Germany, new hope for Indonesian university graduates

Germany, new hope for Indonesian university graduates

By Sri Pudyastuti Baumeister

BERLIN (JP): On a murky fall morning a professor strode into
his colleague's study. "Is there a vacancy in your place. A
graduate from Indonesia, formerly under my tutelage, has asked me
to find him a job," he said, producing a piece of paper.

The colleague glanced at an e-mail letter with the words top
urgent on the top right hand corner: Department of Aeronautics
Technical University Braunschweig (TUBS), Germany. The letter
outlined a number of outstanding qualifications received from the
alma mater. The owner of the degree was unemployed as Sempati
Airlines, where he had been employed several years earlier, had
gone bankrupt. "I really need your help," wrote the degree
holder, a father of four from Surabaya.

This is a familiar occurrence for Indonesian graduates of
German universities. Since the economic crisis in Indonesia four
years ago, the demand for employment in Germany, which is
renowned for its high technology, has shown an upward trend. This
demand has come especially from the German alumni -- from various
state enterprises, who received scholarships to study in Germany
from the state in the 1980s.

Meanwhile, fresh graduates are reluctant to come back to
Indonesia or at least many postpone their return to their home
country.

"This tendency is very clear every time I enquire what they
will do upon completing their studies here," said head of the
information section of the Indonesian embassy in Berlin, Herawati
Nuwargamiharja. There are several ways you can postpone your
return to Indonesia. You can look for a scholarship to pursue
higher studies or ask for an apprenticeship at your alma mater.
Many are lucky enough to be employed in German industries.

"My graduation ceremony took place in 1998 coinciding with
Soeharto's fall. Then I was struck by the thought, what would I
be doing back home with only a diploma and no experience at all,
while the situation in Indonesia was chaotic. I decided not to
return to Indonesia," said Aeronautical Engineer Priyatna
Surawijaya, 32.

Aeronautical Engineer Vembra Trigerya Vidjaja, 36, gave more
or less the same reason. In 1998, IPTN, now called Indonesian
Aerospace, sent Gerry, as he is known to friends, to conduct
research on wing-engine integration at DLR, a German Aeronautics
and Astronautics research center, for nine months, funded by
Germany's State Ministry in charge of educational and research
affairs (BMBF). Unfortunately three months after he started
working on the project, he had to stop his studies as the N 2130
project was suspended. It was actually for the manufacturing of
this aircraft that the government had sent him to Braunschweig, a
university city some 45 minutes' drive from Hanover.

Gerry, who by then had already taken all his family to
Germany, thought IPTN would forget the N-2130 project for good.
"It no longer cares about the project, let alone people like me,"
he argued. He decided that returning to Indonesia was not the
best policy and prepared himself to run an export-import business
he had pioneered in Germany with Zumbala trading group of
Malaysia.

This plan, however, had to be abandoned as he received an
offer from DLR. DLR had been appointed sub-contractor for the
manufacture of Dornier DO 728 commuter airplane, the construction
of which resembles that of a N-2130. They needed him not only
because of his expertise as an aerodynamics engineer, but, more
importantly, because of his involvement in IPTN's N 2130 project.
They believed he had thorough knowledge about an airplane of this
type.

The renewable three-year contract he signed with DLR entitles
him to full working hours, known as Vollzeitstelle in Germany,
i.e. eight hours a day. "My superior believed I would not earn
enough to support a family with four children if I worked only
four hours a day, a hiring system known as Doktoranden Stelle in
Germany," said Gerry, who now occupies a two-story house,
formerly a small Islamic prayer house owned by a Turk.

Gerry's road to working in Germany was plain sailing after he
got the green light from IPTN, which granted his application for
unpaid leave. IPTN did not even mention a time limit. When
applying for this leave, Gerry wrote he wished to study for his
doctorate. Perhaps it was good news to IPTN: good news that he
was not returning home and also good news because he would pursue
his studies at a higher level.

As a matter of fact, the lure to work in Germany has attracted
not only Indonesian graduates still residing there but also
alumni who have already returned to Indonesia. Mechanical
Engineer Haider Alatas, 30, is one of the latter. He has been in
contact with DAAD, a German scholarship institute following a
difficult life financially in Indonesia during the ongoing
economic crisis. In 1996 he joined the National Atomic Energy
Agency in Serpong Tangerang and remained there for two years with
a salary of Rp 700,000 a month.

"I almost applied to be a teacher at Deutsche Schule," said
Haider, referring to the German School located also in Serpong.
He said he was dissatisfied with his work as it was not in the
realm of his expertise.

During those gloomy days, he got an unexpected offer from his
former professor, who had asked him to pursue his studies for a
doctorate degree. It was really a pleasant surprise for him. "I
had always dreamed of getting this offer," said Haider, now
studying for a doctorate degree at the Institute for Applied
Computer Science, Karsruhe University, some 80 km away from
Frankfurt. Thanks to the offer he could return to his campus free
of charge.

Like Priyatna, as a doctorate candidate Haider can also work
at his campus. He plans to improve his living standards from this
income.

From Bandung, a former fly-by-wire manager of IPTN, L.K.
Sunarkito, 44, paints almost the same picture. After working for
several years at IPTN, he resigned because he could no longer
bear hour after hour of doing nothing.

"I have to continue using my brain otherwise it will get
rusty," said Sunarkito, a graduate of Bandung Institute of
Technology (ITB).

This awareness prompted him to send an application letter to
Dornier, a German-US commuter airplane manufacturing company
located in Munich.

What is really in a position?

Sunarkito may have been in fortune's favor as he got a
response to his application letter in less than a month. Then he
was briefly interviewed over the phone, to be followed by another
interview in Munich. After the second interview, Sunarkito, with
20 years of experience at IPTN in CN 235, N 250 and N 2130
projects, got a permanent job at Dornier last year and quit IPTN.
Today he is the Landing Gear System coordinator for DO 328, a 23-
seat jet airplane. In terms of position, he had a higher position
at IPTN. However, "What's really in a position?" he asked
rhetorically. In his present job, he supervises his colleagues
from France, Germany and Britain, and can keep his commitment to
use his brain.

"I am now involved in aircraft manufacturing under a
sophisticated technological system acceptable worldwide," he said
with a tinge of pride.

Good fortune may play a role in this respect. Although there
is a very remote likelihood of a decent life in your own country,
to live in a foreign country without any certainty about
employment may prove disastrous. Priyatna said he had to think
hard many times before eventually deciding to work in Germany.
Returning home, not returning home? When he was still in doubt,
his family had returned home. It was at this critical time that
his professor at TUBS offered him a chance to continue his
studies for a doctorate degree. He ought to be proud because he
was the only one offered this chance, out of a group of seven
IPTN scholarship recipients.

Now, with a visible feeling of joy, he said that as a
doctorate candidate, he does not have to conduct research all the
time. Apart from working in a research institute, he tutors
undergraduate students and also give lectures if the lecturers
concerned happen to be absent. It is his job as a doctorate
candidate that allows him to earn an income of a BAT IIa category
Bundesangestelltentarif or a university staffer in a
Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter or assistant researcher position.
Getting this position is like killing two birds with one stone:
he can use laboratory facilities and infrastructure for his
research and earn an income from his contribution as a
researcher. This income enables him to support his life in
Germany and his family in Jakarta.