Indonesia Expat - Issue 184

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J A K A R TA • J AVA • B A L I • L O M B O K • K A L I M A N TA N • S U M AT R A • S U L AW E S I • W E S T PA P U A

W W W . I N D O N E S I A E X P A T. B I Z

The Gap Between Public and Private Schools in Indonesia Cabinet Shuffles Delay Education Reform A Shortlist of Top International Schools

THE EDUCATION ISSUE

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Indonesia expat

issue 184 Dear Readers,

Chief Editorial Advisor

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FEATURE STORY The Gap between Public and Private Education in Indonesia

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LISTS A Shortlist of Indonesia’s Best International Schools

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BUSINESS PROFILE Jaspal Sidhu: The Man Who’s Redefining The Boundaries of World-Class Education

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POLICY How Cabinet Reshuffles Have Affected Indonesia’s Education Reform

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FOOD AND DRINK Artful Splendour and Refinement at the Raffles Sunday Brunch

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TRAVEL Tambora: Mysteries of a Lost Civilization

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NEWS FROM THE ARCHIPELAGO

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SCAMS IN THE CITY Papuans Tricked into Sending Kids to Fake School

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DEVELOPMENT Opinion: Eradicating Poverty by Improving Education

Enjoy the issue!

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SUSTAINABILITY Indonesia’s Solution to The Plastic Epidemic

cheers,

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WORTHY CAUSES The Fight against Bullying in Indonesia

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

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EVENTS

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CLASSIFIEDS

Leighton Cosseboom editor@indonesiaexpat.biz

Marketing Consultant Edo Frese edo@indonesiaexpat.biz

Editorial Assistant Caranissa Djatmiko letters@indonesiaexpat.biz

Sales & Advertising Dian Mardianingsih (Jakarta) Wahyu Atmaja (Bali) ads@indonesiaexpat.biz

Distribution & Admin Juni Setiawan admin@indonesiaexpat.biz

Finance Lini Verawaty finance@indonesiaexpat.biz

Contributors Nadya Joy Ador Amina Ghazi Alice Jay Heru Nainggolan Grace Susetyo Kenneth Yeung

Education – whether public or private – is seen around the world as a key ingredient for levelling the professional playing field as youngsters enter adulthood. Some parents may not easily be able to send their high school grad to a top-tier university, which is why many spend a decade planning or saving ahead of time. The idea is that if you can just get your kid into that prestigious academic institution, then she’ll have just as good a chance of getting a valuable internship as her wealthy counterpart. Indonesia has its own set of complications when it comes to public and private education and how well local institutions prepare young people to compete in an increasingly stiff globalized job market.

Foreigners tend to approach the local education scene with a critical eye in places like Bali and Jakarta. Government corruption scandals have been known to siphon vast amounts of money from public education, while some argue a lack of unified regulatory framework in the nation has made the quality of private institutions vary greatly. With this in mind, there are some truly great schools in Indonesia for children of expats. You just have to know where to look.

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Published by PT. Koleksi Klasik Indonesia Alamanda Tower 25th floor Jl. T.B Simatupang kav 23–24 Jakarta 12430 T: 021 2965 7821 F: 021 2965 7821 Office hours: 09.00–17.00 Monday–Friday Indonesia Expat is published bi-weekly by PT. Koleksi Klasik Indonesia. Opinions Expressed in this publication are those of the writers and the publisher does not accept any responsibility for any errors, ommisions, or complaints arising there from.

In this issue, our editors take a closer look at the quality gap between public and private educations in the archipelago. Heru Nainggolan examines how politics and cabinet reshuffles have impacted the nation’s education reforms, while Nadya Joy Gozon Ador looks at the English as a Foreign Language business in Indonesia. Kenneth Yeung shares insights about education scams and swindles in the nation, and Amina Ghazi in Bali shares informed opinions about how poverty can and should be eradicated via education. Indonesia Expat has shortlisted several international schools for incoming foreigners and expatriate parents to consider.

Leighton Cosseboom

No parts of this publication can be reproduced in whole or in part, in print or electronically without permission of the publisher. All trademarks, logos, brands and designs are copyright and fully reserved by PT. Koleksi Klasik Indonesia.

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THE GAP BETWEEN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION IN INDONESIA By and large, expats in Indonesia send their kids to private international schools. If your family is coming from a semi-developed market with a halfway decent education system – and you earn at least a mid-level salary – private education in the nation is likely the only option that makes sense.

To overcome the uneven teacher distribution, in recent years, the Ministry of Education and Culture pledged to work closely with local governments at the provincial, city and district levels to improve teacher allocation in needy areas.

“If the teacher allocation can be optimally managed, areas that have a surplus of teachers can be transferred to nearby districts,” said Muhammad Hamid, Director General of Primary Education at the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Additionally, when looking at the nation as a whole, public school teachers are under-trained for their roles. According to a report by USAID, only 60 percent of the 1.85 million elementary school teachers in Indonesia have bachelor degrees.

By Leighton Cosseboom Global Business Guide says private international schools are undoubtedly on the rise in Indonesia.

This applies to both local and foreign students, and according to the France-based investments portal, a superior education is in high demand in the nation’s vibrant economy, where tens of millions join the job market every year. Competition is particularly high for positions at multinational corporations, making a reputable degree a de facto prerequisite for fresh graduates to be taken seriously.

“If you are new to Indonesia and care about how your child’s early education will affect her ability to compete on a global level, it would be wise to take a closer look at the school you’re leaning towards.”

Schools in Indonesia are run either by the government or by private operators. Some private schools refer to themselves as ‘national plus schools,’ which means that their curriculums go beyond the requirements put forth by the Ministry of Education, such as the use of English as medium of instruction or by having an international-based curriculum instead of the national one.

Indonesia suffer dramatically. In other words, while public schools in DKI Jakarta may have decent quality, the same cannot be said for their rural Sulawesi counterparts.

According to data from the World Bank, there are more than 250,000 schools in the archipelago, but private schools do play an important role. While only 7 percent of primary schools are private, the figure increases to a staggering 56 percent at the junior-secondary level and 67 percent at the seniorsecondary level.

The Law on National Education (No.20/2003) and the Constitution Amendment III emphasize that all Indonesian citizens have the right to an education.

The government has an obligation to finance basic education without charging fees, and in effect, the government is mandated to allocate 20 percent of its expenditure to education.

The country also recently implemented the Indonesia Smart Card programme, which allows poor students to study in public schools for free until high school.

But in the country’s remote and rural areas, policy makers and industry stakeholders are hard-pressed to provide universal access to basic education. This makes the overall quality of public education in

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Since the 1970s, Indonesia has increased its primary and junior-secondary enrolment rates substantially.

In the past ten years, it has narrowed the gap in school completion rates between rich and poor students and between those from rural and urban areas. Since 2009, the government claims to have allocated a fifth of its annual budget to education as required by law.

However, it’s important to note that this is not taking into account instances of graft and corruption in the education space.

But with all of this in mind, according to data from The Economist, progress in public education has more variables and caveats than merely funding issues. Primary enrolment rates in affluent districts (think Bumi Serpong Damai) are close to 100 percent.

In some poorer districts (think Gorontalo Province), they remain below 60 percent. The number of teachers across the nation are also disproportionately distributed.

In terms of rural schools being understaffed, in recent years, former Minister of Education Anies Baswedan (current candidate in Jakarta’s gubernatorial election) told the business media, “[if a school is near a main road] I can guarantee it has more teachers than it needs. But if it’s two or three kilometres from that road, it won’t have enough.”

According to the 2015 Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) survey from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Indonesia’s 15-year-olds scored far below the median average for competency in science, with reading, mathematics and collaborative problem solving as minor areas of assessment.

For these reasons and more, a growing number of parents are happy to consider paying for private international education or ‘national plus’ schools to maximize their kids’ post-graduate opportunities in the country's increasingly globalized economy.

However, it’s important for parents to do their homework. A lack of legal framework for what private and international schools are allowed to set as benchmarks can sometimes lead to a disparity in education quality. With the government also throwing its hat into the ring in certain cases, confusion may arise.

In 2014, the Education Ministry issued a regulation that said Indonesian-owned international schools must remove the international from their name, while Indonesian students at these schools will be required to study several additional subjects and participate in the same national examinations that students of state schools must undergo. The mandate was unclear, and only a handful of schools were affected, including Jakarta International School, which has since rebranded to Jakarta Intercultural School. Regulations like this and others have caused some confusion over the years about which schools are indeed private.

If you are new to Indonesia and care about how your child’s early education will affect her ability to compete on a global level, it would be wise to take a closer look at the school you’re leaning towards.

Regardless of what the government is saying in any given year, the important part is to understand the school’s track record. Make sure it has the proper international accreditations, and if you can, try to get verified statistics on which universities the school’s students end up at after graduation. These actions, along with cultivating relationships with teachers and staff, should help you make an informed decision.

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A Shortlist of Indonesia’s Best International Schools

By Nadya Joy Ador WHEN IT COMES TO EDUCATION, most parents want to provide their children with the kind they truly deserve.

Naturally, they want their kids to be happy and safe, have great friends and get the best learning experiences possible. Most importantly, they want their children to succeed in life once they graduate.

There are many things parents need to consider when choosing the right international school in Indonesia. It goes without saying that school plays an important role in shaping a child’s future, so parents may have a specific set of expectations when deciding which one is most suitable for their kids. Some parents may want their children to master a new language, channel their passions in extracurricular activities like sports and creative arts, or perhaps discover a hidden talent.

For expat families, the pressure is especially on when making sure kids receive the best service and facilities possible, while also hoping the school can be a home for students who hail from different parts of the world.

To help expat parents find the right institution in Indonesia, we have rounded up a brief list of the country’s best international schools.

ACG SCHOOL JAKARTA Curriculum: International Baccalaureate Organization for Primary Years Programme from K to Y6; Cambridge Curriculum for Y7 to Y12 Recognized as one of Indonesia’s top international schools, ACG School Jakarta (which is part of the Academic Colleges Group) takes pride in its qualified expat teachers, purpose-built campus and international education standards that both encourage and challenge students to meet their potential. It provides an inquiry-based learning environment that is as relevant as possible to the ‘real world’ outside the walls of the school.

Guided tours are provided for new families and prospective students may avail themselves of the ‘student for a day’ trial to know first-hand the ACG School Jakarta experience.

school claims to represent the child’s total development in order to maximize their potential.

The ACS education model is based on the idea that shaping a child’s character needs more than just investing in her mind, body and spirit but also enriching the soul. The curriculum is designed to help develop compassion, consideration, respect and openness.

ACS provides comprehensive programmes for music, sports, drama and arts, among others.

AUSTRALIAN INDEPENDENT SCHOOL Curriculum: Australian Curriculum for Primary (Preschool to Year 10) and IB Curriculum for Years 11-12 The curriculum at the Australian Independent School (AIS) aims to consistently provide opportunities to help students work on each subject according to their appropriate level.

The school says its interactive teaching approach inspires student participation to boost confidence, proficiency in communication, effective analysis and problem-solving skills.

The AIS syllabus is structured to enable students to invest in and build upon their knowledge and experiences.

Complemented by qualified teachers with international experience, the school’s friendly and vibrant community and values-based education provide every student a solid foundation that promotes personal growth and ensures academic success, says AIS.

BALI ISLAND SCHOOL Curriculum: International Baccalaureate Programme from Preschool to Grade 12 Formerly Bali International School, Bali Island School (BIS) encourages students to be confident, globally minded, diligent, interactive, respectful and creative. As the oldest school of its kind in Bali, BIS takes pride in its dedicated, experienced and IB-trained international teaching staff that helps engage students.

Curriculum: Cambridge Primary Checkpoint for Grades 1-6, IGCSE for Grades 7-10, IBDP/CP for Grades 11-12

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BIS is known for its diverse, free-ofcharge extracurricular programmes, on-campus sports facilities, proactive parents association and full accreditation from the Council of International Schools, the International Baccalaureate and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

GLOBAL JAYA SCHOOL Curriculum: International Baccalaureate Delivering three IB programmes (Primary Years, Middle Years and Diploma), Global Jaya School (GJS) provides an international dimension to its curriculum that seeks to ensure students take pride in and get a good understanding of local cultures and heritage.

Using dual language (English and Bahasa Indonesia) instruction for Years 7 to 10, GJS aims to offer a balanced programme that encourages excellent academic results while at the same time supporting students as they explore sports, leadership and performing arts.

ICHTHUS SCHOOL Curriculum: Cambridge IGCSE for Grades 9-10 and Edexcel International A Levels for Grades 11-12 The Ichthus curriculum is regarded by many as one of the top-notch international schools in the archipelago.

ACS JAKARTA

Committed to high standards, ACS Jakarta’s education programme aims to deliver academic excellence. The

Australian Independent School

Bali Island School

The school is renowned for its solid academics and values-based education – with an equal emphasis on character building and the Christian faith. The comprehensive and integrated Ichthus syllabus embraces collaborative and cooperative learning, creativity, fitness and sports, visual and performing arts and community services.

JAKARTA INTERCULTURAL SCHOOL Curriculum: International Baccalaureate Programme and Advanced Placement Courses The Jakarta Intercultural School (JIS) offers a global learning environment that prepares students for the world’s premier universities and equips them for real-life challenges.

JIS‘s diverse community is made up of a student body from more than 60 nationalities and a teaching staff from 30 countries, empowering a healthy collaboration in the continuous pursuit of learning that is streamlined with the school’s values.

Outside the classroom walls, JIS outlines co-curricular programmes that offer creative arts, student clubs and athletics, and service learning is embodied in the curriculum.

LYCÉE FRANÇAIS DE JAKARTA Curriculum: French, International Baccalaureate with Optional European English Accredited by the Agency for French Education Abroad, the Lycée Français de Jakarta (LFJ) offers a professional, friendly and welcoming learning environment that guarantees expansive opportunities to become great citizens in the real world.

Lycée Français de Jakarta

Nadya Joy Ador is a Philippines-based journalist and editor for Content Collision. She routinely covers business, news, and human interest topics. For more information, please visit www.ContentCollision.co

“For expat families, the pressure is especially on when making sure kids receive the best service and facilities possible, while also hoping the school can be a home for students who hail from different parts of the world.”

ACG School Jakarta

With qualified and experienced teachers, coupled with the French national curriculum, LFJ offers various academic programmes that encourage knowledge enhancement, skills development and creativity.

New families are provided a tour of the campus, while new students may be enrolled any time during the school year, provided their grade level has an available slot and admission requirements are complied with.

NETHERLANDS INTER-COMMUNITY SCHOOL

NEW ZEALAND INDEPENDENT SCHOOL

Curriculum: Reggio Emilia Philosophy, International Primary Curriculum and Cambridge International Curriculum Supporting over 25 nationalities and nearly 15 mother tongue languages, the Netherlands Inter-Community School (NIS) provides a vibrant and interesting learning platform for the early years and primary school.

NIS’s holistic approach, based on the Reggio Emilia academic philosophy, places the child at the heart of the learning system that embraces individuality. NIS takes pride in its excellent language support programme as evident by its dual language (Dutch and English) platform.

Singapore School Bona Vista

Curriculum: Cambridge International Examinations As its name suggests, the New Zealand Independent School (NZIS) embraces a ‘family feel’ and a New Zealandstyle syllabus that centres on the holistic development of the student.

Its early years’ curriculum emphasizes learning through self-directed play while primary years are based on developing numeracy and literacy skills, independence, creativity, problem solving and inquiry.

NZIS fosters a cooperative learning environment largely based on its mission to “nurture creative minds”, which involves preparing students to become global citizens who deliver excellence in any industry they choose to be part of.

SINGAPORE SCHOOL BONA VISTA Curriculum: Cambridge Checkpoint, International General Certificate of Secondary Education and International Baccalaureate Programme With more than two decades of providing a worldwide standard of education, Singapore School Bona Vista (SIS) supports a multi-cultural learning environment for preschool to year 12 students.

Global Jaya School

Recognized as one of the excellent schools for Cambridge International Examinations, SIS promotes a curriculum that encompasses an intercultural, international and global mind set. Its course content is incorporated into the school’s teaching and learning approach that caters to a diverse student population.

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THE MAN WHO’S REDEFINING THE BOUNDARIES OF WORLD-CLASS EDUCATION The ancient African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child” has long been popularly quoted when evaluating the partnerships required for ensuring the proper and holistic development of a child – and one man thinks this ‘village’ has never been more necessary than it is today.

Fast forward nearly three decades, SIS BV now ranks as one of the best schools in the region. Sidhu attributes this rapid progress to three key elements:

By Nadya Joy Ador Twenty-eight years ago, a Singaporean engineer came to Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, with the hope of trying his luck in a new field. Never did he imagine he would be as passionate as he is right now in the big and challenging world of education – until he noticed the country’s alarming shortage of goodquality education.

Jaspal Sidhu, founder and chief executive officer of the SIS Group of Schools took to heart the responsibility of providing worldclass-quality education not only for the elite, the expats and high-income families in the country, but for practically everyone who wants it.

Sidhu was initially disappointed that while there was a good number of private schools that provided high-quality education in Indonesia, the average school fees across these top institutions was slated at more than US$20,000 a year.

It didn’t take the Singaporean socioentrepreneur too long to realize what he needed to do: he was going to provide sustainable, good-quality education and have the social responsibility to make it accessible to as many income levels as possible – a philosophy he made sure was ingrained in all the schools within the group, including Singapore Intercultural School Bona Vista (SIS BV).

First, and most importantly, is the school’s use of the Singapore Curriculum, which has long been recognized as one of the best educational systems worldwide. Sidhu claims this is evident from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) testing by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, as well as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) test. PISA and TIMSS are recognized worldwide as nuanced metrics for academic success. Students who generally achieve high PISA and TIMSS test results are often those from Singapore schools.

Second, SIS education is largely focused on the PACE philosophy, which stands for perseverance, analytical thinking, collaboration and communication and entrepreneurship. Sidhu claims that every teacher, staff member and employee in the school has to ensure that PACE is injected into every aspect of the system.

Third, SIS understands that the solution to having top-notch education is to have excellent and passionate teachers who hone their skills and strengths in the profession through constant exposure. The school has established firm partnerships with both public and private academic institutions to provide speedy and high-quality training for their teachers.

As SIS claims to provide world-class education centred on its core philosophy and powered by funding from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), the CEO now must look to uphold his original vision of making SIS accessible to families of all income levels.

After building its first SIS campus in South Jakarta that remarkably halved the average school rates for long established

international schools in the archipelago to US$10,000, Sidhu went on to build more schools that yet again halved the costs to US$6,000 this time in other parts of Jakarta, Medan and Semarang. In Palembang, South Sumatra, a SIS campus charges a meager $1,800 in school fees for the entire school year. And all these schools are producing top quality students.

SIS claims to be the only international school in the Southeast Asian region that provides two intakes, one for those who want to pursue higher education in the Southern Hemisphere ( January to December) and one for those wishing to pursue higher studies in the Northern Hemisphere (August to July).

“The bigger opportunities lie outside Jakarta,” the CEO explained. “Jakarta has long been saturated with schools, [most of which] are way beyond the financial capacity of those from the regions.” Sidhu added that bringing good-quality education outside the city will considerably improve access to further education and ensure equal opportunities for residents in those regions, both foreigners and locals alike.

This year, the IFC (World Bank Group) approved another round of substantial financing facility expansion to the SIS group, a leverage point that Sidhu believes gives his brainchild a bullish advantage in the market. “[IFC] does not have second thoughts about partnering with us because it is confident with our mission; the good governance to ‘scale’ that we have put in place has never been replicated anywhere else.”

The SIS BV CEO stressed the system’s strong belief in the power of the human capital and the need to diligently provide professional development across their organisation. Sidhu personally believes that providing constructive channels for feedback is an efficient method to ensure professional growth.

Bank Indonesia Warns against Credit Card Businesses Bank Indonesia has warned other banks to limit their credit card promotions, which remain a prime source of revenue for several financial institutions.

Banks normally rely on credit card businesses to gain interest from credit card users, but the national bank claims that this could also damage its system if not properly managed.

The head of Bank Indonesia’s department of payment systems policy recently said that banks across the archipelago might need to rethink their strategies when it comes to credit cards.

“There’s one that has a Rolls Royce as a prize, discounts of up to 70 percent for purchasing certain

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In SIS, parents are able to criticize teachers, while teachers are able to survey the administration or leaders. Students can also provide feedback on their teachers and their methodologies.

“Hiring the right teachers for the school is a big challenge . . . [so] we work closely with colleges and universities that provide excellent foundation on ‘teacher training,’ which helps us identify potential and passionate individuals whom we offer internships for . . . [and] prepare them for the real SIS work,” the SIS chief executive stated.

In line with its philosophy that emphasizes promoting accessibility to high-standard education, the school recently launched a new initiative called ‘SIS for Indonesia’ or SISI. The programme aims to have SIS Schools partner with progressive companies across the country and work on mutual agreements that will enable middle-ranking employees send their children to SIS. A son of a humble doorman, the young Sidhu did not understand why his father never appreciated him working in the construction and mining sector. “You will not be able to change the world building bridges, roads and skyscrapers. Help children go to school so there will be less and less of these kids who will have doorman fathers who die poor,” his father advised him.

The idea stuck to the now-CEO of one of the country’s biggest chain of schools who has made it a personal vow to help everyone – regardless of his nationality, gender, economic status and race – get the rightful quality education he so deserves.

Sidhu feels blessed to have a great support system, solid community partners, great working relationship with regulatory bodies and a working philosophy that has pushed him to be more passionate about his promise.

He takes pride in helping build that ‘village’ that provides the right tools that help kids grow healthy and safe and ready for life beyond their childhood. And with the myriad of opportunities and challenges that today’s children are faced with, the SIS village welcomes everyone and is determined to build a better future for the younger generation.

Curriculum: Singapore Curriculum for its preschool to primary years, the International General Certificate of Secondary Education Curriculum for its Secondary levels, and the International Baccalaureate Programme for High School levels.

products, they went all-out […] Other countries are not like us, because the cost is assured by the banks,” said director Eni V. Panggabean as reported by .

Panggabean disclosed that there are as many as 17.4 million credit card users in Indonesia. The number refers to 9 percent of the total bank account owners that contribute to 190 million bank accounts. Further, she reminded the public about the potential problems that can arise from credit card business. Panggabean encourages the public not to always count on using credit cards and advises to only have few of them in your wallet.

“Don’t [own] too many credit cards, since you can get carried away if you own too many, this is the dangerous part.”

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Heru Nainggolan is a Jakarta-based freelance writer and journalist that’s been covering a variety of issues since 2011.

How Cabinet Reshuffles Have Affected Indonesia’s Education Reform In less than three years, Indonesia has seen big changes in its education system. After three primary education ministers took office (each with different agendas), along with the adoption of two national curriculums and several new policies, the national education system has caused confusion nationwide

Critics say public schools in Indonesia are not yet ready to implement this plan and that it is only appropriate for schools in urban areas.

By Heru Nainggolan MOHAMMAD NUH led the Education Ministry until the end of former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s administration in October of 2014. One of his legacies was the 2013 national curriculum, which drew criticism from students, parents and teachers who complained about the policy for adding more school hours with fewer academic subjects. The curriculum was further questioned when Nuh made the decision to focus more on civics and religious subjects at the expense of dropping science. Instead of being a separate academic subject in its own right, science was folded into civics and religion.

Following the criticism, Mohammad’s successor Anies Baswedan decided to dismiss the curriculum at the end of 2014. He ordered schools in the country to revert back to the 2006 curriculum, which put more emphasis on knowledge instead of character.

However, after nixing the 2013 curriculum in his early days of leadership, Baswedan decided in early 2016 to once again adopt the contentious curriculum, after seeing what he thought were improvements in the archipelago’s teaching methods.

Many once again saw this as a misstep. That said, Baswedan did apply several policies designed to push the country’s education system in a better direction.

In 2015, for example, he issued a ministerial regulation that obliged students nationwide to spend at least 15 minutes participating in a free reading activity before lessons started. According to Baswedan, this activity would bring benefits to the students’ learning process. However, it was not long after the free reading programme was applied that teachers began having difficulties. Schools began applying their own targets in the reading materials and ultimately the programme was dismissed.

Another one of Baswedan’s notable policies was claiming that national exams should no longer be the only determining factor in a student’s graduation.

This one instantly won praise. Previously, national exam scores contributed the most to a student’s right to graduate, leaving actual school exams and report cards secondary in the evaluation process. Learning the absolute significance of succeeding in national exams, many students across the archipelago became concerned. In some cases, they ended up cheating.

There were others who became depressed – the media even reported on a suicide.

Image by amrufm

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The minister said that in the traditional hours, students could excel in subjects like math, science and other areas. Then, in the additional hours, students should do extracurricular commitments, such as sports and religious activities. He went on to state that parents could also benefit from full-day schooling.

Knowing that their children are in a safe and positive environment would bring peace of minds for parents, particularly those who work full time.

Critics have long argued that national exams encourage note learning and memorization aimed at achieving a high score, rather than conceptual understanding or overall comprehension. Yet while the national exam no longer determines whether an Indonesian student can graduate, it is still a metric of education quality in the country.

Baswedan’s successor Muhadhir Muhadjir was appointed by President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo in mid2016. Muhadjir was known as the former director of the University of Muhammadiyah Malang and his turn came a few months after Baswedan made the decision of readopting the 2013 curriculum. As the new minister, Muhadjir decided to take Baswedan’s ideas one step further. In a surprise move, he decided at the end of 2016 to suspend national exams completely at all education levels starting in 2017.

The move to put a moratorium on the controversial exams was aimed at implementing what was stipulated in the president’s nine-point agenda, called Nawacita, that the exams would not be used as a gauge for “measuring the national education system.”

Muhadjir said Jokowi had agreed to the suspension, which would come into force after the president issued further instruction on the matter. However, in December of 2016, Jokowi decided that the national exam would continue, following backlash over the announcement by Muhadjir, with critics questioning the alternatives for the national exam.

Cabinet secretary Pramono Anung said that the president wanted the national exam to be a real “benchmark” for students in the future. “If the exam is scrapped, disparities will arise between schools,” he said, adding that the country was on the right educational track after seeing promising indications in a survey by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Apart from the moratorium on national exams, Muhadjir also issued other controversial policies such as the full-day school programme, which declared students would stay in school for longer hours, five days per week. Muhadjir argued that by staying in school longer, students would be better educated and parents would experience less stress.

Image by Nurudin Jauhari

Despite mounting backlash and calls for reconsideration, the Education and Culture Ministry decided to go ahead with the full-day school programme.

The constant switching of curriculums, as well as the cancellation of education policies, has disrupted progress in the country’s education sector, said Indonesia’s House of Representatives Commission X overseeing education.

“In 2017, we hope there’s no more political problems that disrupt education performance, such as cabinet reshuffles. Because the switching of leadership leads to changes in policies on the ground level,” the commission’s deputy speaker Fikri Faqih said.

He added that there should be concrete and clear education policies in place throughout Indonesia, all of which should be based on facts and statistics, and not based on impulsive decisions or anecdotes. The commission believes the ministry should aim to avoid another case like the moratorium on national exams.

“The education sector is not a guinea pig. All [policies] should be formulated wisely based on data,” said Fikri.

The deputy speaker hopes that future education policies are made after long deliberations with Indonesia’s parliament. The ministry’s policy synchronization department head, Mochammad Abduh, said that the government actually always had a roadmap on educational policy, a plan that is updated every five years.

“We always carry out the roadmap whenever there’s no new programme,” Abduh told Indonesia Expat.

However, he admitted that the roadmap was open for revision whenever there were new policies.

“When our minister gets an order from the president, whether we like it or not, the roadmap has to be revised. So when there are new ideas, there will be adaptation,” explained Abduh.

As for the canned moratorium on the national exams, Abduh said the policy needs to be fleshed out before it is implemented. “There still needs to be an incubation process [for the moratorium],” he said.

Image by amrufm

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May Tien is an award-winning home cook and champion of dispersive cuisines.

Artful Splendour and Refinement at the Raffles Sunday Brunch Raffles Jakarta Hotel is the place to start the perfect Sunday with a delectable and exquisite brunch. Available from 12pm to 3:30pm at Arts Café by Raffles, the virtual tableau of art and cuisine is sure to whet your appetite with its artful palette of sights, sounds, textures and aromas from open kitchens that create a delightful sensory experience.

Those are just some of the buffet items I took a liking to. However, what really sets this brunch apart from the competition is the special four or five courses they offer in addition to the buffet. On this particular day, there were five courses: Singapore Chilli Crab Bun (their signature dish), Lobster Bisque, Foie Gras, Roasted Quail and Grilled Tenderloin. Each dish was plated artfully. Each dish was absolutely exquisite.

You can pick and choose from the courses which ones you want and whether you want more. The portions of foie gras and quail are generous, but you might want to just fill up on the gorgeous chilli crab buns with their luscious crab meat filling and spicy-savourytangy sauce. Whatever you fancy seems to be the raison d’etre here.

The pastries and desserts section also includes a chocolate fountain and an ice cream station.

However, we were presented with a tableside dessert: individually crafted glasses of the chef’s modern take on the Eton Mess. This is a superb Eton Mess if I’ve ever had one. The combination of the creamy base, meringue, fresh seasonal berries, chocolate noodles and daikon sprouts (believe me, they work!) is not to be passed up. Save room for one or more of these divine desserts.

Although I sampled the free-flow champagne (House Lanson, a very nice blend of pinot and chardonnay grapes that provides a powerful accompaniment to the myriad of flavours and tastes afforded at brunch), others in my party tasted their signature cocktail, the Jakarta Sling. It’s a bright and refreshing cocktail that wakes up the tastebuds with hints of star anise, passion fruit and sour apple.

Pan Seared Foie Gras Served with Brioche Bread

Selections of Pass Around Food from Show Kitchen

By May Tien The city of Jakarta may be fondly remembered by expats as one of the best places on Earth to enjoy Sunday brunch, with the myriad of restaurants and hotels that it offers certainly outnumbering the decent outdoor parks and recreational spaces that most people usually enjoy during a weekend. The dilemma though is which one brunch spot to choose. Most of the discerning diners I know – myself included – create a list of important basic elements for consideration. And as we are creatures of habit, we tend to stick to that one spot.

What’s on my list, you ask? First and most importantly, brunch has to offer quality: the freshest premium ingredients (think lobster, crab, oysters, fish for sushi and sashimi), masterful prime meats and roasts, artfully crafted and intricate pastries and desserts. Second, brunch needs to be boozy. It’s just not the same without the free-flowing drinks. And as we all know Sunday mornings are car free on the one major artery cutting through the middle of the city, brunch must be conveniently timed and situated in a part of the city where all of your friends and family can easily travel to and from. We spend way too much time midweek sitting in cars. Who wants to do it on their day off?

I’ve had my fair share of Sunday brunches around town, and there have been only one or two that were satisfactory. Not one place has stepped out as exceptional in all three areas. And certainly none had gone over and beyond the requisites to truly impress me with the value, service, style and distinctive qualities that make it extraordinary until I experienced the Sunday brunch at Arts Café at the Raffles Jakarta Hotel.

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Without a doubt, it was an exceptional experience.

From the moment we walked into the dining room, my family and I were enveloped in personalized luxury and class usually reserved for fine à-la-carte dining.

The service is unmatched. Each server I encountered spoke brilliant English and guests are provided butlertype service as soon as you sit down at the table.

Plates were cleared as soon as I rose for another pass, drinks were politely and consistently refilled. My daughter was given special attention with crayons and colouring sheets to draw her attention when it wasn’t completely focused on dining. Our head server even asked the kitchen to make a special mie goreng for her when she opined about noodles.

The brunch at Arts Café is not the biggest or most elaborate in their selection, but what they have to offer is much, much better. Their lobsters are sizable, fresh and plentiful. They had no less than three dining options for it from the buffet. My favourite was the Lobster Thermidor made fresh for each diner at the cooking theatre where they dished up, blow-torched and browned the lovely, cheesy, cream sauce in which the large chunks of tail meat were blanketed.

The fresh and briny oysters, whether raw with house mignonette or roasted, jumped aplenty down my gullet. On this specific occasion, the chefs were also slicing beautiful Beef Wellingtons at the cooking theatre, perfect medium-rare for me, but with options for others who like their meat a little more done.

Other favourites from the buffet were the Seafood Bouillabaisse, a southern French seafood stew. I thoroughly enjoyed the lamb kofte kebabs, which are little bites of juicy, spiced, minced lamb topped with a hummus-like sauce.

The most fascinating part of this whole experience was how personalized it felt for an all-you-can-eat brunch. From the special courses to the tableside cocktails and desserts to the specially prepared foods upon request, Arts Café met every request with aplomb and ease. If you have special dietary needs such as gluten intolerance or you’re a tried and true vegan or you have a nut allergy, the Arts Café can accommodate all. You just need to give them some advance warning. The team really cares about your experience and is finely attuned to guests and their desires.

On top of the great food, service, drinks and extraordinary level of care we received, we were also pleasantly surprised by the value of the brunch. I don’t think there’s another brunch in this city that provides this much value for money. It also lasts until the late afternoon, which allows for folks to sleep in a little later and skip the car-free day mess of travelling to Central Jakarta.

For families, they offer a play room for nannies and young children located on another floor of the hotel, and the Arts Café is strategically located next to a walkway that leads into the Lotte Shopping Avenue mall where older children can play video games at the arcade or have fun at the miniature trampoline park under the watchful eyes of babysitters whilst parents eat and drink in peace.

Sunday Brunch at Arts Café Raffles Jakarta Hotel Ciputra World 1, Jl. Prof. Dr. Satrio Kav. 3-5, RT.18/RW.4 Karet Kuningan, Jakarta 12940 Reservations: 021 2988 0888 or jakarta@raffles.com Sunday Brunch 12p.m.-3:30p.m.

Food (complimentary juice and soft drinks): Rp. 688,000++ Champagne Free Flow: Rp. 1,200,000++ House Wine and Beer Free Flow: Rp. 200,000++

DEVELOPING THE CHILD, EDUCATING THE PARENTS TUTOR TIME OFFERS THE ALL-NEW MINIME BABY AND PARENT CLASS An expert childhood education name with more than 21 years of experience, Tutor Time has launched its all-new MiniMe initiative, a unique programme for new parents and children aged 6 to 18 months. The programme involves having parents in the classroom and is carefully designed to provide a special bonding experience with parents while also helping the child’s developmental processes.

MiniMe employs a thematic and integrated curriculum and engagement strategies to facilitate the children’s learning and success.

Each MiniMe session focuses on different areas of early childhood development with hands-on involvement from the parents. Parents might learn how to exercise the baby in one session, and in the next session, they can get their hands dirty painting and splashing water with their children. During the session, the teacher explains the benefit of each activity and how to do it regularly at home. The goal of MiniMe is to develop the child, educate the parents and most importantly, strengthen the parent-child relationship.

“Parenting may be the hardest, yet the most important work a person can do. Nevertheless, parenting know-how does not come automatically,” says Melania Hamdan, Foundation Head of Tutor Time Indonesia. “Better practical tips and information are always helpful for new parents to create a meaningful experience with their children. We believe that providing holistic experiences, recommendations and encouragement is an important element in bridging parentchild communication.”

MiniMe encompasses six integrated learning areas based on children’s developmental milestones and interest within a particular time frame. The programme is also equipped with useful and practical tips that parents can implement at home accordingly.

The Six Integrated Learning Areas in MiniMe: KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD Young children will learn about things that happen in their world through role plays, which involve costumes and characters.

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT Children can learn about themselves and their relationship with people around them by sharing their experiences, exploring and getting involved in team work.

COMMUNICATION AND EARLY LITERACY Children will be accustomed to reading books and stories through interactive story telling and games.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT Children practice their motor skills through a variety of games and integrated activities, exercising their fine and gross motor skills.

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT Children work together with their parents by working on themed artwork.

MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT Early mathematical concepts will be introduced through activities that incorporate classifying, sorting, shape introduction and ordering.

MiniMe is available every Saturday at Tutor Time Pondok Indah, Kelapa Gading, Pluit, Intercon and Surabaya. At Tutor Time Bandung, MiniMe is available every weekday. Enrolment is open all year long, and there are no prerequisites.

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Grace Susetyo is a Jakarta-based freelance journalist. Having recently completed a Master of Development Studies, Grace’s research focused on indigenous identity and social capital in West Papua.

TAMBORA

Mysteries of a Lost Civilization

In addition to changing the global climate through “The Year Without Summer” and losing nearly half of its original altitude, Mount Tambora’s 1815 super eruption also annihilated the three Central Sumbawa kingdoms of Tambora, Pékat and Sanggar.

In an ascent to Mount Tambora, Grace Susetyo attempts to piece together the puzzle of Central Sumbawa’s lost civilization.

Text and Images by Grace Susetyo of such tales,” said Ardiansyah. “Even if it’s an oral culture, we can and should objectively identify geographical and personal references packaged in the tales, the historical context in which they are told, and what political interests may have been vested in telling these tales.”

If 1815 is relatively recent in historical terms – and happened centuries after Sumbawa had become Islamized, commenced international trade with China and Europe and fought wars against the Dutch East India Company – I find it mind-boggling that there are very few reliable written records on the nowextinct civilization of Tambora.

In Bima language – the mother tongue of Tambora inhabitants today – ta mbora literally means ‘an invitation to disappear.’

Prior to 1815, Central Sumbawa spoke a now-extinct language, which according to Raffles’ list of words is now understood to belong to the westernmost group of Papuan languages – in contrast to Bima and Sumbawa languages that are Austronesian. This suggests that Tambora might have been an exonym labelled out of contempt, rather than a name that a people used to identify with. But if this were true, I have yet to find out what Tambora’s original name might have been.

An Arab script written by Makassar historian Abdul Wahab – discovered in the 1820s by retired Dutch soldier PP Roorda van Eysinga – tells the story of Said Idrus, an Arab sheikh from Bengkulu who went to perform midday prayers in Tambora. In the mosque, he found a dog – an abomination in Islam – which he expelled and commanded the guard to beat up. When the guard told Said Idrus that the dog belonged to the raja, the sheikh replied that the masjid is the house of Allah and called the dog’s owner a kafir (infidel).

Enraged, the raja slaughtered his dog and served it for dinner to the sheikh, disguising it as mutton. The raja’s army arrested the sheikh and murdered him on the top of Mount Tambora – then a harsh, icy and deadly volcano standing 4,300 metres high. As the army descended after the execution, the volcano thundered with monstrous pyroclastic flows.

The super eruption happened on April 5, 1815. Van Eysinga described Tambora as going ablaze in nearly two weeks of fire on land and sea, consuming more than 10,000 people. A cyclopean cloud of sulphur dioxide enveloped countries over oceans, preventing solar radiation from entering the atmosphere and lowering global temperature to the point of making the northeast USA snow up to 15 centimetres high in June of 1816.

Two years of raining volcanic ashes rendered Sumbawa’s land barren for three years, and the climate change destroyed agricultural cycles around the world, causing famine and disease. Tambora’s height got reduced to 2,851 metres above sea level. A tsunami drowned seven small coastal countries and floated merchant ships away to the interiors of the islands.

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Teluk Saleh from Tambora Summit

I responded to Tambora’s ‘invitation’ and ‘disappeared’ for a week there.

Upon arrival, I learned that Tambora was somewhat off the telecommunication network’s grid, so I scared my parents by failing to call them.

Flores Sea Tambora

Sumbawa

Indian Ocean

Country: Indonesia Province: Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB) Land area: 71,644 hectares (Taman Nasional Gunung Tambora) Largest city: Dompu (Dompu Regency), Sumbawa Island Population: 6,575 (2010 estimate of Tambora district) How to get there Daily flights into Sumbawa Besar from Lombok and Bali. Car rental from Sumbawa Besar to Pancasila (6-7 hour drive).

Alternatively, take a ship from Labuhan Badas (Sumbawa Besar) to Calabai, and catch a public bus from Calabai to Pancasila.

What to bring Camera, hat, sunscreen, insect repellent, hiking shoes, backpack. Flashlight, extra batteries, power bank – electricity supply is unstable. A no-frills cellphone (non-smartphone) may be able to catch telecommunication networks sometimes.

If hiking: 3 litres of bottled water per person and groceries for meals, 2 sets of layered winter clothes, raincoat, trash bags. Tents, sleeping bags, cooking equipment and carrier backpack available for rent. Long-sleeved clothes and salt for repelling leeches.Cash for transactions – nearest ATMs are located in Kadindi, about 30 minutes drive from Pancasila.

Sumbawa Besar-based cultural activist Syamsu Ardiansyah is a passionate researcher of Tambora’s history and folklore and the super eruption’s impacts on Nusantara spirituality today. “I believe this legend [of the curse of Said Idrus] is an attempt to twist facts out of political interests to compete for legitimacy as Islamic aristocrats,” said Ardiansyah.

He added that a common example of this political interest is demonstrated in the ubiquity of tales about the union between earthly men and celestial nymphs. These stories are localized across cultures to establish a perceived divinity in foreign conquerors looking to subject local peasants under aristocratic rule.

Situs Tambora

He added that Tambora converted to Islam centuries before Bima did, and before the super eruption, it was known as a more thriving civilization compared to Bima. However, Tambora was frequently at war with neighbouring Sumbawa (the Sumbawa Besar-based sultanate spanning the western half of Sumbawa island) and Bima. Hence, the surviving neighbours’ vested interests in inventing narratives of contempt to taint memories of the annihilated civilization.

As a child, Ardiansyah recalls his grandmother telling him bedtime stories of the war between Jaran Pusang and Tambora. Jaran Pusang – a stallion that collapses as his leg gets shot by arrows – is a personification of the tallest mountain belonging to the Sultanate of Sumbawa.

Tambora in this tale is represented by an unknown mythical being. In the war, Tambora’s head was struck by Jaran Pusang’s weaponry, which leaves a mark in the form of the seven-kilometre caldera near Mount Tambora’s summit today.

Currently, it is the largest active volcanic caldera in the world.

“When a culture tells tales of war and catastrophes, there is usually some rational historical truth that inspired the creation

The off-road motorbike ride across the jungle to Situs Tambora, which is the archaeological site where entire pre-1815 villages were excavated under nowvegetated pyroclastic material, turned out to be more interesting than the visit to the site itself. Artefacts were backfilled into the ground as taking them out to the museum might cause more damage. But that means you can’t see these artefacts at the site either. Only a replica of a house thought to resemble the architecture of the time stood over the site.

A small cupboard of fragile, damaged artefacts are stored in a nearby Dutch colonial house that serves as a Pusat Informasi Situs Tambora, but this is far from a proper museum. Perhaps a better place to see relicts of Tambora’s history is the Balai Arkeologi in Denpasar, which is the current authority over Situs Tambora.

The hike was much easier than that of Rinjani, ascending gradually through thick canopies of fresh-scented rainforests.

Nevertheless, it was a trying long walk in the dark, sometimes under heavy rain and picking out blood-sucking leeches.

Watching the sunrise over the majestic caldera and fields of edelweiss at the top was an indescribable feeling. As I climbed to the Indonesian flag flying over the summit, looking over Moyo and Satonda islands in the calming blue Gulf of Saleh, I took a moment of silence to make sense of the catastrophe that obliterated an entire civilization two centuries ago.

To arrange a visit to Tambora, Saiful Bahri is contactable at +62 823 4069 3138. Bahri owns an affordable homestay in Pancasila village and is in charge of entries to the Mount Mutis National Park.

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NEWS FROM THE

ARCHIPELAGO Head of Freeport Indonesia Resigns After Force Majeure

Cops Arrest Suspects for Killing and Eating Orangutan

Following a declaration of force majeure on copper concentrate shipments from the Papua-based Grasberg mine, chief executive of Freeport-McMoran Inc’s Indonesia unit Chappy Hakim tendered his resignation on Saturday, February 18.

Force majeure is a French term literally translated as “greater force.” The clause is included in contracts to remove liability for natural and unavoidable catastrophes that interrupt the expected course of events and restrict participants from fulfilling obligations.

Last week, an endangered Bornean orangutan was allegedly shot and eaten by workers after it was caught wandering around a nearby palm oil plantation in the Kapuas regency of Central Kalimantan.

The police have officially named three male suspects in the alleged killing – identified only by the initials AY, 30; EMS, 39 and ER, 23 – while seven others were questioned as witnesses to the incident.

Kapuas Police Chief Sr. Comr. Jukiman Situmorang told AFP that the suspects “allegedly killed the orangutan just to consume its flesh.”

Reportedly, the incident began when the orangutan chased a plantation worker who was picking some fruit and who later told the story to one of the suspects, AY. AY then went out to hunt the animal down and killed it with his rifle and machete. Suspects EMS and ER then helped AY carry the animal to their camp nearby to eat it.

Situmorang said the suspects could face a maximum of five years in prison if proven guilty for the crime that falls under a violation of biodiversity conservation.

Orangutans have been endangered in Indonesia for some time, as their rainforest habitat has dwindled down to 50 percent of what it once was over the past 20 years due to forest fires, land conversion and illegal logging.

The Bornean orangutan population has already dropped by more than 50 percent over the past 60 years and will further decline to 47,000 by 2025. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has named the species “critically endangered” – just one category away from extinction.

Body of Missing French Tourist Found in Lombok

Flooding Displaces Thousands Torrential rain that poured across the archipelago on Sunday, February 19, caused heavy floods in some regions, including Jakarta, Gresik, Minahasa and Cirebon. Meanwhile, three villages, Mahawu, Bailang and Ternate Tanjung were inundated with water when heavy rainfall surged for one hour over Manado, Minahasa and North Minahasa.

US mining giant Freeport has reportedly been in negotiations with the Indonesian government in light of new mining rules that pushed the temporary stoppage of copper exports. On Friday, it declared it could no longer meet obligations stipulated in the contract for copper concentrate shipments.

“I have decided it is in the best interests of PTFI (Freeport Indonesia) and my family to step down from my duties as president director while continuing to support the company in an advisory role,” Hakim said in a statement.

Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) officer Lee Bawole told CNN Indonesia that disaster-prone areas Ternate Tanjung, Mahawu and Bailang were submerged in water of up to one metre, even a few hours after the rain stopped.

Bawole reported that BPBD teams were deployed to help evacuate residents in Ternate Tanjung as the Tondano watershed rose significantly with the heavy rains. The Bailang district of Bunaken and the district of Tuminting in Mahawu also saw floodwaters rise up to one metre.

Sudarna, Chief Executive of BPBD Cirebon, explained that the agency reported the flooding to have started as early as Wednesday, February 15, in the eastern part of the region. Sudarna added that other than heavy rainfall, flooding is almost always due to overflowing of rivers in the area.

Meanwhile, Asep Haryanto, Secretary of the Regional Disaster Management Agency-Bekasi, likewise reported thousands of homes took on water when heavy rains poured over Bekasi at 4 am on Sunday morning.

Haryanto explained most of the residential land affected by the floods was that in less elevated locations, where flooding is inevitable.

A French tourist, identified only by the name Nicolas, was reported missing late last week by his friends Julian and Benjamin. The three Frenchmen were earlier reported to have left for Gili Panggang with their local guides.

Putu Cakra Negara, spokesman for the Mataram National Search and Rescue Agency, told The Jakarta Post that the group left at 8 am on Thursday, February 16 and arrived on the island to go diving. At 12 pm, the others had finished diving but Nicolas was nowhere to be found.

Negara said a search and rescue team found Nicolas’s body 15 metres underwater in Gili Panggang’s Sekotong district, West Lombok, at 9:30 am on Friday, February 17.

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Kenneth Yeung is a Jakarta-based editor

PAPUANS TRICKED INTO SENDING KIDS TO FAKE SCHOOL

By Kenneth Yeung On February 17, police arrested a woman for holding seven Papuan children, aged four to 13, at a house on Jalan Intisari Raya in Pasar Rebo, East Jakarta.

The woman, identified only by her initials SK (35), had posed as a nun when she visited the Papuan town of Timika almost two years ago. She encouraged families to let her take their children to Jakarta for education at a prestigious Catholic school or a seminary.

On arrival in the national capital, the boys and girls were taken to the house, which became a virtual prison, where they were abused and exploited. Locals were told the house was a ‘shelter’ for orphans. The children were allowed outside only to beg for “social donations.”

Sometimes they were left at a neighbour’s house when SK was away.

The National Commission for Child Protection, which led the rescue operation, said the children received some homeschooling but the ‘shelter’ was unregistered and lacked a teacher.

Commission chairman Arist Merdeka Sirait said SK routinely contacted the children’s families to ask them to transfer funds to cover the ‘school fees.’ He did not reveal the amount of the fees.

The case came to light after one of the children, Kristina Magal (11), escaped by climbing over a wall after being beaten for allegedly stealing bread from a food stall opposite the house. She said she and the others were often denied food. The local neighbourhood chief’s wife learned of her plight and contacted the commission.

Sirait said the worst abuse was suffered by the oldest child, Kristina’s sister, Magda (13), who had to take care of the others and keep the house clean. He said Magda was threatened with rape and being forced to drink mop water. If the housework was deemed unsatisfactory, she was punished by being denied food and had to sleep on a bare floor. Her two younger brothers, aged seven and five, were malnourished. They also had skin diseases, as they were rarely allowed to bathe. After being rescued, they were hospitalized.

Police and the commission had managed to contact the family of the four siblings and flew them to Jakarta.

They were still trying the find relatives of the three other children, who have been taken to a safe house run by the Social Affairs Ministry.

The uncle of the four siblings, Janua Wamang, said he was tricked by the promise that they would receive a proper Christian education. He said he regularly transferred money to the ‘school,’ not knowing of the abuse.

At a press conference, he said SK had once punished one of his nieces by inserting a stick into her mouth, forcing it open “from morning until morning.” “She was beaten.

And her head was slammed into a wall,” said Janua.

Yunita Dumara, the mother of the siblings, said she was duped because SK had claimed to have already brought

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“Education scams take many forms. One of the worst is when children from remote Papua province are taken to Java on the pretext of receiving an education.”

Papuan children to Jakarta and other cities in Java to provide them with an education. She said she had tried to communicate with her daughters and sons by telephone at least once every two months, but SK rarely answered phone calls.

Sirait urged people in Papua not to hand over their children to ‘missionaries’ in the name of religion.

Other cases have been reported of Papuan children being lured to Java with the promise of free schooling only to be sent to strict Islamic boarding schools and being forced to convert to Islam.

Phone Thief School children are often targeted by scammers, as they are more likely to be trusting of older strangers. In the West Java town of Cianjur, police are looking for a woman who posed as a trainee policewoman, befriended schoolgirls and stole their mobile phones and valuables.

The woman, aged about 30, wore a white Islamic veil and hung out outside elementary schools. She would start chatting to girls after classes, asking for information about a school. She would tell them she was a PhD student at Padjadjaran University and also training to be a policewoman. Next, she would convince the girls to accompany her to a fast-food restaurant. Then she would advise the girls to go to a prayer area, while she guarded their phones and bags. When the girls returned, the ‘policewoman’ and their phones had disappeared.

After a relative of one victim reported the crime on social media in February, numerous other victims recognized the woman and her modus operandi. Some said she sometimes posed as a charity collector for an orphanage.

Several said she hypnotized her victims.

Phony Scholarships In Aceh province, school officials in the town of Bireuen have warned parents that scammers are trying to trick them into thinking their children have won scholarships.

The principal of Bireuen Senior High School 2 said dozens of parents had contacted him to ask for details about the scholarships. He said a scammer using the name Mulyadi had telephoned parents and informed them their child had made great achievements and was to be rewarded with a scholarship worth Rp.7.5 million.

Mulyadi then told the parents to contact a local ‘education department official’ named Faisal. He asked for their bank account numbers and full banking details, claiming he wanted to transfer the money as soon as possible. But no funds were ever sent. Instead, the parents had put themselves at risk of banking fraud, especially if they followed instructions to check their accounts at an ATM and were tricked into transferring money.

While Indonesia mandates 20 percent of government expenditure on education, schools and education officials still need to pay more attention to teaching students and parents of the risks of scams.

RISE ABOVE the World With more than 22 years of experience, Sekolah Pelita Harapan (SPH) is thriving to provide excellence in education and quality academic resources for Indonesia.

As one of the premier International Baccalaureate(IB) World Schools in Indonesia, we provide the IB Diploma Programme to students in grades 11 and 12 at all of our K-12 schools since our first graduate in 2001. Our comprehensive two-year curriculum allows graduates to fulfil requirements of various international education systems around the world.

Almost 150,000 IB students around the globe are receiving their results from the May 2016 examination session. They join a community of more than 1.4 million IB graduates in 136 countries.

The 2016 exam showcases an average diploma score of 30.07 points (of 45 possible maximum), with 146 students achieving perfect scores.

It also highlights the consistency of the global DP pass rate, which continues to remain stable as the community of IB students grows.

Independent research confirms that the IB Diploma Programme improves students’ academic success as well as their probability of high school graduation and college enrolment. It is also clear that IB students are better prepared to succeed in post-secondary settings (based on research done by the IB’s Global Research department in collaboration with universities and independent research organizations worldwide).

SPH graduates epitomize the success of the IB Programme, with most of our graduates deciding to study abroad (figure 2). Our graduates are continually accepted by renowned universities and colleges around the world such as National University of Singapore, University of Melbourne, University of Manchester, University of California (Berkeley, Davis, Los Angeles), California Institute of Technology, University of Georgetown, Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In the 2015-2016 academic year, there were 180 candidates for the IB Diploma Programme from SPH campuses. Students consistently achieved an average score of 33, above the world average of 30.07 (figure 1), where 95 percent successfully gained a diploma.

To match the consistency of our students’ average score, the highest score attained is also a great milestone for our school, with 43 (of 45 possible maximum) as the highest score in 2014, 45 in 2015 and 44 in 2016.

Our students are not only accepted by world-class universities, they are also able to secure scholarships for their post-secondary education. Thirty two students from our schools were offered scholarships and granted a total amount of US$567,931 by 44 universities around the world.

Learn more about our school and start the right foundation for your child. For more information about admissions, feel free to call +62 812 9900 0202, or visit sph.edu.

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The early dropout rate is attributed to early marriages and the need to go to work. Bolivia and Peru, two poor countries, have excellent programmes where the students of poor families are paid for every day they attend school. If those countries can do it, so can Indonesia. That would take a great deal of integrity and leadership. USAID has the programme ‘Prestasi’ that selects the best and brightest professionals to get full scholarships for their master’s degrees, usually in the USA. More private sector organizations here should do that to alleviate the shortage of 100,000 teachers. Many teachers in Indonesia are also ill prepared, having bought their way through school.

Image courtesy of BORGEN Magazine

Opinion: Eradicating Poverty

by Improving Education

By Amina Ghazi INDONESIA is the largest Southeast Asian economy with a GDP of 4.8 percent of real growth for the months of April to June in 2016. This was the strongest growth in ten quarters, surprising economists. Poverty went down by 2.11 percent in 2016, still leaving over 10 percent of the population in dire poverty.

The Wall Street Journal featured the claim, “President Widodo finally showing himself to be much cleverer than his detractors expected.” Elected as a “vessel of hope to build a tolerant and prosperous country” with his ‘bottom up’ economic reforms, the president spent his first year careening from one preventable crisis to another. He began learning the intricacies of politics at the top level.

However, unemployment is rising and low-income wages have not risen to meet basic needs. Rising Islamic violence, the growing intolerance against the LGBT community and overall intolerance that rose by 30 percent in the first year of Jokowi’s administration have largely damaged Indonesia’s reputation as a tolerant Muslim country. This is an important factor in a nation that is in need of more private sector and foreign investment to grow economically and sustain that growth.

Jokowi has great instincts and principles on economic policy making, but he is unable to pursue them aggressively enough. The economy remains unfair to ordinary Indonesians who pay so much for basic staples. The argument can be made that this is a problem globally, and not just in the archipelago.

But Indonesia has made strides thanks to economic growth and concentrated poverty alleviation legislation. Poverty has been reduced by more than 50 percent since 1999. Between 2006 and 2013, 10 million citizens climbed out of poverty, according to the Association for the International Exchange of Students in Economics and Commerce (AIESEC).

By global definition, there remains a high percentage of Indonesians living in ‘near poverty.’ These people are in danger of falling into real poverty in the event of an economic downturn or natural disaster. The Central Government invests US$30 million per year into five major poverty-reduction programmes.

It’s no stretch of the imagination to say that the greatest tool to eradicate poverty is education.

However, in Indonesia it is not that simple. Severe

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Indonesia expat issue 184

“All schools in Indonesia should offer access to English. Allow expats to volunteer, and there will be no shortage of English teachers.

The Indonesian government spent 30.4 billion in 2016 on education. The problem is no one seems to know where the money is going.” fundamental problems stand in the way. The Sampoerna Foundation names the causes of poverty in the archipelago as corruption, centralized government and a severe lack of access to education in rural areas.

The foundation cites three major obstacles to eliminating the cycle of poverty in developing nations. The first obstacle is a cultural characteristic, whereby the poor adapt and simply accept being poor.

This mindset creates an unbroken cycle of poverty.

The second is the ‘poverty’ label put in place by a dominant culture. This causes the poor to lose their voice and be branded as a failed population segment.

Lastly but not least, poverty restricts opportunity, plain and simple.

The poor lack social and economic capital. They lack the knowledge to negotiate and move up on the economic scale. Sampoerna concludes rightfully that the best way out of poverty is via education.

It claims the government and the private sector must raise awareness and campaign concerning the importance of education. This would mean providing more access, setting up schools in remote areas, redistributing teachers and finally, allowing foreign volunteers and teachers to take part and expand education options across the nation.

Education is in crisis in Indonesia, achieving barely half the global target for early childhood education.

Primary school enrolment has dropped and Indonesia is ranked 121 out of 185 countries in terms of education quality.

This is seen by many as an embarrassment in an emerging nation building a strong middle class. Graft and corruption and their influence on the educational infrastructure cannot be overstated. Diplomas and degrees can be easily purchased. Some medical personnel in Indonesia, including nurses and doctors, actually purchase their academic degrees without going to university. This is why well-off Indonesians and expats tend to go overseas for their medical treatments.

Education in Indonesia is run by the Ministry of Education and Culture, with Islamic schools run by the Ministry of Religious Affairs. It is compulsory for all citizens to have nine years of education: six years of elementary and three years of secondary school.

Indonesia has only 170,000 primary schools, 40,000 secondary schools and an alarming 26,000 high schools. Eighty-four percent are public and ‘free,’ 16 percent are religious and 7 percent are private. A problem with the education is how and what students learn. Schools emphasize rote learning (memorization) and deference to authority. Creative thinking and problem solving is virtually non-existent.

Utomo Dananjaya, educational expert at Paramadina, Jakarta, says Indonesia lags far behind other Asian countries in innovation and creativity because of the educational system failing to nurture creativity or reward innovation.

“Our education system heavily relies on memorizing texts. It doesn’t let the student’s ideas flow and thus dampens their creativity. Memorization is outdated.

Teaching with no interaction cultivates students to simply be obedient and regurgitate what teachers tell them. It in no way encourages thinking outside the box. To prepare talented Indonesian youths to compete in the local market, what this nation needs is educational reform that strongly emphasizes reasoning and allows students to think critically, not simply memorize. Then they will be ready to work in a global environment.”

Education cannot be simplified by holding the central government responsible. Community involvement is as important as funding, according to studies by the US Department of Education. Programmes at the local level that have proven invaluable in the US are the PTA (parent/teacher association) and the senior mentoring programme where retired teachers or retirees work with students to catch up or learn new skills in after-school programmes.

Public schools in the US must offer curriculums online for those students who must be schooled at home due to location or disabilities or personal beliefs. This has proven to be highly successful, but this is in a country of mostly educated parents and community members.

All schools in Indonesia should offer access to English. Allow expats to volunteer, and there will be no shortage of English teachers. The Indonesian government spent US$30.4 billion in 2016 on education. The problem is no one seems to know where the money is going. The innovation level in Indonesia is still low, even compared to African countries where innovation is rapidly growing.

The importance of innovative and critical thinking must be cultivated for the next generation of Indonesians to work successfully in a global environment. That takes a change of mindset. After years of subjugation and the deserved freedoms fought for with blood and courage, Indonesians can set greater goals and dreams for each citizen to strive for. Throw out the outdated caste and class systems with their rote learning and imagine another reality, where education feeds the spirit of creativity and innovation in a nation poised for change.

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When she isn’t travelling around Asia, Alice enjoys spending time with her golden retriever, Gerard.

INDONESIA’S SOLUTION TO

By Alice Jay PT Nirwana Alam Hijau, the Bali-based social enterprise behind Biowear and Avani products, is playing its part to fight back against the everconsuming plastic trash epidemic on the island by providing a one-stop-shop for eco-friendly ponchos and hospitality needs, from shopping bags to food and beverage packaging. All of Biowear and Avani’s products have been certified as biodegradable, in that they disintegrate as they are consumed by living organisms.

How ironic it is to know that the disposable, non-degradable plastic products, such as rain ponchos, straws and cutlery, which we usually use for only around 30 minutes, have the potential to pollute the environment for centuries?

Currently, around 90 percent of Avani’s 400 clients are expat-owned businesses. Kumala says that most Indonesian-owned businesses are not aware that Avani exists, as over the past few years the startup has been focused on product development rather than marketing.

Kumala says many businesses are extremely focused on their bottom line and are unwilling to pay extra for sustainable product alternatives. “Luckily, this is becoming less of an issue, as our end customers are placing an increased amount of pressure on the establishments that have yet to ‘convert.’ At the end of the day, word-of-mouth marketing is the most effective type.”

Additionally, 80 percent of the products have been certified as compostable, which means that they turn back into organic materials as they decay. With around 400 local and international clients, it seems that both the island and the world are taking notice of the company’s message. After all, why buy a product that will pollute the earth for tens or even hundreds of years when there are alternatives that biodegrade in around 200 days.

The best ideas are born at the least likely moments. In this case, the idea for Biowear was sparked one rainy day by passing motorcyclists. “One night after a round of beers with a friend – who today is the company’s co-founder and director of business development – we were sitting outside a bar and watching the traffic,” says Kevin Kumala, the acting CEO of PT Nirwana Alam Hijau. “Each motorcyclist wore a massive plastic raincoat. This made us wonder, ‘where do these ugly, toxic rain ponchos end up?’ The next day, we went to one of the landfills and were amazed by the number of discarded plastic raincoats. So the light bulb went off, and not long after, in mid-2014, we came out with our first product: the biodegradable rain poncho.”

Things progressed from there. After the monsoon season ended in March of 2015, Kumala realized that the company underestimated the seasonal nature of their product.

Compostable takeaway box made from sugar cane fiber

One of Avani’s more recent inventions, the cassava starch bag might spell the beginning of the end of the ubiquitous plastic bag, one of the main culprits of global plastic land and water pollution. Interestingly, the eco-friendly bags dissolve in hot water and,

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With more and more media exposure and an increased focus on marketing channels, Biowear and Avani’s products are increasingly more accepted as a solution to the plastic epidemic, both in Bali and overseas.

“Timing is everything. More and more nations are banning plastic bags and disposable plastic products right when we have started gaining additional media exposure,” Kumala says. “Actually, we are at a tipping point where the number of our international customers is slowly beginning to outnumber our customers on the island.”

Compostable bag made from cassava starch

“We originally thought that our export market would be strong enough to cover our overheads. This did not happen,” he says. “Sticking to our core belief of replacing disposable plastic products, Avani began to focus on biodegradable tableware. By doing this, we were able to start serving the hotel, restaurant and café industry. Since then, Biowear, the brand of our eco-poncho, has become only one of the products that Avani is offering as a whole.”

Over time, straws became the company’s most popular product in terms of the quantity sold. Kevin says that this is definitely a good thing. “Imagine this, out of a population of 255 million people in Indonesia, and taking into account the fact that the length of a plastic straw is 20 centimetres and an average Indonesian consumes one plastic straw per day, we are talking about 5,000 kilometres of plastic material in length being discarded every day. This is approximately equivalent to the distance between Bali and Sydney.”

according to Avani, are completely safe to drink in liquid form. They are also safe for insect and animal consumption when they end up in landfills.

While Biowear and Avani are gaining increased international recognition, Kumala says that the company’s current focus is on increasing its presence in Indonesia. PT Nirwana Alam Hijau is currently in the process of setting up a downstream company that will deal with the creative distribution of Biowear and Avani products across the archipelago by raising public awareness via digital content.

Meanwhile, the company is also working with a handful of non-profit organizations such as Bye Bye Plastic Bags, World Wildlife Fund and Indonesia Diet Kantong Plastik to raise awareness about the dangers of plastic waste, as well as the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to create a roadmap for a cleaner and greener Indonesia. The company is also in the process of tapping into a network of local influencers to spread its message across the nation.

Compostable coffee cups

Biowear Ponchos can be found at BSO, some Pepito Markets, Surfer Girl, Drifter Surf Shop, Yoga Barn, Bali Buda and Earth Café. Avani’s products can be found at Alila Hotels, Potato Head, W Bali, The Trans Hotel, Betelnut Cafe, Merah Putih, KZU, Watercress, Scratch, Sea Circus, Sisterfields ad Biku.

Next time you are out for a meal at a restaurant or your favourite café, why not help the cause and ask if they use Avani.

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The Fight against Bullying in Indonesia For many students across the archipelago and around the world, bullying has become a cultural norm, ranging from name-calling to physical abuse. So why is Indonesia still struggling with this kind of behaviour in schools?

The Struggle of Being a Dedicated Teacher in Indonesia

By Caranissa Djatmiko Being a teacher is one of the noblest professions in the world.

Teachers are not just there to deliver learning materials but also to open our eyes to a wider world.

If they do their job well, teachers encourage us to become the best versions of ourselves.

By Caranissa Djatmiko Last month, three students were killed in an alleged bullying case, while 14 others were injured during freshmen orientation at the Indonesia Islamic University (UII) in Yogyakarta. Before his death, one of the victims reportedly admitted to being physically beaten by his seniors when he and other members of the climbing club were participating in an outdoor activity that took place at Mount Lawu in Central Java.

Following the tragedy, school authorities claimed they will reevaluate extracurricular programmes going forward, while police have so far arrested two senior members suspected of being responsible for the incident.

The UII scandal is just one of many similar cases that continue to remind Indonesian society that severe bullying and hazing still persists in the local education system. In the academic world, where everything should be about a celebration of knowledge and learning, bullying comes as a phenomenon that is in a way still well-embedded in Indonesia (and around the world for that matter).

By definition, the term bullying is used to refer to “aggressive behavior that is intentional and that involves an imbalance of power or strength; that occurs across all geographic, racial and socioeconomic boundaries.”

Within an education setting, UNICEF defines it as the moment when students are subjected to negative behaviour that is repeated over a period of time by their peers, both individually or collectively. Here in the archipelago, it is not difficult to observe bullying in schools.

In 2012, the National Child Protection Commission (KPAI) released a survey that recorded 87.6 percent of 1,026 participants claimed to have experienced bullying (either physically or verbally) at school. The report further suggested that 42.1 percent of these victims admitted to being bullied by their classmates. Meanwhile, around 29.9 percent of them said they were bullied by their teachers or administrators and 28 percent said that janitors and security guards also played a role.

Another survey conducted by UNICEF Indonesia in 2015 revealed that as many as 50 percent of local students, aged 13 to 15, have been bullied in their schools. The result was even considered as one of the highest numbers in the world.

That same year, KPAI reported the level of violence happening in schools continued to rise. The commission highlighted that there were a total of 79 cases involving the bullies and another 103 that involved members of tawuran (student brawls) throughout 2015.

While there are indeed many factors that contribute to bullying, all these findings suggest that there might be something wrong with the local education system after all.

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Many schools nationwide still tolerate bullying, finding it to be a ‘normal’ part of the social learning experience.

To illustrate, it is common for teaching staff to allow their own students to organize orientation programmes, known locally as Masa Orientasi Siswa (MOS), which according to KPAI, provide opportunities for seniors to bully the juniors.

Orientation programmes are essentially held to prepare new students before they begin studying. These activities would normally include seminars and workshops, learning materials and things that might actually help them succeed during their time in school.

But in many schools and universities across the archipelago, orientation programmes are often misused by organizers who only mean to intimidate others.

When asked what the purpose behind this activity is, some would say things like the need for new students to be trained to become ‘mentally strong’ before they face the tough reality in school. So rather than being a space for discussion, debates and constructive criticism, the programme becomes a moment when seniority is put on a pedestal and bullying continues to flourish.

It is hard to comprehend how this culture of bullying is still largely embraced in local education settings. In recent years, the government has shown its effort to protect students from bullying. Last year, former Minister of Education and Culture Anies Baswedan forbade MOS activities from taking place ever again and insisted that orientation programmes should be fun and educative.

After learning of the UII bullying case, the current Minister of Research, Technology and Higher Education Muhammad Nasir warned that schools and formal institutions should promptly be free from bullying and any forms of violence this year.

I guess it is best to once again remind students, teachers and parents, who are active participants in the education system, that no matter the extent of the bullying, it should never be tolerated.

As a nation, Indonesia needs to understand that standing up against bullying means saving the country from becoming a system that romanticizes subjugation and inequality. It means saving the country from giving privileges to those who appear to be more powerful – people who think it’s okay to dominate others who are weak or don’t fit in.

Most importantly, it means saving the country that might be at risk of championing a new generation of adult bullies.

That said, we don’t often think enough about the sacrifices they make in choosing this path in life.

Some of us might not be aware of the challenges teachers face just to get up and go to work.

In East Nusa Tenggara, you might be particularly surprised by how dedicated the local teachers are.

Teachers in the region must cope with challenges of doing the job in a remote area with few resources.

One of these regions is the Alor regency, which is comprised of three big islands and six smaller ones, including Pura, Ternate and Buaya. In these places, the people are not yet provided with proper facilities when it comes to infrastructure, education and clean water.

Given the lack of road infrastructure on these islands, teachers must also travel through the sea. But most of them do not have their own boats, so they are left with no choice but to swim in order to get to the schools. At times, they ask local fishermen for a ride so they do not have to swim.

Moved by this story, people across the archipelago are making donations so that teachers in Alor can have their own boats. So far, over Rp.300 million (around US$22,457) has been collected, and it seems that the amount keeps increasing.

When looking at the level of dedication these teachers show, helping them buy boats to get to school is the least we can do.

If you are keen on donating to this cause, please visit www.kitabisa. com/perahuuntukpakguru.

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Sekolah Pelita Harapan Holds Education Fair In March, Sekolah Pelita Harapan (SPH) is inviting parents and children to its education fair. As one of Jakarta’s most renowned private schools, SPH is known for its international standard education, with students hailing from different parts of the world.

Both local and expat families are now invited to get to know the 17,000-square-metre school that offers top-notch facilities including a full gymnasium, swimming pool, performing arts theatre and multiple

science labs. Currently home to more than 900 pupils, SPH seeks to provide the best learning experience for students who hail from 20 different nations. The education fair will take place from March 1 – 5 at Kemang Village.

For more information please contact 021 290 56789 ext 142300, 142310, 142320 rebecca.marina@sph.ac.id damar.wirastomo@sph.ac.id eirene.lasut@sph.ac.id

Banyan Tree Throws Special Nyepi Celebration Nyepi New Year is one of the most crucial celebrations according to the Balinese Hindu calendar. It is the day when the island finds its way back to its spiritual roots, with its people immersing themselves in silence, prayer and meditation. Local Balinese believe that during this day, the evil spirits will descend to Bali and will eventually leave for another year after learning that the island becomes quiet and uninhabited.

As one of the most lavish resorts on the island, Banyan Tree Ungasan is offering a special villa package and dining experience. The villa package includes a luxurious villa stay from March 27 to 29. The price starts at US$641 per night and offers breakfast, lunch and dinner for two people.

Paulaner Bräuhaus Jakarta Brings Back Happy Hour The only microbrewery restaurant in Indonesia, Paulaner Bräuhaus Jakarta is happy to announce that its popular Happy Hour is back, and it just got better!

There will also be a New Year Day lunch and dinner at the Bambu Restaurant on the 28 th, when guests can enjoy a selection of Indonesian and Western culinary surprises.

For a special dinner under the full moon, Ju-Ma-Na restaurant will also offer its Moonlight Set Menu.

Arjani Resorts Celebrates Inauguration of Prasana in Bali

Nothing tops having to beat the city traffic and ending a hectic workday with an icy-cold beer in hand with great friends and colleagues and a comfortable ambience that offers relaxation and enjoyment.

The 400-seat establishment takes pride in its traditional Bavarian food and its popular German beer that comes with nothing less than imported authentic ingredients. Paulaner Bräuhaus Jakarta is operated by the premier Hotel Indonesia Kempinski Jakarta.

Prasana takes pride in its exclusive restaurant, bar and spa that provide the luxuries every guest looks forward to in a staycation. Golf enthusiasts will be pleased to know that Prasana is just a stone’s throw away from New Kuta Golf Club and Bali National Golf Club, both of which are some of Asia’s finest courses.

Arjani Resorts is happy to announce its inaugural celebration of Prasana by Arjani Resorts.

And yes, you guessed it right, Bali will be the first location under the Arjani Resorts management, as it remains the most attractive destination for tourists in the archipelago.

Prasana by Arjani Resorts is the ideal place to find that elusive balance between tranquility and beauty, as it is surrounded by Bali’s most appealing beaches and surfing spots, including Balangan and Bukit Peninsula and the renowned cliff-hanging temple at Uluwatu.

Only a 35-minute drive from Ngurah Rai International Airport, Prasana by Arjani Resorts is gracefully nestled on the unhurried borders of the panoramic Ungasan village and breathtaking Uluwatu.

For more information and reservations, please contact: Marketing Communication Manager Aldo Kepank at +62 361 4725 488, +62 361 4725 399 and +62 818 0203 1213 or email at aldo.kepank@arjaniresorts.com

TEDxUbud 6th Edition: The Power of Inspiration This year, TEDxUbud is back on the stage with its latest edition, which brings with it new frontiers and a whole new experience for its followers: a stellar lineup of powerful talks at a night event at the Mask and Puppet Museum.

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Indonesia expat issue 184

Prasana by Arjani Resorts is your epitome of paradise on Earth as it pampers guests with world-class luxury villas all equipped with a private pool.

But the pampering doesn’t stop there. With state-ofart facilities bumped up in every villa, Prasana offers personalized services to ensure all guests experience a luxurious and convenient stay in the resort.

Paulaner Bräuhaus lets you buy two beers and get the third one for free.

The limited offer is only available Mondays to Thursdays from 5 pm to 7 pm, so come get it while you still can.

For more information please visit www.banyantree.com or email reservationsungasan@banyantree.com.

Tickets are available from your regular outlets or from special community sponsors. The 6 th Edition TEDxUbud tickets give you an automatic pass to TEDxUbud 2017 and exclusive recognition at the main stage.

Let your friends, associates, colleagues and other members of relevant organizations who may want to sponsor a TEDxUbud event know more. Have them shoot an email at partners@tedxubud.com.

* Answers in the next edition!

C RO S S WO R D Across

DOWN

1. Pay the bill (4,2,3,3) 9. Concentrated beam of light (5) 10. Purplish-red – battle (7) 11. Period of time (4) 12. (Part of ) musical instrument (8) 14. Fool (6) 15. Associate (with) (6) 18. Attractive (8) 20. Badly behaved child (4) 22. Unisex (7) 23. Pioneer chemist with a law to his name (5) 24. Damper (12)

2. This month (7) 3. Edge of pavement (4) 5. Intellectual – cultured (8) 6. Ringworm (5) 7. Extra for Christmas pudding (6,6) 8. It should be level (7,5) 13. Age of majority (8) 16. Austrian ballet dancer, 1938–93 17. Sternutation (6) 19. Gemini (5) 21. Assist (in wrongdoing) (4)

ANSWERS OF ISSUE 183 ACROSS—1. Bas relief 8. Oriel 9. Madison 10. Matching 11. Irma 13. Normal 14. Framed 16. Edam 17. Sardinia 19. Ladouce 20. Eland 21. Hang about DOWN—1. Bulkhead 2. Simony 3. Ends 4. Instrumental 5. Fine and dandy 6. Edam 7. Winter garden 12. Gradient 15. Gazebo 18. Puma

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Dengue vaccines, what is the situation in Indonesia?

There is a need for effective preventive interventions against dengue, a disease caused by four viruses, spread by mosquitos. Dengue is very common in Indonesia, especially during the rainy season. One dengue vaccine has been licensed in Indonesia in 2016.

What is the vaccine?

For now there is only one dengue vaccine that is licensed. It was first licensed in Mexico in December 2015 for use in individuals between 9 and 45 years of age living in endemic areas. The vaccine is a live dengue vaccine developed by a French pharmaceutical company. The vaccine was made of live viruses that have been altered so they have become harmless or less virulent.

It protects against the four viruses that can cause dengue. It is given as a series of 3 on a 0/6/12 month schedule. The costs are roughly Rp 1.500.000 per vaccination (you will need all three shots).

The vaccine has been evaluated in two clinical trials (in five countries in Asia and in five countries in Latin America). Together, these trials included over 35,000 participants aged 2 to 16 years: ages at first vaccination were 2 to 14 years in one trial and 9 to 16 years in another. As the majority of the participants were in the age group of 9 to 16 years, the Indonesian national agency of drug and food control decided to license this vaccine for the use of this particular age group only.

Recommendations

The World Health Organization recommends that countries should consider introduction of the dengue vaccine only in geographic settings where epidemiological data indicate a high burden of disease. Avoiding mosquito bites is important to prevent diseases. Remember that malaria, zika, Japanese encephalitis and chikungunya are also spread by mosquitos.

Vector control is still the best way to control or prevent the transmission of dengue virus. This includes: • Preventing mosquitoes from accessing egg-laying habitats by environmental changes • Covering and emptying and cleaning domestic water storage containers weekly • Applying appropriate insecticides to outdoor water storage containers • Using mosquito repellants that contain DEET or Eucalyptus oil.

• Using household protection such as window screens, long-sleeved clothes, insecticide-treated materials and vaporizers • Space spraying, applying insecticides and fogging.

It makes sense to do all of the above and consider a vaccination against dengue for anyone in the right age group. Please consult your trusted medical practitioner with any further questions.

Jl. Bangka Raya #106B Jakarta 12730 | tel. +62-21-7183140 | info@goodpractice.co.id

Dr Steven Graaff, MD, MRCGP, the founder of Good Practice Clinic is a graduate of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Before completing his formal training in General Practice in the UK, he worked in several hospitals, occupational health and general practices in the Netherlands and the UK. As a medical professional with international experience, Steven decided to start his own clinic, Good Practice, in Jakarta. For more information please visit www.goodpractice.co.id.

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If you want your event to be posted here, please contact +62 (0) 21 2965 7821 or email: events@indonesiaexpat.biz JAKARTA

show and beauty brand exhibition.

Beautyfest Asia will take place at Ciputra Artpreneur. For more information, please visit www. ciputraartpreneur.com/beauty_ fest_asia_2017_in_english.html.

Networking

Jakarta Business Networkers Every Tuesday and Thursday Make the right connections and grow your business over breakfast.

At Jakarta Business Networkers ( JBN), all attendees are encouraged to help others by exchang ing referrals and introducing them to their target audience. JBN is all about helping you grow your business. Promote your business, personal brand or portfolio each week to the rest of the attendees and explain to the group the type of referrals you would like to receive.

J BN professiona l net work i ng sessions are from 7–8.30am every Tuesday at Sapori Deli, Fairmont Jakarta, and Thursday at Mercantile Athletic Club, WTC, Sudirman.

RSVP: info@jbnetworkers.com Arts & Culture Teater Koma’s Opera Ikan Asin 2 – 5 March 2017 Teater Koma will be celebrating its 40 th anniversary this year. To

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mark its glory as one of the most successful theatre companies in the archipelago, Teater Koma will be restaging Opera Ikan Asin in March. This will be the first time for the theatre company to bring the production back to the stage since 1983 and its members could not have been more excited to present a more updated version of the play to the audience. Opera Ikan Asin will take place at Ciputra Artpreneur.

For more information please visit www.teaterkoma.org.

Beautyfest Asia 18 – 19 March 2017 Get ready for the archipelago’s greatest makeup event because Beautyfest Asia is coming to the capital city in March. Beauty and makeup enthusiasts will get the chance to meet inf luencers and experts from all around the globe, i nclud i ng Aust ra l ia’s fa mous v-logger Tina Yong, Thailand theatrical artist Perypie, Hollywood makeup artist Archangela Chelsea and more. Participants will also get to join a beauty class, talk show, beauty awards, beauty gala

Binus School Serpong’s The Little Mermaid 2–3 March 2017 Binus School Ser pong wi ll be bringing its version of Disney’s classic The Little Mermaid to the stage. The original story follows the character of Ariel, a young mermaid who dreams of the human world and eventually finds a way to get there.

Binus’s rework of the tale will involve students who are passionate about creative arts. Through the production, they will gain the experience of performing on stage and learning everything it takes to showcase a production. The Little Mermaid will play at the Sjuman Hall at Binus School Serpong. For more information on the two-day show, please contact 021-5380400 ext. 5115.

Music Java Jazz Festival 3 – 5 March 2017 After successfully organizing the archipelago’s largest jazz festival

for the past 12 years, Java Jazz is finally back this March. For the 13th anniversar y, the festival will be bringing an array of local and international jazz musicians.

Interestingly, this year the festival will be taking on the theme of Betawi, known as the culture of native Jakartans. The three-day festival will take place at Jakarta International Expo ( JIEXPO), Kemayoran Jakarta. International artists include Nik West, Bebel Gi lberto, Serg io Mendes and A nt h o n y S t r o n g. Fo r t i c k e t reservation and more information please visit www.javajazzfestival. com.

BALI Arts & Culture

Bali Spirit Festival 19 – 26 March 2017 The Bali Spirit Festival is a global celebration of yoga, dance, music and well-being. Set on the beautiful island of Bali, the festival will invite performing arts enthusiasts and

spirituality seekers from all around the world to gather and send each other positive energy. The five-day festival will include an array of inspirational workshops with yoga, martial arts, African dance, ecstatic dance, crystal bowl sound healing, breath work and meditation. The Bali Spirit Festival will take place at Bhanuswari Resort and Spa. For more information, visit www. balispiritfestival.com

Culinary

Ubud Food Festival 12 – 14 May 2017

Ancient Futures: NewEarth Festival 5–9 April 2017 Ancient Futures: NewEarth Festival is a space for visionaries, change makers and thought leaders to connect and lead their own initiatives that will make a positive impact.

Featuring an array of creative acts like music, healing arts, gastronomy, symposium and other performances, the festival is organized to challenge perspectives and find solutions for a better world. The topics that will be discussed in Ancient Futures include decentralization (air), art as activism (fire), flow (water), earthing (earth), as well as resonation and harmonics (akasha). Departing from these topics, participants will be asked to help envision and reshape a new era of wellbeing, peace and welfare.

For more information, please visit www.newearthfestival.com

The Ubud Food Festival (UFF) is back this year with the theme ‘ Eve r y F l avou r I s A S t or y ’.

Returning for the third time this year, UFF will be presenting the archipelago’s most celebrated chefs, restaurateurs, professional food enthusiast and food addicts alike.

The festival will also be welcoming a series of local and international culinary experts, including Tasia and Gracia Seger from Australia; the jungle chef Charles Toto and raw food specialist Arif Springs from Indonesia. the festival will bring an array of Asian flavours to some of Seminyak and Sanur’s most exotic dining destinations. For more information please visit www. ubudfoodfestival.com.

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JAKARTA Cars for Sale

ISUZU Panther TBR 54F Turbo LS, 2013, manual, diesel, 2,500cc.

Original owners. 47,753 km,180 million. Contact: +6281280555316 (WA) Cars for Rent Rental Car Indonesia : A lphard , Vellf ire , Camr y , Pajero , Fortuner , Innova , Avanza , Xenia , Elf , Hi Ace , etc. For Daily ( With Driver ) , Monthly and Yearly ( With / Without Driver ) Contact CBP rent car : Mobile & WA: +6281286410203. Email: cbprentcar@yahoo.com. Serving You All Indonesia.Immediately Contact Us. Vehicle reservations 4 days before the use of.

Jobs Available Full Time and Part Time vacancies are now available for experienced English language instructors for corporate courses around Jakarta.

Compet it ive rates a nd t ravel allowance are of fered. Please send your CV to recruitment. kpiconsultancy@gmail.com Opportunity: A boutique financial and consulting advisory company engaged in strategic and financial consu lt i ng w it h companies engaged in the oil, gas, and /or energy businesses is looking for candidates with strong analytical sk i l ls. Requirements : Strong financial modelling skills; good english communication skills. Task: Financial modelling and analysis; support valuation work; busines development. Contract : Part time; day or monthly rates; negotiable Contact : Eva: +6285693180092

Indonesia Expat is looking for a highly motivated Deputy Editor to join its in-house team.

Skills Required: • Both written and spoken English skills are on par with native speakers from places like the US, the UK, Australia, Canada and ot • Understanding of basic journalistic style and able to write and edit news articles in English under tight deadline • Minimum bachelor degree in journalism, english, media studies, public relations or related field • Excellent spoken and written communication skills • Experience managing mediarelated projects • All around team player with desire to amass skills and learn everything about the media game in Indonesia

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Job Description: • Working to set and create content for our bi-weekly magazine • Interviewing people for articles, writing articles • Liaising with freelance writers • Managing our social medias and monitoring our website • Editing/proofreading content, including fact-checking • Gat her i ng i n for m at ion for upcoming events • Gathering interesting content from press releases for announcements/ articles • Attending networking events and press conferences when required General editorial administration.

If you believe this is the job for you, please send a cover letter and CV to info@indonesiaexpat.biz. Due to the high demand of applicants, only candidates who reach the interview stage will be contacted. We look forward to hearing from you!

Indonesia Expat is looking for a high ly mot ivated PR /Sa les Representative to join its Sales a nd Ma rket ing Tea m. The ideal candidate must have a strong interest in media sales, eager to learn, and be able to represent the company well. The future PR/ Sales Representative will have the opportunity to work in a small team and learn directly from experienced employees. The candidate will also get to attend networking events and daily meetings with clients or potential advertisers in order to meet and exceed revenue targets. Fresh graduates who are looking to start their career in a local English-basis publication are more than welcome.

Skills Required: • An excellent command of written and spoken English (native) with very good communications skills • Very good Bahasa communications skills • Excellent organization skills • The ability to sell and gain new clients • The ability to present and pitch advertising opportunities • The ability to organize events • A good understanding of sales techniques • A good understanding of social media • Hardwork ing, outgoing and positive Job Description: • Build and develop relationships with existing or potential clients • Attend networking events • Liaise with sales and editorial team • Plan, develop and implement sales strategies • Plan, develop and implement PR strategies • Reach sales target If you believe this is the job for you, please send a cover letter and CV to info@indonesiaexpat.biz. Due to the high demand of applicants, only candidates who will reach interview stage will be contacted. Good luck!

Ja k a r t a’s fast-g row i ng med ia content house a nd tech f i r m Content Collision (C2) is looking for an experienced Sales & Business

Development Officer. The person who lands this position will be helping C2 to find sales leads, close deals and nurture relationships with clients. As the online ad space become more saturated, brands and publishers are looking for more creative ways to be top of mind.

Native content creation is one such option, as it helps brands engage with audiences in a more authentic way. C2 is a B2B firm that supplies high-quality content in the form of data-driven article blogs, images and videos to brands and publishers.

Powered by people who’ve written for The Wall Street Journal, Tech in Asia and Forbes, C2 has been able to generate hundreds of thousands of monthly page views for clients.

We aspire to become an influential tech company that makes a positive impact for aspiring writers in South East Asia. As such, you will have the unique opportunity to learn how to build and scale a technology platform with us.

Desired qualifications: • Experience in the sales and marketing department min 2 years (preferably with a digital marketing agency background) • Good understanding about the tech and e-commerce industry • Have a strong network, particularly in the digital marketing industry (local and international) • Aptitude to test various sales lead generation channels and track performance • Excellent in English (written and verbal communication skills) Passion for creating new experiences in online environments The Sales & Business Development Officer who joins us can expect the following from their experience working with C2: • A fun and laid-back working environment coupled with managers that thrive on giving each other honest feedback • Martabak and pizza – but also a swimming pool to help burn it off!

• Learning what it means to create a healthy company culture • Opportunities to try various roles in the company • Opportunity to gain more skills and build a stronger network than one would not likely get from working at a large corporate If you believe this is the job for you, please send a cover letter and CV to team@contentcollision.co.

Services Bahasa Indonesia lessons for expats living in South Jakarta, Kuningan, Country Wood, BSD, given by instructor with 20 years experience.

Flexible schedule. Please call Pak Chairuman +628121037466 or email chairuman1942@gmail.com Learn self defense and be healthy!

Shotokan Karate-Do International Federation (SKIFI), world largest karate school (in over 150 countries) now open at Wisma Aldiron, Jl. Jend Gatot Subroto Kav. 72, Jakarta opens new classes for all grades.

Tues & Thur: Black Belt (6–7:30pm) Wednesday : all grades (6-7:30pm) info@sk if i.org, w w w.sk if i.org (HP.+628118287333) Golf Lessons: All levels and ages are welcome, from beginner to advanced

programs. Full-swing, Putting, Short game and playing lessons available. For more information and to book a lesson, please email below.

Accel Golf Academy-Ken Runyon, Golf Teaching Professional from the USA. All lessons conducted in English at Pondok Indah Driving Range (accelgolf@gmail.com) Bahasa Indonesia Private Tutor Available for Foreign Beginners.

You'l l learn basic Indonesian Language from daily conversation, g ra m ma r, pronunciat ion etc.

Free Text-Book and low Lesson fees! Evening classes on weekday and anytime on weekend, upon appoi nt ment on ly. Cont act: bahasaprivate@gmail.com We provide all machines for Air Circulation system such as : dust collector, blower, axial fan, ducting etc for your factory, warehouse, restaurant, kitchen, building etc.

For more details please email to : enumakmur@yahoo.com Private at home personal fitness trainer helps you achieve your fat loss and fitness goals faster with fun, personalised workouts in your home or apartment. Get full details and a no-obligation Free trial session now, visit www.jakartafitnesscoach.com French and Bahasa Indonesia lesson at your place,For children adult & International school students. Novi +62816704370 You understand that attending piano lessons once a week without practicing at home will get you nowhere, but you also hesitate to buy a piano in Indonesia, knowing that you will leave in a few years.

The best solution for this situation is to rent a piano with a buy back system. You buy a piano from us and we wil buy it back when you leave Indonesia with 25 to 35% price reduction. Free tuning and moving fee, of course. For inquiry, email to ensiklomusika@gmail.com Native Italian Teacher in Jakarta: Private lessons at your home/office.

More than 10 years of experience with students of all ages. Grammar and conversation lessons. Email me at sean.silla@gmail.com or whatsapp +6281298177496 Einstein Private Tuition ( The Ve r y B e s t a nd E x p e r i e nc e d teacher will come to your place).

Help you with your Mathematics , Sciences , Economic, Accounting and Bahasa Indonesia. All level (primary/secondary/university) , all curriculum ( IB/IGCSE).

Fee is af fordable. Satisfaction g u a r a n t e e d . P l s c a l l . M r.

Fe r n a n d o + 6 2 8 5214 0 713 0 0 / + 6 2 8 5719 2 0 5 5 0 8 , WA +6285867041499 If you are looking for a native English speaker to teach your child/ren English, then you might not have to look any further. I have 5 years teaching experience in Jakarta. Please ask for my CV. +6281283832961. dawidgetsmail@ gmail.com

HAVE SOMETHING TO SELL?

Personal classifieds | Commercial classifieds

Looking for something to buy? Looking for staff? Selling property? Or need a place to live?

Why not place your classified ad with Indonesia Expat! Your classified will be placed once for 2 weeks online and once in our printed version which has a circulation of 16.500 copies bi-weekly.

Property listings are considered as Commercial.

Adding an image incurs an extra charge of Rp.150,000.

Business Listings can only be placed on the Business Listings page (p.27)

Next deadline: 8 March 2017

Send in your classidieds to: ads@indonesiaexpat.biz

Property

F O R R E N T: E x c l u s i v e Fu r n i shed Apa r t ment i n Hampton’s Park Apartments, Pondok Indah. Superb location.

10 0m 2 . Second f loor. Pool v iew. Two bed rooms. Two bathrooms (one ensuite with bathtub). Office area. Bedroom + bathroom for household staff.

Furnished: includes kitchen set, fridge, overm stove, microwave, dispenser, washing machine, two built-in bedframes, one tv in open cabinet, built in closets, built in desks, phone, internet access. Apartment Facilities: Gym, 24-hour security, beautiful tropical grounds and pools, including one for children, jogging track, playg round, a nd ha l f basketba l l cour t.

Walking distance to Jakarta International School, opposite Hero Supermarket, Starbucks, Hotel Kristal with restaurants and Satu Lagi Sports Bar. Five minutes away from PIM (Pondok Indah Mall) and RSPI (Pondok Indah Hospital). Rent: 1,500 US$ per month. Please call Ibu Srie at +62(0)87888875577 or +62(0)81282039091or email: srie_cartwright@yahoo.com or villajododewa@gmail.com

House for Sharing in Bintaro.

2 stories house, for rent upstairs only,1 larger room IDR 1,500,000, 1 smaller room IDR 1,250,000, free internet, male expats only, no drugs, no alcohol. Nice neighborhood, c o z y p l a c e . C ont a c t : B eb b y +6289687376182 (WA)

Modern family home in quiet, resort style complex in Pondok Labu, South Jakarta. 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, designer kitchen, open plan kitchen/living/dining, kids play/study area, 2 carports, staff quarters. Perfect for family with young kids. Located 10 mins from CITOS and One Bell Park Mall.

Complex facilities include: pool, gym, children’s playground, minimarket, futsal and tennis courts.

Excellent 24hr security. For rent: fully or partly furnished (2 years minimum). Call: +6281322258708 For rent 300 houses at Kemang, Cipete, Cilandak, Jeruk Purut, Pondok I nd a h . Bi g g a r den s , swimming pools, USD 2,000 – 5,000. Phone: +62816859551 or +628170093366 For R E N T Casablanca Mansion 3BR Furnished LARGEST/76.5m2 ; LOWEST

Price USD 1,100/month include maintenance.c.p : Vero +62812 85242709 (WA). Email: nica.apts@ gmail.com F OR R E N T one u n it l a r g e apartment, 3 bedrooms, size 190m2, 17th floor @Nirvana Apartment in Kemang, available Jan 01, 2017 @ USD 3,000, - per month with one year in advance rental minimum.

If interested, pls contact Pak Pandu +6281808503813 or at the office tel. +622129971303 For rent Apartment studio 24m furnish in Jalan Jendral Sudirman nearby WTC building. IDR. 60 million / year. Please contact +62816 8322 32 or +628121095 0896

Beautiful Taman Kemang Jaya Apartment for sale. Full renovation.

8th floor, corner city & mountain view. Tennis courts, swimming pool and exclusive, big garden.

Viewing recommended. Please contact Owner sariberesford@ gmail.com. HP: +6281213634891 Apartment Verde at Kuningan Available for rent. Modern and lu x u r iou s re s idenc e i n C BD Kuningan. Unit size 200sqm. 3BR. 2+1 bath room. Balcony. Storage/ maid room. Furnished. Rent fee USD 3,500. Photos/view please email: c.virginia76@gmail.com +628119502075 House for Rent at Kena ng aAmpera. A nice comfort house in a compound. 2 floors, nice and clean with garden and s.pool is ready for rent. Land size 300 sqm. 4+2 BR. 4+1 Bathrooms. Terrace. Storage.

Carport 2 cars and garage for 2 cars. Semi furnished. Quite area.

Rent fee USD 2,750-nego. Photos/ viewing : c.virginia76@gmail.com.

SMS/WA: +628119502075 Brand new lu xur y apart ment for rent. Setiabudi Skygarden, Kuningan area, South Jakarta.

2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom. Brand new, fully renovated, corner unit.

Superbly furnished, fully equipped, move-in ready. Quiet, bright and breezy. Unblocked view of Jakarta city skyline. 1 covered parking space near lift. Excellent gym, large swimming pool, basketball court, lush gardens. Quiet, exclusive neighbourhood. Close to ample dining choices, supermarkets, shopping, embassies and banks.

Quick and easy access to Mega Kuningan, SCBD, Sudirman, Rasuna Sahid and Bundara HI. For pictures and more information, please contact: shannonseet@gmail. com Household Staff Available We are an expat family who is looking for driver. We prefer english speaking but not a must. We live in

Cilandak. If you are interested call or whatsapp me +6281380628390 or +628121157474 Trustworthy pembantu/nanny looking for work. Ibu Nini has been our house helper (pembantu) for six years, working part-time and looking after cleaning, ironing, household chores and our cats.

She often looks after the cats when we are on holiday. She has worked with expats for 23 years and speaks English very well. Ibu Nini also has extensive experience as a nanny for expat families, having worked for six different families with children over the years. She also has a 'First Aid Training for Child Care Provider' certificate from SOS, competed in June 2003. Ibu Nini is available immediately and will consider a fulltime or a part-time position - both live-out, preferably in the South Jakarta area. She is honest, friendly, reliable, and very resourceful. Please contact me for further information: angelajelita@gmail.com We can highly recommend our pembantu Ibu Wiwik. Ibu Wiwk is a very experienced pembantu who is able to live in or live out. She has managed households of 2-3 children and is able to cook family meals, handle shopping, school pick up/ drop off, supervising after school activities, household cleaning and babysitting etc. Ibu Wiwik was with our family looking after our two active young boys for 12 months and before that for another expat family managing three children.

She is a Christian and able to work over Idul Fitri holidays and other holidays as required. She is very hard working, and a lovely friendly lady and is sure to make your stay in Jakarta much smoother! Please contact us for references. Fiona +6281219551165, fcjhanrahan@ yahoo.com or Stewart +62812902 63934. stewnorup@yahoo.com.au Household Staff Needed D iplom at fa m i ly look i ng for dedicated nanny. Looking for a loyal full time, live-out Indonesian nanny with a basic-good command of English to help us during the week and some weekends. Ideally infant care certified, can swim and knows some basic first aid. If not, the person must be willing to take courses. We treat the right person as a family member! Please contact: alexsoni79@hotmail.com Looking for an honest, young and energetic live-in maid cum nanny with good references. Main responsibility includes housekeeping duties, cooking and babysitting. One day off a week. Fluent command in English is not compulsory but would be a plus. We are a family of five at Lebak Bulus. Please Whatsapp or SMS +6281290931203 if interested.

is to rent a piano with a buy back system. You buy a piano from us and we wil buy it back when you leave Indonesia with 25 to 35% price reduction. Free tuning and moving fee, of course. For inquiry, email to ensiklomusika@gmail.com

BALI Jobs Available We are fashion company looking for accounting, female with good english is preferred and also understand taxes, please call: +6287860041108 PA with excellent english needed in Ubud. Please contact : support@ directivecommunication.com Full time english speaking assistant school teacher, experienced in special needs (ADD) needed fpr 7 years old. Email resume for interview asap: glhuddo@gmail.com Tigerlillys boutique hotel nusa lembongan seeks experienced multi task eng ineer person to work in maintenance , garden and swimming pool. Must relocate to Nusa Lembongan and have a hard working, positive attitude, please only contact by email first: info@ tigerlillysnusalembongan.com Luxury villa in berawa looking for young female to assist our manager and guests. Excellent conditions, full time 5-6 days a week. Ideal age 18-30 / live out. Prefer speak english. Prefer experience, please contact : sara@villasavasana.com or +6281805622483 Look ing for Manager (expat), advanced experience in hotel operations, F& B sk i l ls are an adva nt age plea se cont act : secretary@thegreenroombali.com Luxury hotel and restaurant located in Nusa Lembongan looking for Hotel Manager and chef (french r e s t a u r a nt) p l e a s e c ont a c t : clementfouquere1@gmail.com Looking for Work Head chef and manager since 19 years in France and 2 years in Indonesia. Looking for a job as manager (F&B) or restaurant. 32 years old, single , French / English/ Indonesian spoken. Please call : +6282247405841 S en ior Eu rop ea n hotel GM , energetic, strong , sk i l led, 10 years SE-asia. Available for new executive assignment, please contact : europenhotelgm@gmail.com

Others

Website designer, photographer, photo editor, looking for future pr oje c t s . C a n b e t emp or a r y or long term. Portfolio: w w w. elemntsdesign.com, or email : image@elemnydesign.com

Piano for rent: You understand that attending piano lessons once a week without practicing at home will get you nowhere, but you also hesitate to buy a piano in Indonesia, knowing that you will leave in a few years.

The best solution for this situation

Female looking for part time job as data entry, personal assistant job. Speaking and written English.

I f pos sible work f rom home.

Based in Bukit Jimbaran. Email: flowsbloom@yahoo.com or contact : +628123815292

Property HOUSE for sale : recently renovated unfurnished 3 bedroom house inside housing complex on Jalan Lingkar Timur Udayana, Jimbaran, Badung Selatan, Bali; SHM; Land 110m2; one bathroom; PL N 1,300VA; Wa t e r S u p p l i e d b y P DA M ; Carport; brick fence left, right, front; high wall at back; please call local Contact Person : (Ms) Nurul +62859350961156 For s a le Hot e l S u n i a L ok a , Pemuteran, Singaraja new airport under construction. 7 Bungalows with their own bathroom and one villa with two rooms, private kitchen dining, two bathrooms. Dining with kitchen and a 7 X16 meters swimming pool. A 50 are property at only 300 meter from the beach and 500 meters from pemutaran center.

Garden is amazing and you can enjoy a beautiful mountain view from anywhere on the property.

Business is operational for the last three years, lease left on the land for 20 years, renewable 25 years.

Price 300,000 Euros. Contact: sunialokabali@gmail.com House for sale, urgent, need money fast. 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, living room, kitchen, garage, PDAM. Very quite and secure in perum cempaka dalung. 10 minutes to canggu. Only 425 juta. Contact: +6282145817881 Modern furnished 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms villa with private pool, central ac & 2 cars parking garage, garden, seaview and next to four season + mimpi resort. IDR 105 billion/ year. Please contact: +6281 338644420 Umalas Villa for rent, Jl. Umalas 1 kerobokan, prime location; 4 bed, 4 bath, fully furnish and equipped, swimming pool, parking, big roof top, HP: +628113806611 Condotel for sale in Nusa Dua, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room, kitchen, private beach acces, 150,4 sqm. BTDC Complex, 21 days free stay, good deal leasehold until july 2051.extendable, please contact : +628111089108 Villa & Residence in Sanur for rent daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, available 1,2 & 3 bedrooms. Fully furnished, hot & cold water, cable tv, swimming pool, parking lot, free wifi, 5 minute to the beach & international school. Please call +6281238735174 or email : putubaliisland@yahoo.com Ruko for sale / rent. Jalan Nakula kuta. Very good location. 2nd floor.

Fiber optic Internet. 1 phone line.

Good for investment or store / business. Please contact direct owner : +6287861688777 or email : info@ property168.com House for sa le. L a nd 150 m 2 , building type 55m2. 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, empty space available.

Small garden. garage, open kitchen.

Urgent sale. Please call +62812389 5551.

tree resorts. Road access and surrounding by villas complex.

Water and electricity access. Price Rp. 300 million/are (nego). Call +62813802626.

Others

Every Thursday Jakarta's oldest (1986) running club meets. For questions contact; +628128450 4422

Adorable Vive Cafe Kittens in Need of Home: The Vive Cafe kittens have been evicted, and urgently need their fur-ever home! In case you are not familiar with this duo, these two kitties are playful, wellsocialized (thanks to all the JIS love throughout the school day), and healthy. They are about 7 weeks old, and ready to leave their mom.

They are currently at my house, but I can't keep them for very long since I have 2 other cats who are not impressed to say the least. If you are interested in adopting 1 or both of these cuties, please let me know.

Email: ipena@jisedu.or.id

Two Rainwood nightstands, like new, hardly used.Asking: IDR 2,000,000 or USD 150. Call: Greg at +628119790304 I'm looking for a silver champagne/ wine display bowl. If you have one for sale or know where I can get one, it will be greatly appreciated. Text me at +6282111727873 Wanted to buy: Camping gear, including sleeping mat, tent, small beach chair, snorkelling gear, women's wetsuit, adult life jacket, kids life jacket, etc. Please WA: Fiona on +6281219551165 or email: fcjhanrahan@yahoo.com 1 DSLR camera, model Canon EOS 500D with a flexible lens EF-S 18-135mm (standard kits come with usually 18-55mm lens). Including a lens hood EW-73B, a 16GB memory card, circular polarizing filter, lens cloth, charger and a suitable bag Everything in good condition, less than 10k pictures taken. Price 7,000,000 Rupiah. Please contact +6287887780080 Casa Felice providing 3D visual interior and exterior design services for residential houses, apartments a nd of f ices, Plea se cont act : +628113201888 or +628814602912

Land for sale 23.75 are in Bukit Ungasan. Ocean view and Banyan issue 184 Indonesia expat

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Bright Minds, Bright Future For students in Years 12 and 13, the IBDP is a two year programme of study which follows on directly from IGCSE courses, it provides greater breadth and depth of study than national systems allow and is an internationally recognised qualification for university entrance. Students choose one subject from each of the 6 IB subject groups, where 3 subjects are to be at Standard Level (SL) and 3 subjects are to be at Higher Level (HL). Students can achieve a maximum of 7 points per subject, giving a potential total of 42 points. There are three other features to IB that make it unique and highly respected: Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS), Theory of Knowledge (ToK) and the Extended Essay. The Extended Essay contributes to the overall Diploma score through the award of points in conjunction with Theory of Knowledge. A maximum of 3 points are awarded according to a candidate’s combined performance in both the Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge. Thus the maximum possible achievement is 45 points.

Students who do not choose the full IBDP may study selected subjects at either Standard or Higher Levels, for which individual subject certificates are awarded by the International Baccalaureate Organisation. There is also the option of re-sitting some IGCSE subjects with a view of improving grades and potentially commencing the full IBDP the following academic year. The ACG School Jakarta High School Diploma gives credits for subjects undertaken across Year 10 to 13.

At ACG School Jakarta we provide the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme to Year 6. Students from Year 7 to 11 follow the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) curricula, with external Checkpoint examinations at the end of Year 9 in English, Mathematics and Science. Students in Years 10 and 11 undertake courses for CIE International General Certificate in Secondary Education (IGCSE), with external examinations at the end of Year 11. We are in the process of authorization and intend offering the IB Diploma Programme (IBDP) for students in Years 12 and 13 from August 2017. The IBDP is highly regarded by the world’s leading universities and employers, there are more than 1 million students taking the IBDP examinations every year, which is available in 147 countries around the world.

We commence the learning journey in Kindergarten with a strong focus in early childhood education providing a play based programme which develops communication and socialisation skills preparing students for future learning opportunities. From Kindergarten to Primary, children form conceptions of themselves both in an educational and social sense. This time in a child’s life is crucial for developing fundamental learning abilities and provides an important basis for future achievement.

The IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) is designed for focusing on total development of the child in a social, cultural, physical and emotional context. This programme is designed to develop internationally minded people within a prescribed curriculum framework of essential elements; knowledge, concepts, skills, attitudes, and action. Each of these are clearly reflected in

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Indonesia expat issue 184

the IB Learner Profile which provides students with a reference point to develop life-long learning skills. The philosophy of the PYP directly affects the child and is expressed in a series of desired attributes and traits that are characteristic of learners with an international perspective. They apply to all learners and it is expected that all students participate in all aspects of the programme.

In Years 7 to 9, the broad-based curriculum provides an excellent foundation for study at senior secondary level. At the end of Year 9 students sit the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) Checkpoint examinations in Mathematics, English and Science.

These examinations give an objective measure of student performance and are internationally benchmarked.

During Years 10 and 11 students at ACG School Jakarta study a range of courses, some compulsory and some optional, which lead to examinations and internationallyrecognised qualifications called the International General Certificates of Secondary Education (IGCSEs), at ACG School Jakarta we are authorised by Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) to offer these qualifications. Deciding which courses to study in Years 10 and 11 is important because the qualifications gained at the end of the two years may affect a child’s individual career path. It is therefore crucial that the decision about what will be studied involves students, parents and teachers and is made after very careful consideration.

Our University Placements Counsellor is available assist in making choices.

At ACG School Jakarta we promote the value of education and encourage enjoyment and personal achievement in the classroom and beyond. We are fortunate to have an environment that allows us to maximise the individual attention our students receive.

This helps children to develop both academically and socially within the wider global community of the School.

A strong focus on language, literature and numeracy is a feature of ACG School Jakarta.

ACG School Jakarta offers a diverse and dynamic programme of education designed to help students reach personal goals both in the classroom and in their lives. With a strong focus on academic achievement we equip our students with the skills and knowledge to take the next step towards their future. Our highly qualified teachers deliver an innovative curriculum that encourages students to take on creative challenges and think critically. Classroom time is valued and used effectively. The teaching method ensures individual attention from teachers as well as the opportunity for all to participate fully in interactive class work, such as discussions and debates. Our teachers are focused on the individual progress of each student and one-on-one attention is a feature of the School. High achievers have the opportunity to take on extension classes.

Learning at ACG School Jakarta is characterised by enjoyment and discovery. A clear focus on academic work teaches students that nothing of value is achieved without energy, commitment and effort. All students are challenged to set goals for themselves, with extension activities in place to challenge, accelerate and enrich able students.

issue 184 Indonesia expat

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Indonesia expat issue 184