Del a jewel in Toba Samosir<\/p>\n
Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post, Laguboti, North Sumatra<\/p>\n
The readiness of President Gen. (ret.) Susilo Bambang
\nYudhoyono to address an international symposium organized by Del
\nPolytechnic of Informatics in a remote area sparked the curiosity
\nof people in the newly established Toba Samosir regency,
\nespecially as the information and communication technology (IT)
\ncenter is relatively little known in North Sumatra province.<\/p>\n
\"Perhaps, because the owner is a general and the President is
\nalso a general,\" said a farmer, who just called himself Sitorus,
\nto other onlookers outside the campus when the President arrived
\nthere early this month.<\/p>\n
Sitorus was not wrong in his conclusion. Gen. (ret) Luhut
\nPandjaitan, the founder and financier of the polytechnic, also
\ndescribed the President's visit as a visit of \"a junior to his
\nsenior.\" Pandjaitan graduated from the Military Academy in
\n1970, while Susilo graduated in 1973.<\/p>\n
The use of Del as the name of the institution may also raise
\neyebrows because according to its official website
\n(www.del.ac.id) it is taken from Hebrew and means a \"leader who
\nmoves a step ahead\". However, according to family sources, the
\nname is the acronym of his wife Devi and Luhut himself.<\/p>\n
Some of the attendees at the two-day symposium praised the
\ncourage of the former Indonesian ambassador to Singapore and
\nformer minister of industry and trade, but they also raised doubt
\nover his decision to open such a heavily subsidized institution.<\/p>\n
What was his motivation? And how long can the general bear the
\nfinancial burden, even if he has provided a large revolving fund
\nfor instance? In a conversation with The Jakarta Post, the
\ngeneral said that helping poor but smart students from
\nimpoverished parts of the province were his main motivations.<\/p>\n
\"We should not allow poverty to prevent them from getting
\nhigher education,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The campus, established in 2001 and located on the Lake Toba
\nwaterfront, is about 280 kilometers south of the provincial
\ncapital Medan, or about a six-hour drive. There are Merpati
\nflights from Medan to Silangit Airport, about 10 kilometers from
\nLaguboti, but these flights are often canceled due to bad
\nweather.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile job providers are mostly in big cities hundreds if
\nnot thousands of kilometers from the campus. Isn't it a tough job
\nfor its graduates to convince their potential employers that they
\nare as qualified as other graduates of other top universities
\nacross the archipelago?<\/p>\n
The students are only obliged to pay a tuition fee of Rp 1
\nmillion (US$100) per semester, while the operational costs for
\neach student are about Rp 15 million per year.<\/p>\n
Many of its lecturers are alumni of the Bandung Institute of
\nTechnology (ITB), while its director, Prof. Dr. Saswinadi
\nSasmojo, is also from ITB.<\/p>\n
Students live in a dormitory inside the campus. Since 2001, it
\nhas only offered three-year diploma programs. However, with the
\nassistance it has received from various famous institutions like
\nITB, the Netherlands' University of Groningen, Microsoft,
\nSingapore Polytechnic, National Gobel, and India's National
\nInstitute of Information Technology (NIIT), Pandjaitan believes
\nhis institution will be able to offer undergraduate degree
\nprograms starting from 2007.<\/p>\n
\"Hopefully, it will then be named the Del Institute of
\nTechnology,\" said Pandjaitan.<\/p>\n
The general has reasons to be optimistic despite all the
\nproblems he will face in the years ahead. His ambition to create
\nbrilliant IT experts is supported by the world's most famous name
\nin IT: Bill Gates.<\/p>\n
Gates could not come to enjoy the beauty of Lake Toba and to
\nmeet with the students there, but he did provide a pre-recorded
\nspeech via video.<\/p>\n
He offered his help as part of his global charity programs for
\nyoung IT students. It seemed amazing that Bill Gates would
\ngamble his reputation to address such a small symposium. Gates
\nshould have learned about the general's reputation from Tony
\nChen, Microsoft's representative in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
If a person like Gates has strong confidence in Del
\nPolytechnic, it means the institution has very strong working and
\nmoral capital.<\/p>\n
In 2001, the year-program polytechnic enrolled 56 students, in
\n2002 98 students, and in 2003 62 students. In 2004, it accepted
\n34 students while this year 75 students will enter the
\npolytechnic. Most of the students are from poor families in North
\nSumatra, but bright students from other provinces are, in
\nprinciple, also accepted.<\/p>\n
According to Doris Panjaitan, an executive of the Del
\nFoundation which runs the polytechnic, the graduates are expected
\nto work in the province's regencies to develop their e-government
\nsystem.<\/p>\n
\"Many of them have worked there. But many others also worked
\noutside the province,\" said the younger sibling of the general.<\/p>\n
She also expects that one day her elder brother will no longer
\nneed to provide subsidies, when eventually the institution will
\nbe able to finance itself.<\/p>\n
After a four-day stay at the campus, the Post got the
\nimpression that the polytechnic was well equipped and the
\nlecturers highly qualified and love their jobs.<\/p>\n
For the young lecturers the biggest problem was likely to be
\nloneliness, as the campus is located in a small village,
\nSitoluama. The nearest town is Balige, which is also small, and
\nthe resort city of Parapat.<\/p>\n
During their studies, students not only study to become IT
\nexperts or programmers, but they also learn discipline and
\nethics.<\/p>\n
Pandjaitan's background as an army general also influences the
\natmosphere at the campus. The students always look serious,
\ndifferent from other campuses in Java for instance. In the
\ncanteen, we can easily see the military atmosphere before, during
\nand after students eat their meals.<\/p>",
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