger kids, but I also taught my peers at the university,” he said.  

After graduating, he worked as an electronic engineering lecturer at Satya Wacana Christian University. From 1977 to 1980, he juggled a nine-to-five job at Trakindo Utama and a teaching job at Indonesian Christian University.

It was only in 1981 that Ing Han began to establish himself as an engineering professional. He worked for big players such as Zahid Traktor, PT Kali Raya Sari, PT IKAD and Frisian Flag.  

“A blessing in disguise, that’s how I see what happened to me. The satisfaction my current job gives me is priceless. Being a teacher is not about completing a successful big project but is about passing knowledge on to youth so they will become educated and hopefully useful, human beings,” he enthused.

Asked if he ever encountered any problems teaching due to his physical condition, Ing Han replied: “I’m fit as a fiddle, and my mind has never been this sharp. Once you have that passion to live again, you will not be defeated by any circumstance, including a physical limitation.”

He credits his teachers and lecturers for his deep knowledge of math. But, it was C.J. Alders, who wrote a mathematics handbook in 1952, that he considers his guru.

“The book is so good that it was printed 46 times up to 1994. Today’s books and curricula are nowhere near that book. I can say that looking at my students’ logical abilities,” he said, rather pointedly.  

To keep abreast of the latest happenings, Ing Han, who speaks fluent Javanese, English, Dutch and German, wakes up early every day to tune in to both local and foreign radio stations.

He is currently in the process of writing an autobiography due out next year.

Like his role models, Helen Keller, a deaf and blind author who earned a bachelor of arts degree, and Mimi Mariani Lusli, founder of the Mimi Institute, an empowering body for the disabled, Ing Han wants to reach out to others through his own autobiography.

“My message is not to give up,” he said.

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