Modern medicine cooperation with Canberra proposed
Modern medicine cooperation with Canberra proposed
JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie has called for Indonesia and Australia to cooperate in the field of modern medical science.
Speaking during a visit to the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Habibie specifically proposed cooperation in the bio-molecular field, given that both countries already have the necessary research facilities, Antara reported yesterday.
He told the executives and research staff of the institute, a unit of the Royal Melbourne Hospital, that Indonesia has made the leap into modern technology and is now "thirsty and hungry" for more science and knowledge.
The Indonesian minister, who also chairs the Agency for the Research and Application of Technology (BPPT), is currently on a 10-day visit to Australia, which the Australian press has called a turning point in relations between the two countries.
Despite the political significance attached by the local press, the minister has confined his agenda chiefly to issues of research and technology. He has visited a hospital and an aeronautical and maritime laboratory in Melbourne as well as a submarine manufacturing plant in Adelaide.
Habibie, who began touring Australia in Perth last Sunday, is the president of the Indonesian aircraft manufacturing firm PT IPTN and also the head of the shipbuilding company PT PAL. In addition, he is the chairman of the Board of Strategic Industries.
Habibie's entourage of around 50 people includes leaders from his agencies as well as officials and public figures from Indonesia's eastern provinces.
At the Melbourne hospital's research center, Habibie visited facilities involved in the research of cancer, heart transplants, kidney transplants and the development of a malaria vaccine.
The 80-year-old institution is leading the world in the bio- molecular field, an area Indonesia is trying to develop through the Eijkman Institute, which is under Habibie's BPPT.
On Wednesday, during a visit to the Aeronautical and Maritime Research Laboratory, Habibie proposed cooperating in engineering design to convert Helicopter transport carriers into commercial planes, according to Antara.
Habibie, an aeronautical engineering graduate, explained to his host that the idea for the modification of the Hercules planes came from Indonesia, and has already been approved by the United States' Federal Aviation Authority.
He added that Indonesia is already conducting the work, with orders coming not only from domestic carriers, but also from Africa and the Middle East.
On Tuesday, Habibie visited the Australian Submarine Corporation plant in Osborne, Adelaide, to glimpse the production of the Collins submarines used by the Royal Australian Navy.
Australia has been pushing hard to sell the submarines to a number of Asian countries.
Hans J. Ohff, the chief executive officer of the submarine company, gave a run down of the specifications of the vessel during the plant's tour.
He said that the 3,000 dead-weight-ton submarine is 78 meters long and has a diameter of eight meters. It can carry 42 crew members and can be armed with torpedoes and Harpoon missiles which can be fired from underwater. (emb)