November 24, 2015 edition

There was nothing more fascinating to five-year-old Josaphat Tetuko Sri Sumantyo than an array of defense systems in an air force base. His father, then a commander in the Special Task force used to take him to the base and then left him to wander alone. He was always drawn to the radar system at the base.
Young Josaphat then would ask the officers who were on duty, "Where were these made?" The officers showed him different radars made in different countries, the United Kingdom, Francebut none from Indonesia. It made an indelible impression on him, leaving him to wonder why his own country did not produce radars.

Read More

More Horizons articles in other editions

October 20, 2015 edition

When a woman came up to him after an event in Surabaya last April, Iwan Sunito, 49, never expected her to say that her son was one of his biggest fans. Iwan asked to meet her son, so along came this 12-year-old clad in black, his 8-year-old brother traipsing behind him. "Pak Sunito, when I grow up I want to be a property developer like you," the boy said.
Iwan was somewhat taken aback that a school boy from his hometown knew him as the CEO of one of the biggest real estate companies in Australia, the Crown Group. He asked the boy why he wanted to have a career in property and received a simple answer; because property prices would always go up and never come down. "I was even more surprised when he asked me to be his mentor," exclaimed Iwan, a father of three.

Read More

October 6, 2015 edition

Driving her small car to work every morning, Evie feels quite at home zigzaging through the traffic jam, "just like back in Jakarta," she said, heading towards the prestigious El Colegio de Mexico, which has been her place of work for almost two decades. But for a twist of fate, Evie would have been teaching at a university in Tokyo, Japan, in 1997. Instead, she flew to Mexico City on the other side of the world, and what was to have been a three-year posting turned out to be an indefinite stay. "I fell in love with the place," said Evie, explaining her reason for staying on.
In 1966, Evie was lecturing at the faculty of literature at the University of Indonesia, when department head Prof. Sapardi Djoko Damono, opened up the opportunity to teach Indonesian language in Tokyo and she had signed up. But then came the offer to teach for two years in Mexico, starting immediately. She was only given one night to make a decision. Evie decided to take it, rationalizing that she could still work in Japan in 1998, after her stint in Mexico.

Read More

Independent journalism needs public support. By subscribing to Tempo, you will contribute to our ongoing efforts to produce accurate, in-depth and reliable information. We believe that you and everyone else can make all the right decisions if you receive correct and complete information. For this reason, since its establishment on March 6, 1971, Tempo has been and will always be committed to hard-hitting investigative journalism. For the public and the Republic.