Young scientist with high hopes

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Long, loud applause and cheers reverberated at the Jogja Expo Center building here on Monday as the master of ceremonies announced that Yosua Mickael Maranatha was the Absolute Winner of this year's International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO).

It was actually not the first long enthusiastic response bestowed upon Yosua at the closing ceremony of the weeklong IJSO, as a few moments earlier the brilliant 15-year-old student had also been named winner of the gold medal as well as for The Best Theory.

The applause continued when Indonesian Minister of Education Bambang Sudibyo presented him the trophy, shook his hand firmly, rubbed his head affectionately, and posed next to him for a while for a photo session.

Although nothing was said, it was apparent that the minister could not hide his pride in Yosua, the Sleman (Yogyakarta) born teenager who became the star of Monday's IJSO closing ceremony.

"Of course I'm happy. I didn't expect this much," the calm- looking boy told reporters who crowded around him right after he stepped down from the stage for receiving the awards.

"What I did was just try to do my best," Yosua added.

A graduate of Stella Duce junior high school in Yogyakarta, Yosua actually has been admitted to SMAN 3 Yogyakarta, one of the city's most popular high schools.

Yet, he has not attended any classes there so far as he had to attend a seven-month program in Karawaci, Tangerang held prior to the IJSO, together with 11 other students selected to represent Indonesia at the Olympiad.

"I really miss school. I want to join the classes as soon as I finish this IJSO matter," Yosua said.

Born on March 11, 1990 as the youngest of four siblings of businessman Pujo Sutrisno and pharmacist Sofia Inayati, Yosua said he fell in love with mathematics when he was still a first- grader at Yogyakarta Tarakanita Elementary School.

Later he also developed a great passion for physics, as he found that both subjects have a lot in common.

"I find they do not require me to do a lot of memorizing. I just need to study for a while and that's all," said Yosua, adding that he didn't like to memorize a subject as it was time consuming for him.

Yosua said he basically did not like spending too much time studying at home. He would rather play computer games or play basketball or soccer during his leisure time.

That probably explains why he also took his Play Station with him when he had to leave home for the seven-month "quarantine" in Karawaci.

Yosua's father Pujo Sutrisno said that his youngest son indeed rarely spent his spare time studying. Instead he liked to play computer games or read comics.

"He likes to read comics very much. He took a suitcase-full of comics upon returning from Karawaci the other day," said Pujo, adding that it explained why he considered Yosua's brilliance a gift from God.

"He can learn quickly but it takes him a very long, long time to forget it," Pujo said.

Although he spends little time studying, Yosua, according to Pujo, has been at the top of his class since he was a fourth grader at elementary school.

His results kept improving, culminating in a gold medal during the National Mathematics Olympiad in 2004 and he was later selected to represent Indonesia at this year's IJSO that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono officially opened here on December 5.

Yosua himself said that before joining the training for the IJSO preparation he had never taken special courses in either mathematics or physics. Everything he knew was acquired mainly from what he learned at school.

"The key is you have to love the subjects first. Then you can learn better and more easily. Just never consider them a momok (spook). You'll never be able to study well," advised Yosua.

Regarding the tests that he and the other participants of the 2005 IJSO had to undergo during the weeklong Olympiad Yosua said that the tests were much easier that the ones he had to work on during his training.

Each of the IJSO participants was required to undergo three lots of tests, namely competition, theoretical and experimental, on the three subjects of mathematics, physics and biology.

For all the tests, it was Yosua who had the highest average score, explaining why he was also the one who was named Absolute Winner.

Yosua gained a total score of 92.25 while his runner-up Lun- Kai Hsu from Taiwan gained a total score of 92.15. The third place also went to Indonesian delegate Arie Prasetyo of Sukoharjo, Central Java, with a total score of 90.75.

Asked about his thoughts for the future, Yosua, who said he was an admirer of Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein answered briefly, "I want to be a scientist."