Aku mengingat guru-guruku

Sekolah di Rote, tahun tidak diketahui. Sumber: James Fox, Harvest of the Palm, hal. 133

Kecil perawakannya,
Ramah dan selalu tersenyum
Aku masih ingat senyum dan suaranya
Suka mengajak kami menyanyi
Ia pandai bercerita
Sebuah cerita dari sebuah buku bergambar
tentang burung-burung di atas sebuah pohon besar
tak pernah kulupakan sampai sekarang


Selalu ingin kucari buku itu
Tetapi belum jua kutemukan
Ia suka membuat kami berlomba membaca di kelas
Pak Dopen namanya, aku sudah lupa nama depannya
Dia guru pertamaku di kelas satu SD
di sebuah kampung, di pulau paling selatan negara ini
Entah di mana dia sekarang

Ia seorang ibu yang ramah
Aku tahu dia sayang kepadaku
Ia tahu kelebihan dan kelemahanku
Jam pelajaran membaca ia begitu bangga padaku
Jam matematika, ia tersenyum seakan mengerti
Menunggu sampai aku selesai
di saat hampir seisi kelas sudah selesai
Ibu Thene, aku tahu dia sangat baik padaku
dari caranya memperlakukanku

Dia galak
Seisi sekolah takut kepadanya
Aku juga, tetapi aku berusaha mengerjakan semua tugasku
Membaca dan mengikuti pelajarannya dengan seksama
Mungkin karena itu aku selalu mendapat nilai baik darinya
Puluhan tahun kemudian aku tak mungkin bicara bahasa Inggris
Tanpa sekali terlintas di benakku Martinus Suban
Keras, sistematis, namun tahu apa yang dilakukan

Dia ada dalam lintasan hidupku
Ketika aku sangat kacau
Aku merasa diperlakukan tidak adil oleh sekolah
Aku protes, walau dengan cara yang salah
Sering bolos, dan segala macam kenakalan yang dilakukan anak SMA
Tak ada guru yang benar di mataku saat itu
Namun sebuah tempelengan kecil dengan dua jari di pipiku
Tidak keras, namun tak akan pernah kulupakan sampai sekarang
Aku tak marah, aku malu sekali waktu itu
Malu bukan karena dipukul secara keras, tetapi karena disentuh pealn dengan dua jari
Sentuhan dua jari  itu ternyata kekuatannya jauh lebih besar
Dari tamparan keras lima jari penuh amarah
Ia membuka mataku sampai bertahun-tahun
Sampai sekarang aku tetap malu kalau mengingatnya
Frans Sowo nama guru itu

Ia cerdas dan konsisten
Kadang sinikal namun lucu
Ia melucu tanpa tertawa
Analisisnya terhadap persoalan kekinian selalu membuat tertawa
Aku tahu apa yang ia mau dari mahasiswa
Aku tak pernah punya buku yang ia wajibkan bagi kami
Namun sesi tanya jawab tak pernah kusia-siakan
Alhasil dia tak pernah tahu apakah aku punya buku itu atau tidak
Ia membenci mereka yang tahu setengah-setengah
Baginya lebih baik tidak tahu
daripada tahu separuh-separuh
Ia tahu batasan pengetahuannya
Namun ia bukan guru berkacamata kuda
Wawasannya luas, seluas konsistensi berpikirnya
Sekuat ketahanan intelektualnya
Andreas Anaguru Yewangoe namanya
Ujilah ia maka engkau akan tahu ia semurni pikirannya

Ada banyak guru dalam hidupku
Kakekku seorang guru dan ibuku seorang guru
Kritis namun tak pernah mengeluh
Sama memperlakukan anak sendiri dan anak lain
Aku ingat wajah-wajah mereka sekarang
Sampai kapanpun akan kuingat
Mereka adalah orang-orang dalam perjalanan hidupku

Oh, ada seorang guru yang tak mengajar di kelasku
Tapi aku bisa membaca karenanya
Bahkan sebelum aku menyentuh bangku sekolah
Magdalena Lenggu, adik ibuku
Ti’i nona begitu biasa kupanggil
di rumah nenek, dalam keadaan hamil besar, ia mengajarku membaca
Terima kasih ti’i nona, terima kasih semua guruku
Kalian adalah wajah-wajah yang tak mungkin aku lupakan

Serpong, 25 November

Selamat hari guru

 Keterangan foto: Sekolah di Rote, tahun tidak diketahui. Sumber: James Fox, Harvest of the Palm, hal. 133

Firmanzah: Learn young learn fair

Matheos Viktor Messakh , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 06/04/2009 9:58 AM | People

JP/Matheos V. Messakh

Economics might seem dry and practical, but Firmanzah, the new dean of the University of Indonesia’s School of Economics, has a lighter side.

“I like to dream and to make my dreams come true,” the 32-year-old said. “That’s the most romantic thing in the world.”

It’s also very strategic, which is fitting for a man with a PhD in management and a 20-year devotion to Sun Tzu.

When Firmanzah, fresh out of high school, left for Jakarta 14 years ago to try his luck, his mother didn’t want her baby to go (he is the eighth of nine children).

“She was crying along the way in the train asking me to stay and do my study in Surabaya instead of moving here,” he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

But he was determined to study management at UI, which he had decided, after consulting some friends, was best for him because “I like to explore people’s behavior but I like to do it with a solid quantitative methodology”.

Just 14 years later, Firmanzah was elected as the dean of the prestigious economics school, which has produced such noted Indonesian economists as Widjojo Nitisastro, Emil Salim and and
Miranda Goeltom.

At 32, Firmanzah is the youngest dean in the university’s history and perhaps even in the history of the nation. But his youth is not his main selling point: He has solid practical experience and a good academic record under his belt.

After graduating in 1998, he entered the workforce, including as a market analyst for an insurance company and assistant lecturer at UI. He also worked for a management consulting firm at his alma mater while pursuing his magister management degree at the school.

This was followed by another magister degree, thanks to a scholarship to the University of Science and Technology of Lille in France where he studied organization and management strategy.

Firmanzah went on to do his doctorate in strategic and international management at the University of Pau and Pays De l’Adour, which he finished in 2005.

“France is where my intellectuality matured. I did a lot of textual dialogues with many philosophers and sociologists,” said Firmanzah, who despite his French education admires German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer.

“France is where there is room for as much interpretation as we like but at the same time social order is kept.”

He decided to return to work at UI in 2005, where he held several different positions. In all, he has promoted 10 doctorate students and currently supervises 15 students, and is in the process of getting his professorships from the University of Indonesia and the Paris X University Nanterre. Then his most recent achievement: Being elected as the dean on April 14 this year.

But being the dean is not where it ends – he and others aim to make UI a “world-class university”, for his school to be modern and open, for top Indonesian universities to compete not with each other but with universities elsewhere in the region.

“We have to develop new multidisciplinary areas, open to cooperation with international institutions as well as local and regional institutions.”

It won’t be easy: Lack of government subsidies for higher education is an urgent problem needing a solution that Firmanzah and others believe can be solved through cooperation among universities.
“This is a structural problem for many universities around the country. The revenue from tuition fees will never be enough,” he said.

This means, he said, Indonesian universities are always casting around for money to survive, whereas other universities in the region are focusing on improving themselves.

“The economics school at Melbourne University has a research budget of about $3 billion
a year, while here … we don’t know how much we have because money is scattered across many institutions.”

His other reason for favoring cooperation and a multidisciplinary approach is his belief that economics, as a field of study, cannot stand alone.

“Economics has a strong quantitative methodology but it also has lots of weaknesses so openness to other disciplines is needed.

We are not the last frontier for truth in social science. If we regarded ourselves the only source of truth, we would become fundamentalist scientists.”

The need for dialogue with others is a kind of axiom for Firmanzah, who believes “Today’s leaders should be capable of bridging the gaps between many interests and aspirations because people are getting more and more segmented.” This belief, he admitted, “is perhaps one of the qualities that got me elected”.

Although he said he was just trying his luck when he put himself forward as a candidate, perhaps he was implementing a lesson learned from Sun Tzu, whose works he has been reading since junior high school.

“I have read Sun Tzu maybe a hundred times and I even bought the French version,” he said of the writer who taught him the importance of strategy. “Humanity’s strongest instinct to win battles, which can be applied to any walk of life. Battles are everywhere and what makes the difference between the loser and the winner is their strategy.”

Firmanzah rejects claims he was elected because the university rector’s new regulation on electing deans gave him an easy path. The election followed a two-month rigorous selection process where he competed with his former lecturers and professors.

“I had the highest score throughout several stages of the selection, which was open to the public,”
he said. “The way of being selected by the professors, which we previously used, I don’t think it was democratic either.”

Singing their way to the world conference

Matheos Viktor Messakh , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 05/11/2009 10:44 AM | Features

Singing for nature: The Al-Izhar Community Choir and Orchestra will perform at the 1st World Ocean Conference and the Coral Triangle Summit in Manado, North Sulawesi. JP/Matheos Viktor Messakh

Singing in a choir or being part of an orchestra can be fun, especially when you share the stage with your nearest and dearest.

That was how Anti Dwicahyono felt when she first joined the Islamic Al-Izhar Community Choir, given that her 15-year-old daughter Nadya Rifani plays guitar in the choir’s instrumental counterpart, the Al-Izhar Community Orchestra.

“At first, I only accompanied my daughter to the choir and orchestra rehearsals, but then I thought, why not join the choir rather than simply waiting for my daughter? It’s fun and it makes me proud that my daughter is also there,” Anti said.

The Al-Izhar Community Choir and Orchestra will perform for the representatives of the 121 countries taking part in the May 11–15 World Ocean Conference (WOC) and the Coral Triangle Initiatives (CTI) summit in Manado, North Sulawesi.

Forty members of the choir and orchestra will join forces with 20 members of the awarding-winning Manado State University (Unima) choir to perform in front of at least eight heads of state and no less than 120 ministers from participating countries.

The Unima Choir won the gold prize in the Gospel and Spiritual Vocal Ensemble category at the Fifth World Choir Games in Graz, Austria, in July last year; in the same competition, the choir also won bronze in the Musica Sacra and Popular Choir Music categories.

The performance, titled “Symphony under the Sea”, will feature 12 arrangements including the traditional South Sulawesi tune “O Ina Ni Keke”, Alan Menken’s Academy Award-winning song from the Disney animation The Little Mermaid “Under the Sea”, ABBA’s “Mama Mia medley”, Carole King’s Grammy Award-winning song “You’ve Got a Friend”, Nickolas Ashford
and Valerie Simpson’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and a Latin medley.

The opportunity to perform at the conference didn’t come easily for the choir and orchestra, which were both founded in November 2006 by students, teachers, parents and alumni of Al-Izhar in an effort to create a community to play music together.

“We started to shortlist potential members — we have 300 students and alumni members and 200 of them are pianists,” head of the choir and orchestra Indira Hadi told The Jakarta Post during rehearsals for the WOC performance. “We just carried on with practice and after a while only about 40 people stayed in the orchestra and more than 100 people on the choir.”
As a community choir and orchestra, the groups had to cope with its members having various levels of musical skills.

“We only perform songs that all members can play and sing,” said Indira.

But it’s not just about talent, she said: Discipline has always been the main concern of the orchestra and choir, and they are strict about commitment.

“We practice once a week and if someone misses rehearsals three times, they are expelled,” said Indira.

The choir, which has performed for officials several times, not least at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta and Cipanas Palace in West Java, also holds an annual Grand Concert every March. For their first two years, they were helped by renowned composer and conductor Addie MS.

“We want to build a musical community where everyone can contribute, no matter how small that is,” said Indira, whose two daughters are members of the choir and orchestra.

As well as performing at the WOC on May 12, the choir and orchestra will visit several communities, schools and churches in North Sulawesi to share their musical skills and experience through joint performances and workshops.

“We just want to tell people that music unites people regardless of your background,” said Indira.

For Al-Izhar junior high school principal Yuli Suprianto, who is also a member of the choir, the most important thing is that the Islamic school has such solid community support in helping to enhance its members’ talents and even to perform at an international event.

“Basically, I like to sing but what makes me proud is that we have a solid community that encourages its members to improve their talents,” said Yuli, who will sing and dance with four other teachers and their students at the conference.

Director of the Al-Izhar Islamic School, Yuliantoronto, said he was proud to be able to perform at the conference.

“It’s a big honor for us. We are proud not only because we have been given a chance to perform at such a prestigious conference but also because we will be able to show the world that an Islamic school is not a closed-minded school,” he said.

“An Islamic school usually has gambus [a six-stringed Arab musical instrument resembling a lute] orchestra… but here, we have everything. We can play Latin music as well as classical.”

Love in the time of disaster

Matheos Viktor Messakh , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 05/02/2009 10:40 PM | Lifestyle

Gufron Kamil never imagined that one month after the collapse of the Situ Gintung dam, he would be able to make a difference to his life from just a small amount of support.

But the dam collapse, which claimed 100 lives and destroyed hundreds of houses in Cireundeu, Tangerang, had a silver lining for the 17-year-old student.

Gufron, who lost his grandmother, uncle and niece in the catastrophe, is likely to feel much better with the results of his recent national exams, thanks to a remedial course beforehand.

"If there had not been the disaster, we might never have had this kind of course. We might have had to study on our own at home and have no one to ask if we had any difficulties," said Gufron, a student at Islamic high school Madrasah Aliyah Darul Ma'arif.

"If wasn't here I might have more trouble with the recent exams."

Gufron is one of 18 junior and senior high school students, and 11 elementary school children from the affected area of Cirendeu, Ciputat, who organized themselves, with the help of the Nurani Dunia Foundation, to prepare for the national exams, which were held April 20 to 24.

Since the dam collapsed on March 27, an abundance of aid in various forms was sent and among those rushing to help the victims were corporations, public figures and nearly all election candidates.

Some sent donations, while others attended the scene to make philanthropic gestures, such as organizing outings and entertainment events, to comfort the victims.

But sociologist-cum-philanthropist Imam Prasodjo, who is the chairman of the Nurani Dunia Foundation, did one little thing that turned into a big thing for these students: providing a shelter for final year students so they could prepare for the important national exams.

Nurani Dunia volunteer caretaker Iqbal said Imam Prasodjo had set up the shelter after visiting Cirendeu and talking to Mei Shinta, a high school student at the refugee camp.

According to Mei Shinta, Imam Prasodjo told her "I will try to help you get what you want but I need you to be able to organize yourself."

Mei Shinta and Gufron Kamil tried to find as many final-year students as they could, with help from some volunteers.

"We started with five people and later we had more than 20 people but some didn't want to come here," said Mei, who attended the Islamic high school Madrasah Aliyah 4 Jakarta.

The 17-year-old, who hopes to study communications at the University of Indonesia or at the Jakarta National University, said she and her friends struggled to find available information about students in the aftermath of the disaster.

"We found a list of the students in the disaster area but it was just a general list, which didn't identify what grade the students were in," said Mei.

Nurani Dunia bought these students shoes, clothes and books for school, but also, and most importantly, found them a place to study in preparation for the final exams, then just a few weeks away.

The foundation located a house in Pondok Pinang, South Jakarta, not far from the FedEx building. Knowing that the house would be used for "quarantine" for the Situ Gintung victims, the owner offered them use of the house for free until May 2.

"Luckily, the house has made them closer to their schools, which are located around South Jakarta," said Iqbal.

The foundation also received a lot of support for the study shelter, including food, beds, whiteboards and kitchen sets.

So, from early April, 18 high school students stayed and studied in the five-room house, far from the bad memories that surrounded them at the refugee camp. Three volunteers took turns to oversee them.

The shelter also provided volunteer tutors. At least five tutors from the state high school SMAN 8 Jakarta and from the Al-izhar Islamic school visited the house for three hours each day to help the students.

As for the sixth-grade elementary school children, who were considered too young to leave their parents, they just visited the shelter after school hours each day to attend tutorials.

The shelter also provided allowances for the children to go to school.

"We just tried to give these students what they really needed. We could give whatever they wanted but the national exam is crucial for them," said Gita Prasodjo from the Nurani Dunia Foundation.

If only the data on the students had been complete, said Gita, the foundation might have been able to help victims with more specific help.

However, these students have got the thing they needed to help keep their dreams alive: a little help to pass the exam, even while their parents remained concerned about their future, living in refugee camps in Kertamukti, in rented houses or with relatives.

"I am the eldest of four children and I feel obliged to make my family better off. But I also have a dream of studying mathematics at the School of Mathematics and Natural Science at the University of Indonesia," said Gufron, whose ambition is to become a math teacher.

Keith Davies: A quarter century of Asian immersion

Matheos V. Messakh , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Fri, 01/23/2009 9:02 AM | People

Keith Davies: (JP/R. Berto Wedhatama)

If it weren’t for Keith Davies’ first overseas posting to Indonesia some 25 years ago, he might have become a filmmaker.

But all he needed was a few months in Jakarta and his direction changed. Now, after years of working in other countries, Keith Davies returned to Jakarta in December as the new director of the British Council Indonesia.

“It was a life-changing experience for me,” Davies says of his first temporary overseas posting with the British Council to Indonesia in 1984. “Lots of staff members were on holiday and I came as an extra UK member of staff just to cover the summer holiday period.”

At that stage, Davies was working in the film and television department of the British Council
in London.

“I was applying for the jobs with the BBC and with filmmaking companies. I thought that perhaps I would move into filmmaking, but I loved travel as well and the trip to Indonesia helped convince me to stay with the British Council.”

During those three months, Davies was able to fit in a tour of Indonesia taking in Yogyakarta, Sulawesi, Kalimantan and Bali.

He even climbed Mount Bromo in East Java.

Davies was born in Chester, in the northwest of England, on May 9, 1954. He studied drama and English literature at Hull University.

In 1976, about a year after he graduated, Davies joined the British Council where he has spent more or less the whole of his career. Before then, he was a self-confessed jack of all trades, hopping between jobs – in the backstage crew of a theater, as a clerk in an office and as a cocktail waiter and porter in a hotel.

“I worked in several places for less than a year, but my serious work has always been with the BC,” he says.

His first position with the British Council was at a student center in London. “I was arranging activities such as film shows, cultural activities, lectures, theater performances and trips around Britain for overseas students. It was a very exciting job, like being secretary of a club for four years.”

He then moved onto the film and television department for four years, where his main duty was to promote British film overseas. “In those days, the British Council had a film library and we used to buy films and videos from around the world. I also went to film festivals.”

It was as part of this job that he was first posted to Jakarta.

The new few years becomes almost like a travelogue: Bahrain for three years, before returning to London, and then onto Malaysia – where he met his wife, Christine Loh, a Chinese Malaysian. The newlyweds lived in Bangkok, where their daughter, Rebecca, was born.

After Thailand, he went back to London for six months for Mandarin language training, before being posted to Beijing, China. “Actually I can remember Chinese better than most of the languages, but now I’m trying to learn bahasa.”

But those four and a half years in Beijing, as British Council deputy director, were among the most challenging of his career, if only because of the size of the operation. “It was quite exciting,” he adds. “I liked living in Beijing, although it has a different climate – it’s very cold.”

From China he went on to be director of the British Council office in Vietnam. He has spent the last four and a half years of his career in Hanoi, working with offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

“I’ve been very lucky to stay in East Asia, and have come full circle, back to Jakarta and Indonesia.”

And despite being with the same organization for most of his career, he has never been bored.

“The main advantage is that all the jobs have been very different; from film department to working with overseas students, to marketing British education, and in all these different countries.”

Which is why he joined the British Council in the first place.

“I want to see the world not just as a tourist. I’m a tourist myself, but it very different when you live in a country. I feel that I know Thailand, China, Malaysia, and Vietnam, and hopefully soon Indonesia, much better than any tourist does.”

After 20 years of living and working in East Asia, Davies finds it hard to choose the place he likes the most.

“I like East Asia. I like working overseas, because that’s where our real work is, but don’t ask me which country I like the most. It’s hard to say, I like all of them, but I’m very happy to return to Indonesia.

“I used to say Indonesia was my favorite country because it was the first place I experience living in Asia and it was so exciting and such a culture change, I love it. So I still have very fond memories, very positive feelings.”

Indonesia, he says, has changed a lot between 1984 and 2009. He says the first time he returned, in 1990, was a shock. “In 1984, I was living in Adityawarman near Blok M [in South Jakarta]. When I came back I went to look at the house I stayed in. I couldn’t recognize Blok M; I couldn’t find the road or the block where the house was.

“In 1984, the traffic wasn’t so bad, sometimes I traveled to the warungs [food stalls] by bajaj [motorized pedicab] or on becak [pedicab]. I could just go from the British Council building in Widjojo to Blok M in 10 minutes. Now, it’s impossible.”

Jakarta, however, is still a great place to live and to work, says Davies. “Now it takes much longer to get to work…but people still seem very good natured…people here are more friendly and very approachable.”

Davies says that 20 years of working in East Asia has made him “more Asian than British in some ways”.

“I like England. I love to go back once a year... It’s a wonderful exciting country, but I also like Asia.

My wife is Asian; my daughter is living her life in Asia and I like to eat rice everyday.

“So I’m more Asian in some ways than British now, but the best football team is still Everton,” he says, laughing.

Could your future lie in the palm of your hand?

Matheos Viktor Messakh , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 12/18/2008 11:19 AM | Potpourri

Parents and teachers sometimes have problems in noticing a child's talent. There are some cases where adults mistakenly show children the wrong direction due to their lack of sensitivity in spotting his or her abilities.

A woman shows marks on her palm before having her fingerprints scanned by a computer-connected camera. The mark is used to measure learning sensitivity, one of the variables in human learning abilities. (JP/Ricky Yudhistira)

However, a new method has evolved which may help solve the problem. The Dermatoglyphics Multiple Intelligence Assessment (DMI) will help a person to fully understand his strengths and weaknesses which in the end, can guide him toward the most suitable learning technique to improve his innate specialty.

The test combines computer scanning technology and knowledge based on the correlation between fingerprints and human intelligence.

Director of Comcare Interprise Singapore Eric Lim Choo Siang said the DMI technology used known dermatoglyphics statistics to map out a person's areas of potential.

The program's uniqueness is that it photographs one's 10 fingerprints and then feeds the data into the system, he said. The system will then automatically calculate and generate a report.

The report profiles the details of one's innate decision-making considerations, inborn intelligence potential, preferred learning styles, communication styles and work management styles.

"By knowing these potential abilities and preferences, we can tailor, guide and provide the best learning environment, suggestions and tools to nurture and develop one's strengths to the fullest and at the same time, improve on the areas that require strengthening," Lim said in his e-mail.

Lim, who bought the program from a Chinese-Taiwanese joint venture company in 2000, said dermatoglyphics research conducted over the past 200 years had not been intended for this program.

"The research was medically based to study neurologically challenged, learning-ability challenged children," he said.

However, this research and data were leveraged by business-minded individuals and developed into a tool for education and parenting.

Since it was first developed in the early 1990s, the technology has been used in more than eight countries including Australia, China and the United States.

It was introduced to Indonesia by DMI Primagama -- a subsidiary of Primagama learning center -- that bought the software copyright from Singapore's Comcare Interprise in March 2008.

Measuring human intelligence through fingerprint data is more accurate than any other method, Lim claimed.

"Fingerprints don't lie. They don't change when you are sad or happy, they are not affected by mood and environment," he said.

Other similar methods involve questionnaires and observations but while they were acceptable there is always a chance for errors, he said.

"A smart enough person interviewing to become a reporter will answer that he is very good at his linguistic ability even though he may fail his language.

"A person answering a test may be affected by moods. Thus, these tests reflect only that 'instant' assessment of the person at that moment for that test. A similar test conducted under different circumstances may reveal different results," he said.

Lim said the DMI system is believed to have more than an 85 percent accuracy.

"One person may be wrong, two persons may be wrong and three persons may still not be convincing ... but with more than three million people being tested, if this program is not accurate, the business would have collapsed long ago."

With a global shift in emphasis from teaching to learning at every level of education, a variety of active learning strategies have been advocated to optimize learning.

Understanding the way children learn, said Lim, was crucial to delivering the right educational method and its improvement.

"It is accepted that how best a person learns is influenced not only by social, psychological, emotional, environmental and physical factors but also by the individual's preferred learning style."

One of the key elements in getting children involved in learning lies in an understanding learning style preferences which can have an impact on the individual's performance and academic achievement.

"Information about learning styles can help parents and educators become more sensitive to the differences of the children."

It can also serve as a guide in thoughtfully and systematically designing learning experiences that match or mismatch students' styles, depending on the teacher's purpose.

It is not uncommon, however, to have a combination of two learning styles. There is usually a dominant learning preference followed by another less dominant style.

"Every child is unique and they use many different abilities they are endowed with or have developed to make sense of their environment and experiences," Lim said.

Dermatoglyphics is like a mind-map showing how the brain works. In the DMI, there is no child who is not great.

"There is only the child who does not know how to use his talent to maximum benefit."

However, Lim said many parents and teachers wrongly guide the child based on the most popular learning theories, knowledge and experience at the time, instead of each child's individual learning talent, preference and superiority or advantage.

The imposed or forced guidance, he said, means parents and educators spend a lot of time forcing the child to fit into some specific mold.

"Consequently, the lack of or incorrect knowledge about the child leads to many learning obstacles, such as misbehavior, psychological interference and learning deficits and might result in a frustrated child."

Behind the science of fingerprints

Thu, 12/18/2008 11:17 AM | Potpourri

Thousands of scientific studies on fingerprints have been done over the years, but they have received little media attention, probably due to the public's association with palmistry and fortune telling rather than as an object of scientific interest.
Harold Cummins (1893-1976) coined the term "dermatoglyphics" for the scientific study of fingerprints and is derived from an ancient Greek term which means "skin carving".
Cummins achieved world recognition as the "Father of Dermatoglyphics".
The findings of a lifetime of study and technique development, known as the Cummins Methodology, are accepted as important tools in tracing genetic and evolutionary relationships.
The methodology is commonly used to diagnose some types of mental retardation, schizophrenia, cleft palate and even heart disease.
A more recent trend is to look for the genetic basis of certain psychological disorders or characteristics by studying the dermatoglyphics of the hand, and even more recently, finger digit ratios.
In the early 1990s, a Singaporean couple and their Chinese partner saw the opportunity to use known dermatoglyphics data to statistically study and generate a pattern in the area of learning styles and intelligence potential.
A team of programmers was commissioned to study the known results of dermatoglyphics studies, and in collaboration with Chinese and Taiwan education entities, the first version of the software -- Multiple Intelligence System (MIS) -- was developed.
It was marketed in different versions to suit respective local markets -- mainly the Chinese and Taiwanese markets -- and was a big success.
In the late 1990s, the program was marketed in Singapore and the rest of Southeast Asia, but was canceled after about six months.
"The owners decided to call it quits as they expected quick profits similar to the Chinese and Taiwanese markets," director of Comcare Interprise Singapore Eric Lim Choo Siang told The Jakarta Post.
Lim, who has been involved in the project since its inception, bought the software and engaged programmers to study it, eventually revamping it to what it is today.
Since 2000, the program has been developed under the Singaporean Comcare Group of Companies, owned by Lim and his partners.
The group lists education consultancy as one of its core businesses and has interests in software development in education areas as well as in promoting a revamped Singaporean curriculum.
Dermatoglyphics’ multi-intelligence measurement is displayed via computer grahics at DMI Primagana’s office in Mayestik, South Jakarta. (JP/Ricky Yudhistira)
Under Comcare, the program was renamed Dermatoglyphics Multiple Intelligence (DMI) System and since 2004, has been marketed and represented by companies or individuals in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Maldives, Australia, the United States and the Philippines. Botswana, Burma and Vietnam are in the negotiations stage.
Indonesia's Primagama learning center, which has been involved in learning consultation for 26 years, saw the future of the technology so they bought the license from Comcare.
"Many people have wasted millions of rupiah only to find out that what they received from the university was not what they needed in real life," DMI Primagama's marketing manager W. Afifatiningsih told the Post recently.
When it comes to education, she said, parents usually imposed their own will or followed their children's liking.
In fact, "liking" is a social construction. Children might like certain activities or study certain subjects due to the influence of the media, parents, idols or role models, although they might not have a talent in that area.
"Too many parents force their own will on their child because they don't really understand the child's potential," Afifatiningsih said.
The DMI Primagama assessment package includes fingerprint sampling of all 10 fingers and a detailed report elaborating the following: Left or right brain dominance, multiple intelligence potential, psychological dominance, preferred learning styles and methods, learning communication character and work management style.
As soon as the test reveals the child's intrinsic qualities, a psychologist will help the parents and teachers to understand the details of the computer report.
"The assessment tells us what we need and how we learn. We can then transform our lives through a greater holistic educational approach and lifestyle."
Since its May launching, the DMI test has been available in Primagama's 667 branches throughout the country. Primagama has over 120 agents who are available to take fingerprint samples which are later assessed and analyzed at Primagama's branch office.
Beside adopting the test for its own kindergarten link, Primagama is also facing an increasing number of clients from pre-schools and kindergartens. Some prominent schools such as Jakarta Al Azhar kindergarten and Yogyakarta's Budi Mulia schools have become their clients because parents wanted to know their child's potential earlier.
By November, more than 4,100 individual and institutional clients had taken the test.
It has also been used by senior high schools and parents to determine the field of study for their children.
"We hope that after students take the test, our curriculum will be based around the student's talent."
Some companies, especially financial companies, have also used the test for their recruitment process while Yogyakarta, Central Java and East Java regional administrations will soon use the test for their staff replacement, Afifatiningsih said.
-- JP/Matheos Viktor Messakh

No more money for education, govt tells court

Wednesday, May 02, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Constitutional Court on Tuesday ruled for the third time in favor of the educational sector by insisting 20 percent of the total national budget should be allocated to the country's education fund -- yet the government continues to cry poor.

"(The court) decided the 2006 law on the 2007 state budget, regarding the maximum allocation of 11.8 percent of the state budget for the education sector contradicts the 1945 Constitution and therefore has no legal strength," Jimly Asshiddiqie, the head of the Constitutional Court, told the hearing Tuesday.

The court has twice ruled the government was obligated to allocate no less than 20 percent of the state budget for education.

But the government has so far failed to meet this requirement.

In 2006 the government allocated Rp 44.1 trillion for education -- or 9.1 percent of the total national budget.

This year the education fund was raised to Rp 54.06 trillion -- or 11.9 percent of the total state budget.

The court decided although the government had shown good will in raising the education fund between 2004 and 2007, it was still not able to meet the constitutional demand of 20 percent.

Mohamad Surya, chairman of the Indonesian Teachers' Union (PGRI), said he hoped the government would immediately act on the decision because the 20 percent should be fulfilled every year.

"We want the government to comply with the Constitution and not delay it anymore," Mohamad said.

"We, the teachers, are in the front lines of education.

"We know everything about the dire conditions of our education system.

"We know how many students are forced to leave their schools and how many school buildings collapse," he told reporters after the hearing.

Accompanied by the five teachers and parents who filed the lawsuit, Surya argued the current budget, which includes funding for in-service training, was inappropriate and not in line with the International Convention of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) recommendations on national educational funds.

The litigants also claimed the government had failed to implement compulsory basic education, which should be fully financed by the government, as stipulated in articles 17, 31 and 34 of the Constitution.

The government's representative Paskah Suzetta, head of the National Development Planning Board, said 20 percent could not be provided all at once.

He said it would mean the government would have to add about Rp 60 trillion (US$6.59 billion) to the education sector's budget.

But he said the government had committed to make some efforts to meet the demands of the Constitution.

"We will talk to all stakeholders in the education field to identify all problems -- and more importantly, we will try to improve educational infrastructure," said Paskah.

Mohamad said he would employ all necessary efforts to push the government to comply with the Constitution.

"Don't forget that as an organization, we have a legal standing now, which allows us to use our right for judicial review at any time."

The verdict came one day before National Education Day, which falls annually on May 2. (02)