Del a jewel in Toba Samosir

Del a jewel in Toba Samosir

Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post, Laguboti, North Sumatra

The readiness of President Gen. (ret.) Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono to address an international symposium organized by Del
Polytechnic of Informatics in a remote area sparked the curiosity
of people in the newly established Toba Samosir regency,
especially as the information and communication technology (IT)
center is relatively little known in North Sumatra province.

"Perhaps, because the owner is a general and the President is
also a general," said a farmer, who just called himself Sitorus,
to other onlookers outside the campus when the President arrived
there early this month.

Sitorus was not wrong in his conclusion. Gen. (ret) Luhut
Pandjaitan, the founder and financier of the polytechnic, also
described the President's visit as a visit of "a junior to his
senior." Pandjaitan graduated from the Military Academy in
1970, while Susilo graduated in 1973.

The use of Del as the name of the institution may also raise
eyebrows because according to its official website
(www.del.ac.id) it is taken from Hebrew and means a "leader who
moves a step ahead". However, according to family sources, the
name is the acronym of his wife Devi and Luhut himself.

Some of the attendees at the two-day symposium praised the
courage of the former Indonesian ambassador to Singapore and
former minister of industry and trade, but they also raised doubt
over his decision to open such a heavily subsidized institution.

What was his motivation? And how long can the general bear the
financial burden, even if he has provided a large revolving fund
for instance? In a conversation with The Jakarta Post, the
general said that helping poor but smart students from
impoverished parts of the province were his main motivations.

"We should not allow poverty to prevent them from getting
higher education," he said.

The campus, established in 2001 and located on the Lake Toba
waterfront, is about 280 kilometers south of the provincial
capital Medan, or about a six-hour drive. There are Merpati
flights from Medan to Silangit Airport, about 10 kilometers from
Laguboti, but these flights are often canceled due to bad
weather.

Meanwhile job providers are mostly in big cities hundreds if
not thousands of kilometers from the campus. Isn't it a tough job
for its graduates to convince their potential employers that they
are as qualified as other graduates of other top universities
across the archipelago?

The students are only obliged to pay a tuition fee of Rp 1
million (US$100) per semester, while the operational costs for
each student are about Rp 15 million per year.

Many of its lecturers are alumni of the Bandung Institute of
Technology (ITB), while its director, Prof. Dr. Saswinadi
Sasmojo, is also from ITB.

Students live in a dormitory inside the campus. Since 2001, it
has only offered three-year diploma programs. However, with the
assistance it has received from various famous institutions like
ITB, the Netherlands' University of Groningen, Microsoft,
Singapore Polytechnic, National Gobel, and India's National
Institute of Information Technology (NIIT), Pandjaitan believes
his institution will be able to offer undergraduate degree
programs starting from 2007.

"Hopefully, it will then be named the Del Institute of
Technology," said Pandjaitan.

The general has reasons to be optimistic despite all the
problems he will face in the years ahead. His ambition to create
brilliant IT experts is supported by the world's most famous name
in IT: Bill Gates.

Gates could not come to enjoy the beauty of Lake Toba and to
meet with the students there, but he did provide a pre-recorded
speech via video.

He offered his help as part of his global charity programs for
young IT students. It seemed amazing that Bill Gates would
gamble his reputation to address such a small symposium. Gates
should have learned about the general's reputation from Tony
Chen, Microsoft's representative in Indonesia.

If a person like Gates has strong confidence in Del
Polytechnic, it means the institution has very strong working and
moral capital.

In 2001, the year-program polytechnic enrolled 56 students, in
2002 98 students, and in 2003 62 students. In 2004, it accepted
34 students while this year 75 students will enter the
polytechnic. Most of the students are from poor families in North
Sumatra, but bright students from other provinces are, in
principle, also accepted.

According to Doris Panjaitan, an executive of the Del
Foundation which runs the polytechnic, the graduates are expected
to work in the province's regencies to develop their e-government
system.

"Many of them have worked there. But many others also worked
outside the province," said the younger sibling of the general.

She also expects that one day her elder brother will no longer
need to provide subsidies, when eventually the institution will
be able to finance itself.

After a four-day stay at the campus, the Post got the
impression that the polytechnic was well equipped and the
lecturers highly qualified and love their jobs.

For the young lecturers the biggest problem was likely to be
loneliness, as the campus is located in a small village,
Sitoluama. The nearest town is Balige, which is also small, and
the resort city of Parapat.

During their studies, students not only study to become IT
experts or programmers, but they also learn discipline and
ethics.

Pandjaitan's background as an army general also influences the
atmosphere at the campus. The students always look serious,
different from other campuses in Java for instance. In the
canteen, we can easily see the military atmosphere before, during
and after students eat their meals.