Jejen has her eyes on the horizon

By Dewi Anggraeni

MELBOURNE (JP): She comes across as a naturally happy young woman, welcoming and cheerful. But if you are looking for a beaming face emanating the pride of a recent personal achievement, you will still be looking. She keeps a relatively low profile.

Even in this era of competitiveness, twenty years old Jejen Johari is no ordinary young woman. Last month she was awarded the Institute Award from RMIT University in Melbourne for her outstanding overall academic record and personal qualities. She completed her two years Advanced Diploma of Civil Engineering course at RMIT University last year with an outstanding academic record.

Being an excellent student has not stopped her from loving a rigorous life. Jejen has also been a very active member of the RMIT community. She regularly contributed during RMIT's Open Day and Women in Engineering programs. She organized several student activities involving international and local students. She gave inspirational talks to Year 10 and 11 students.

She stood out as an energetic member of the RMIT Training Center for Infrastructure Technology Student and Staff Consultative Committee.

The university's Vice Chancellor, Professor David Beanland, believes that Jejen is an ideal role model for female students both in Indonesia and Australia. "RMIT University is proud to make this award to Ms. Johari," said Professor Beanland.

Winning the Institute Award has not shaken her solid sense of reality; and her feet are still firmly on the ground. While she has worked with a Melbourne-based international consulting engineering company, Scott Wilson Irwin Johnson, a work experience scholarship she won during the second year of her civil engineering course, Jejen does not turn up her nose at ordinary manual labor. Having now embarked on her degree course, she finds occasional work at a restaurant a useful source of pocket money.

Jejen loves Melbourne, her temporary home since three and a half years ago. Leaving after Year 11 at SMA Dharma Jaya senior high school in Jakarta, Jejen began her Foundation Year, before enrolling on her Advanced Diploma Course, at RMIT.

Life however, has not been plain sailing.

"I very nearly did not continue my studies here when the economic crisis hit badly at home in 1997, during my foundation year. I knew my being here would be a terrible burden on my parents's finances."

Her family's determination somehow to keep her in Australia paid off, because she subsequently won a partial scholarship from the Center for International Students' Scholarship, that is paying for her tuition fees.

Sharing a house in Melbourne's inner suburb with two other Indonesian students, Jejen mixes socially with Australian and other non-Indonesian as well as Indonesian students. Apart from her occasional restaurant work, when she is not studying, she also plays tennis.

When the question of racism was raised, Jejen made a point of telling The Jakarta Post that in her three and a half years she has never experienced any racist incidents, on or off campus. In general, she is happy with her life in this city. Her neighbors are close and always ready to help.

"We have a very good landlord, who lives next door. Our neighbor on the other side is a handyman. He will happily come to fix anything that needs repair. We feel very safe here."

She revealed that originally she had wanted to go to Germany, having been led to believe that was the place for studying engineering and technological courses.

"But my parents would not let me. They thought it was too far," Jejen said. In retrospect, Australia obviously has been a good choice.

Like many young people, Jejen has an eye beyond the horizon.

"By the end of next year, I will have completed my studies. I would like to travel and seek work in several countries before returning home to Indonesia."

Before we parted, Jejen let out another secret. She has not told her parents, brother or sister, about the award. Let them be surprised or tell them beforehand. She was still considering how they would react to the surprise of reading about it in the Post.