LIPI expresses frustation

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Six months before the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami that devastated Aceh, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) had circulated posters in northern Sumatra about a possible major disaster there, but locals ignored the early warning.

Worse still, the posters disseminated in public places were torn down and many subdistrict heads castigated the institute for frightening people.

After the Indian Ocean tsunami that followed a huge earthquake and killed over 200,000 people, Vice President Jusuf Kalla reprimanded LIPI for its failure to issue an early warning to the government.

"The impacts of the tragedy would not have been as large if the Acehnese people and local executive heads had listened to the early warning," LIPI deputy chairman Lukman Hakim told a press conference on his institute's new research in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Lukman said the state-funded LIPI was disappointed with the government for rarely using the results of its research and proposed concepts for implementing development programs.

"So far, LIPI has conducted a lot of research in numerous fields and conveyed the results to the government, but most of them have never been taken into account in its development policies," he said.

He cited the example that while LIPI had an adequate number of meteorologists and had over a long time developed the meteorology sector, it has never been asked to produce international- standardized measurement tools and measuring machines, while many Indonesian products were rejected in the international market because of their poor quality.

Lukman said LIPI had this year conducted research in 10 fields, including regional autonomy and social conflicts in several regions, and would continue to present their results and recommendations to the government, regardless of whether they were used or not.