O

ne of the most bizarre contradictions in science education in Indonesia is that every year we are treated with the sight of young Indonesians proudly returning home from overseas (and not just from Asia but from as far as Europe) with trophies and medals they have won in science and mathematics Olympiads and even robotics in America

Recently, we read and saw in the media that a bunch of young vocational high school students managed to put together a “national car” that eluded even the money-laden children of Soeharto. Every October we read the list of scientists of the world that win Nobel Prizes and there isn’t a single Indonesian name there and it has been like this for years while some other countries in similar positions have gotten one or two of their scientists on the list (Egypt, Pakistan and India).

Even if we examine the less visible indications, the scientific prowess of a country (i.e. the number of scientific articles authored by its scientists), Indonesia ranked 71st of 163 countries listed (for the year of available data, 2003), below all its closest ASEAN neighbors (including Singapore, 28th, Thailand, 41st and Malaysia 51st). What is going on here?

A few weeks ago the government requested that universities and research institutions supply up to 25 percent of their research budgets on their own while so far they have been receiving less than 1 percent of such support. This is in a country that ranks among the lowest in terms of R&D allocation per GNP in the world (0.07 percent GNP or ranked 48th out of 72 countries surveyed in 2010).

Then vice president Jusuf Kalla visited the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and openly stated that perhaps both should just be dismantled because they weren’t doing any meaningful research. For ITB, he specifically lamented the fact that Indonesians were fond of eating fruit from Bangkok but there were no “ITB fruits”.

I caught a glimpse of the answers to this discrepancy when I was working in an international science scholarship program a while back. While applicants from Pakistan and Turkey and other countries were listing their records of publications in internationally refereed journals, their Indonesian counterparts listed articles written in obscure journals in the country, including short pieces written in various national newspapers.

Then, after a few of them were granted the scholarships and eventually graduated with PhD degrees, I went around to see what they were doing. To my surprise (and disappointment), all of them were sitting behind big desks in three-piece suits as director of this and director of that in research institutions and dean of this and that faculty in universities.

But when I got to North America to check on those that had delayed their returning home after securing their PhDs (including some from other countries), they were all in the labs, dressed in white or green garbs getting their hands and feet dirty, literally, while doing research.

In Indonesia, apparently young students are creative and determined even without any fancy labs. They pick up electronics and other scientific items off the shelves at the local stores and work together with their friends to put together little machines that can win international competitions — compliments to our youth, not all of whom wanted to become famous by lining up for audiences in Indonesian Idol or young preachers contests.

But when they get to the universities, then they stumble into problems of lack of money, lack of facilities and even lack of support and guidance. Even if they succeed in earning their advanced degrees, they then teach all over the place to make ends meet and aspire for a “position” and “promotion”. In other words, they want to become what I call “bureaucratic scientists”.

Culturally, apparently Indonesians regard the achievement of a high degree as a sign of having “arrived” and should now be rewarded with high positions. As high school students, Indonesian youths excel in their science education, work hard to obtain their high degrees but then settle down behind big desks to enjoy the fruits of their labor afterwards.

In the West, similar young scientists will start rolling their sleeves precisely after their PhDs and then 10 years later their parents and colleagues will be proud (but not surprised) to read their names in the list of Nobel Prize winners.

It is a pity that the government is not seeing this and other contradictions in science teaching in Indonesia and strives to remedy it, for our youths, their future and ours. Indonesia cannot afford to continue to delude itself by thinking that it can grow and grow economically by cannibalizing its so-called natural resources.

Countries are like people (after all they are run and ruined by people) and can succumb to the same universal effect of isomorphism, i.e. whether you are a farmer, a mining company or a country, if you keep digging (for whatever it is, whether it is for oil, coal, or gold), you will eventually fall into holes. But one thing you can always exploit indefinitely and that will never go away is the brains of your people. In fact the more you dig into them, the bigger they become.

Our young people have shown the way, but why we fail to harness their brains, cultivate their vigorous and enthusiastic young minds and even harvest the results of their scientific works is one of the mysteries of science education (or lack of it) in Indonesia.

The writer is a retired international civil servant.