Technological gap between rich, poor nations widening

Technological gap between rich, poor nations widening

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto said yesterday that the
technological gap between advanced and developing countries
should be bridged immediately.

Speaking at the opening of the Second Asia-Pacific Conference
on Medical Genetics, the President said that industrialized
countries have made very rapid progress because they are
supported by scientific and technological might and huge
financial resources. The developing nations, meanwhile, are
bogged down in a quagmire of backwardness and hunger.

"Unless this gap is bridged immediately, humankind will always
be subjected to injustice and constant disquiet," Soeharto told
300 participants from 13 countries.

The four-day conference was sponsored by the Indonesia-based
Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology and the World Health
Organization. The opening ceremony took place at the State
Palace.

The conference will discuss chromosome abnormalities, advances
in molecular genetics and in human genome project, genetic
disorders of red blood cells and country reports on genetics.

Soeharto said history illustrates how the use of science and
technology has led to a quantum leap in progress.

The use of science and technology has made what people used to
dream of into reality, he said.

"This is why we fully understand that science and technology
must guide us in the effort to accelerate the attainment of
progress," Soeharto said.

He also warned the scientists of their responsibility to
master science and technology.

He said that one of the scientific disciplines which has
developed rapidly is molecular biology, which development has
impacted on the knowledge about the process of how a disease
develops.

The Eijkman Institute was established in 1888 by Dr.
Christiaan Eijkman, a Dutch scientist who discovered the
correlation between vitamin-B deficiency and beriberi.

Eijkman won a Nobel Prize in 1929 for this discovery. The
institute was later named after him.

After the Japanese occupation of Indonesia began in 1942, the
institute's activities declined drastically. It closed down in
1965.

In 1992, State Minister of Research and Technology B. J.
Habibie re-established the institute but shifted its task to
molecular biology research.

At the same time, Soeharto greeted the participants of the
second Eijkman Symposium on the Molecular Biology of Disease.

Sangkot Marzuki, director of the Institute, told reporters
last week that the Asia-Pacific conference was actually scheduled
for next year, but the institute insisted on holding it this year
to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Indonesian independence.

Sangkot, the winner of an ASEAN achievement award on biology,
said that the conference will hear five keynote speakers from
various countries. One of them is Sir Gustav Nossal, director of
the Australian Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical
Research.

Nossal will give a lecture on medical genetics and preventive
medicine tomorrow night at the Shangri-La Hotel, the venue of the
conference.

According to Sangkot, the Eijkman Institute has cooperated
with the Australian institute to research the malaria parasite.

"The research will include molecular biology field work in
eastern Indonesia," he said.

Sangkot expected ASEAN countries to set up a network to enable
member countries to communicate better.

"The main problem about the regional network is funds," he
said.

Sangkot expressed the hope that the region will have a network
like the European Molecular Biology Association to help mobilize
experts. (05)