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eb. 22, p4

The collapse of the national car (Mobnas) project under Hutomo '€œTommy'€ Mandala Putra Soeharto came in 1998. After 17 years, opposition mounted to another Mobnas project that reminded the public of the New Order'€™s cronyism.

Political controversy aside, I would argue that enlisting Malaysia'€™s (or any other foreign country) automotive industry '€” for a project dubbed the Indonesian National Automotive project, is in direct contempt of Indonesian science. After all, this is the only Southeast Asian country that boasts ownership of an airplane manufacturer. (By Dewi Safitri, London)

Your comments:

There are serious problems with the system for developing science in Indonesia '€” both from a '€œfund the stars'€ approach (which Singapore does well via A-Star), and via the university system.

Having said that, the recent appointment of the incredibly astute former Monash University professor Sangkot Marzuki AM to the post of President of the Association of Indonesian Political Scientist (AIPI), and the terrific support he is getting from President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo and ministers is encouraging indeed.

So please give President Jokowi a fair shake. The university system will take time to fix, but urgent action is needed.

It is being carried out through the ability of the government to develop a new system for promising young scientists outside the jaws of hungry government departments and bodies.

Robert J. Cochrane

Indonesia has poor scientific achievements, but this may not be because of poor funding. Funding is not the main factor in developing good science, as shown by the eastern European countries that have world-class scientists and excellent research achievements, despite chronic under-funding.

Scientific thinking should be encouraged at school and in society. Scientific thinking is rational thinking, but not necessarily by following beaten tracks.

In Indonesia, the educational system does not encourage students to affirm original views, nor does it encourage them to think rationally, for rational thinking often means having a critical view of what is being taught without demonstration.

Science is not solely a matter of technological advance. All fields of knowledge are involved and observing nature can be done by anybody. Yet how many Indonesians have a genuine interest in studying the plants and insects in their garden? How many want to know more about natural phenomenon? For example, the current flooding in Jakarta is another example of the consequences of environmental destruction and water-runoff mismanagement.

How many really try to understand this and push their representatives for a halt in environment destruction and mismanagement? How many teachers talk about this with their pupils? Do the TV journalists even raise the question? They prefer to show the same images of flooding, year after year.

Let us talk about Indonesian scientists too: many of them complain about lack of funds, but they do not mention their main problems, which are intellectual laziness and inability to think outside the box. Yet intellectual effort and testing novel ideas are what science is all about.

Jan Karl

This whole idea of a lack of funding in scientific research is an excuse that has been overly emphasized by lame Indonesian scientists. As a friend of mine used to say, a true scientist or researcher couldn'€™t care less about money; give them basic salary from which they can afford a simple life and the freedom to pursue their scientific curiosity and solve problems, and they will be happy people.

Frankly speaking, science is in their blood. The fundamental mechanisms by which these scientists are being produced are good education systems that encourage curiosity and critical thinking.

And these types of skills are at the very heart of science and technology advancement. So until such a mechanism is well-established, forget the whole idea or dream of developing and having a sustainable national automobile, airplane or whatever production or industries there are.

That kind of dream won'€™t bring anything better than a self-pleasuring sensation.

Itsba

Why airplanes or cars? Why not tidy up the education system first so that it will become world-class and clean of corruption? At the moment the talk about airplanes or a national car industry is only feeding egos, and all the public money will be going into the pockets of a few at the expense of the many!

Jaytee