Indonesian students triumph in world's major competitions

T. Sima Gunawan Contributor Jakarta

Experts when talking about the country's education sector invariably mention the poor condition of many school buildings and a system that frequently fails to produce qualified human resources.

However, despite these obvious shortcomings, Indonesian students have made great achievements in International Science Olympiads both at home and abroad.

The latest triumphs were during the first International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO) and the International Mathematics and Science Olympiad (IMSO) for elementary schools that took place in Jakarta in November and December.

Among the winners at the IJSO competition, were Diptarama, 13, from SMPN 252 State Junior High School in Pondok Kelapa, East Jakarta, and Stephanie Senna, 14, from the IPEKA Christian junior high school in Tomang, West Jakarta.

Diptarama won a gold medal and was named Absolute Winner of the competition with the highest mark among participants that came from some 30 countries.

Stephanie won a gold medal and was also awarded Best Experimental Winner with her experiment on the fermentation of salak (snake fruit).

"I am really happy with the gold medal. I am relieved, I was stressed waiting for the announcement," Stephanie was quoted by local media as saying.

The path to their success, however, was not easy. First, the pair had to compete with about 15,000 junior high school students countrywide. A national selection of 30 students were then brought to Karawaci, Banten, to join a one-month training course. Finally, 12 students were selected to represent Indonesia in the Olympiad.

"I like science a lot. It's interesting and challenging. Besides, you don't have to memorize a lot," Diptarama said shortly after he won the awards in the first International Junior Science Olympiad.

Stephanie said she liked biology the best out of the sciences as it allowed her to learn about living beings. She credited her science teacher in the first year of Junior High School for turning her on to the subject.

Stephanie said she wanted to be a researcher when she grew up to help improve the welfare of the nation.

International Science Olympiads used to be held for senior high school students only. Following the country's successes in many such contests, Indonesian delegates proposed a competition for junior high school students and offered Indonesia as the venue for the first event.

The junior high school students who joined the competition took tests in four subjects -- physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics -- while the senior high school students took only one subject. All students were tested on theory and their experiments were judged.

At the International Mathematics and Science Olympiad, which was held in Jakarta from Nov. 29 and Dec. 3, and joined by elementary students from the nine members of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Turki and Taiwan, Indonesia dominated in winning trophies and medals.

In Mathematics, Indonesia made a clean sweep of all three trophies for Best Overall, Best Theory and Best Exploration.

Best Overall and Best Theory categories were grabbed by Ivan Kristanto, a six-grade student from Yos Sudarso Elementary School, Tasikmalaya, West Java, while the Best Exploration category was won by Mugen Lensrich from Penabur Christian Elementary School, Modernland, Tangerang.

In the same subject, of the 27 medals awarded, Indonesia won one gold medal (Ivan Kristanto), two silvers (Mugen Lensrich and Muhammad Sena Luphdika) and six bronzes (Kevin Soedyatmika, Adhika Renaldi, I. Wayan Adi Juliawan, M. Yusuf Isnaini Elbar, Syah Rindra Sofyan and Muhammad Ridwan). In Science, Indonesian students won nine medals.

Indonesia joined the international educational olympiad for the first time in 1993, when it took part in the International Physics Olympiad and won a bronze medal.

Seven years later, in the International Mathematics Olympiad, Indonesia managed to grab a gold, silver and a bronze. Since then, Indonesia has often been among the top five countries in competition.

In October last year, Indonesia joined the Astronomy Olympiad in Crimea, Ukraine, and won a gold medal. A few months earlier, Indonesia took part in the Physics Olympiad in Pohang, South Korea; the Biology Olympiad in Brisbane, Australia; Mathematics Olympiad in Athena, Greek; and Chemistry Olympiad in Kiel, Germany.

Students managed to bring home several medals in these competitions and the winners came from many different parts of the country.

In the Physic Olympiad, Yudistira Virgus from SMA Xaverius I Senior High School in Palembang, South Sumatera, won a gold medal, and Edbert Jarvis Sie from SMAK I BPK Penabur Christian High School took a silver.

Two bronze medals went to, respectively Ardiansyah from SMA Plus High School in Pekanbaru, Riau, and Andika Putra from SMA Sutomo I High School in Medan, North Sumatra. Ali Sucipto from SMA Xaverius I High School in Palembang received an Honorable Mention.

In Australia, the Indonesian students won three bronze medals. The winners were Budi Christanto from SMAN 2 State Senior High School in Kediri, East Java, Mulyono from SMAN 2 State High School in Pare, East Java, and Komang Darmi Astini from SMAN 1 State High School in Singaraja, Bali.

The team who competed in the Mathematics Olympiad in Athena went home with one bronze medal and three Honorary Mentions. Hendra Suratno from SMAK Kurnia Christian High School in Jakarta received the bronze medal while the Honorary Mentions were awarded to Wahyu Perdana Yudistiawan from SMAK I BPK Penabur Christian High School in Jakarta, and Andre Yohanes Wibisono from SMAK St Louis I Christian High School in Surabaya, East Java.

Indonesia grabbed three bronze medals in the Chemistry Olympiad in Germany. The winners were Albert from SMAN I State High School in Bogor, West Java, Jenice Alethea Deceline from SMAK Karunia Christian High School in Jakarta and Lisendra M from SMAN 3 State High School in Yogyakarta.

Other achievements were from Agung Prasetyo from Taruna Nusantara High School and Trida Rachel from SMAN 78 State High School in Jakarta, who joined the APEC Youth Science Festival in Beijing last year.

Agung won the third place for his research on an environmentally friendly pesticide -- made from the seeds of the bangkuang plant, a form of succulent tuber -- instead of chemicals. He began the research because he was concerned with the harmful impact of chemical pesticides on human health.

Trida researched how the leaves and petals of the cocor bebek flowering plant could treated acne and her work was named the best research project. The reason behind her research was quite simple -- Acne is a common problem among teenagers.

Agung and Trida were motivated to solve common problems and all students in competition said they had a love for science and finding out things.