Handicap drives Paulus' spirit

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Meteorologist Paulus Agus Winarso remembers well his unhappy childhood. He can't forget how his friends mocked him because he could not ride a bicycle due to his physical handicap, and told him he would never study in a university because his parents were poor.

The bitter childhood, however, did not make Paulus desperate nor make him feel inferior. Instead, it made him want to prove to them that the disability in his legs did not prevent him from moving forward.

He does admit, however, that his friends' comments were partly right.

Because of financial constraints, his father, a low-level employee at state telecommunication company PT Telkom, did not encourage him to study at university. Like his eight brothers and sisters, Paulus was told to study at a vocational school with the hope that he would immediately find a job upon graduation.

Paulus finally managed to study at a senior high school because a senior agricultural school refused to accept him as a student. He was told that his physical restrictions would not allow him to have a career as a graduate of the vocational school.

In his heart, the rejection made Paulus happy as he thought that he would still have an opportunity to realize his dream to become a doctor. He was confident that he could follow the lectures at medical school, as he always excelled in Mathematics and Physics.

After finishing his studies at senior high school, however, he began accepting the reality that his father, Yosef Sidik Sastromihardjo, now deceased, and his mother, Maria Miasih, 82, really could not afford the university fees. Paulus thus applied for a scholarship from PT Telkom, which provides an educational opportunity to employee candidates to study at their telecommunication academy for three years.

Paulus passed all the entry tests, but he was disqualified because of his disability. Paulus himself does not know what caused his disability, which makes him unable to walk normally.

"Maybe it was because of polio or bone tuberculosis which I suffered when I was 10 years old," he said.

He did not lose hope. Instead, he applied for another scholarship at the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG), and again passed the tests easily.

Once again, his disability almost cost him his chance, but fortunately, an executive at BMG recognized Paulus's potential.

He was finally admitted to the Meteorology and Geophysics Academy, which is now under the control of the transportation ministry.

"I felt like I had won millions of rupiah in a lottery when I was finally accepted by the academy, because theoretically, it was unlikely that a disabled person would be given such an opportunity," he said.

After finishing his studies in 1977, he was sent to work as a weather forecaster at an airport in the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar, called Ujung Pandang at the time. It was in Ujung Pandang that he began to love meteorological work, which he found challenging.

Paulus said that Ujung Pandang often had bad weather, which could disrupt flight schedules, so his job was to make recommendations as to when the flights could resume operations.

In 1980, he received a scholarship from the Ministry of Transportation to study at the University of Indonesia (UI), and in 1983, obtained a Bachelor of Science in Physics. Afterwards, he was assigned to BMG headquarters in Jakarta as a national weather forecaster.

In 1986, he had another opportunity to study, this time at the University of the Philippines, and achieved his doctorate in Meteorology and Oceanography Models from the Department of Meteorology and Oceanography.

Paulus, one of three meteorologists in the country who holds a Ph.D., is among the many scholars who are not happy with the government's view on professionalism. He said the government lacks commitment to research, with no agency to give serious attention to research.

For example, he said that it is difficult to obtain financial support to conduct research on meteorology and climatology, although it is vital to several important industry sectors such as agriculture, commercial plantations, and fishery.

When Paulus finally resigned from his position as chief of the forecasting and service division at BMG last year, it was also because of his disappointment over the lack of professionalism in the agency.

"When I returned from the Philippines in 1990, I hoped that I could develop my knowledge here, but now I realize that there are only a few people who respect expertise," said Paulus, who is now an adviser to the BMG chief.

He also holds several other positions aside from his advisory role at BMG: as program officer of the Project on Stabilizing Green House Gases in the Atmosphere under the Ministry of Environment, and as a member of Indonesia's National Research Council. He also teaches at several universities and institutes, including UI, the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), the Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB), and Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta.

Paulus's role model is his father, whom he remembers as a disciplined man who always expected the same from his children. It was his father who always encouraged him to do the best, to pursue the best for himself. His father also taught him not to forget to pray to God, as everything depended on His will.

Paulus, who has three children, is now happy that many people are aware about the importance of meteorology, but he still dreams that in future, BMG will become a respected agency with a sophisticated research center, with the capacity to provide research data and information for developers in various sectors.

"However, I doubt that my dream will come true in the near future, as professionalism still has no place in most government agencies," he added.