Plight of graduates from Germany

By Sri Pudyastuti Baumeister

BRAUNSCHWEIG, Germany (JP): On a murky fall morning a professor walked with long strides to a colleague's study. "Is there a vacancy in your staff? A graduate from Indonesia, formerly under my tutelage, has asked me to find him a job," he said, extending a piece of paper.

The colleague glanced at an e-mail with the words "top urgent" inscribed on the top right hand corner: Engineer, Department of Aeronautics Technical University Braunschweig (TUBS), Germany. Then a number of outstanding qualifications from the alma mater. The owner of the degree, a father of four from Surabaya, was unemployed because Sempati Airline, where he had been employed, went bankrupt. "I really need your help," he said.

This real event is familiar to many Indonesian residents in Germany. Since the onslaught of the economic crisis in Indonesia some three years ago, requests for employment in Germany, which is famed for its high technological standards, has shown an upturn. The need for employment has come especially from German alumni, who received scholarships to study in Germany in the 1980s.

Meanwhile, fresh graduates are reluctant to return to Indonesia or have at least postponed their return.

"This trend is clear every time I enquire what a student will do upon graduation here," said head of the information section of the Indonesian Embassy in Berlin, Herawati Nuwargamiharja. There are several ways one can postpone returning to Indonesia. One can look for a scholarship to pursue studies at a higher level or ask for an apprenticeship at the alma mater. Many are lucky enough to be employed in German industries.

"My graduation ceremony took place in 1998, coincident with Soeharto's fall. The question struck me, 'What would I do back home with only a diploma and no experience, while Indonesia was in such chaotic condition?' Well, I decided not to return to Indonesia," said aeronautical engineer Priyatna Surawijaya, 32.

Another aeronautical engineer, Vembra Trigerya Vidjaja, 36, gave, more or less, the same reason. In 1998, IPTN, now called Indonesian Aerospace, sent Gerry, his nickname, to conduct research for nine months on wing-engine integration at DLR, a German Aeronautics and Astronautics research center, with Germany's State Ministry in charge of educational and research affairs (BMBF) providing the funds. Unfortunately three months after he started work on the project, he had to stop his studies as the N-2130 project was suspended. It was for the manufacturing of this aircraft that he had been sent to Braunschweig, a city some 45 minutes drive from Hanover.

He decided that returning to Indonesia was not the best decision and prepared to run an export-import business in Germany he had pioneered with Zumbala trading group of Malaysia.

This plan was abandoned when he got an offer from DLR. DLR had been appointed a sub-contractor for the manufacturing of Dornier DO 728 commuter airplanes, the construction of which resembles that of N-2130. They needed him not only because of his expertise as an aerodynamics engineer, but, more importantly, owing to his involvement in IPTN's N-2130 project.

The prospect for Gerry to work in Germany became a real possibility after IPTN approved his application for unpaid leave in Germany. When applying for leave, Gerry stated his reason was to pursue his doctorate. Perhaps it was good news to IPTN: good news that he would not return home and continue to receive a salary.

"IPTN would have to pay me my salary if I returned home, and back there I had nothing to do," he said, quoting what he had learned from his colleagues at IPTN.

As a matter of fact, the lure to work in Germany has attracted not only Indonesian graduates still there but also German alumni who have returned to Indonesia.

Mechanical engineer Haider Alatas, 30, was one of the latter group. In 1996 he joined the National Atomic Energy Agency in Serpong, Tangerang and remained there for two years with a salary of Rp 700,000 a month.

"I almost applied to be a teacher at Deutsche Schule," said Haider, referring to the German School located in Serpong, when talking about his moonlighting effort.

During these gloomy days, he got an unexpected offer from his former professor, who had asked him to pursue his studies for a doctorate. It was really a pleasant surprise to him. Haider is now happily studying for a doctor's degree at the Institute for Applied Computer Science, Karsruhe University, some 80 km away from Frankfurt. Like Priyatna, as a doctoral candidate Haider can also work on campus.

From Bandung, a former fly-by-wire manager of IPTN, L.K. Sunarkito, 44, paints almost the same picture. After working several years at IPTN, he resigned because he could no longer bear hour after hour of doing nothing.

"I have to continue using my brain, otherwise it will get rusty," said Sunarkito, a graduate of Bandung Institute of Technology.

This awareness prompted him to send an application letter to Dornier, a German-U.S. commuter airplane manufacturing company located in Munich.

Fortune smiled on Sunarkito as he got a response to his letter in less than a month. Then he was briefly interviewed by telephone, followed by another interview in Munich. After the second interview, Sunarkito, with 20 years experience at IPTN got a permanent job at Dornier last year and quit IPTN.

Today he is the Landing Gear System coordinator for DO 328, a 23-seat jet airplane. In terms of position, he had a higher position at IPTN. However, "What is really in a position?" he rhetorically asked. In his present job, he supervises colleagues from France, Germany and Britain, and can keeps his commitment to use his brain.

"I am now involved in aircraft manufacturing under a sophisticated technological system acceptable around the world," he said with a tinge of pride.

Although there may be a only a very remote likelihood for a decent life in one's own country, to live in a foreign country without any certainty of employment can be extremely stressful.

Priyatna said he had to think hard many times before eventually deciding to work in Germany. Return home? Stay in Germany? While still undecided, his family returned home. It was at this critical time that his professor at TUBS offered him a chance to continue his studies to earn his doctorate.

He should be proud because he was the only one offered this chance out of a group of seven IPTN scholarship recipients.

Now, apart from working in a research institute, he tutors undergraduate students and also works as a substitute lecturer. Getting these two positions allows him to use laboratory facilities and infrastructure for his research and earn income at the same time. This income enables him to support himself in Germany and his family in Jakarta.