Indonesian students triumph in world's major competitions

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.