Speech delivered on the Otto Soemarwoto Award ceremony
Assalamualaikum wrwb
Good morning ,
Distinguished professors and guests,
Rector magnificus of University of Padjadjaran,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Let me start by saying the first and foremost, on behalf of the family members of Otto Soemarwoto, we are truly honored by this gesture of appreciation and recognition for the legacy of our late father and grandfather. I would like to express our appreciation and gratitude to the rector and academic staff of the University of Padjadjaran and the organizing committee, for their perseverance in upholding sound principles in establishing the Otto Soemarwoto Award.
Earlier this year the family was approached by representatives of the University of Padjadjaran with the request for a permission to establish Otto Soemarwoto Award. It was not just a request that we could have never expected, but also one that needs a deep thinking to respond.
Permission in what sense? Is it merely a matter of yes or no? We soon realized that our father and grandfather, being a public figure, also belong to people at large. We therefore have a sense of duty and honour to ensure that the establishment of the award must not contradict the societal interest. On the other hand, although he was a public figure, we must take care that it should not lead to anything that Otto Soemarwoto in person would have opposed.
In the process we had to struggle with certain questions, such as what is the context of the award? What should exactly be the spirit behind the award? What significance is held in bestowing academic prestige (such as awards) in general? Who should be the recipient of the award?
For example, we tried to find the answers by contemplating role of the academia and what it means to be an academic. This is due to the apparent trend everywhere in the world in which universities and academics are increasingly valued by their name, ranking and number of publications. Surely these are all important factor that should be taken into account, but should it be a determinant one in selecting the laureate?
To find the answer, we had to flash back to the moment when Otto Soemarwoto was proposed as a laureate of the Doctor of Honoris Cause from Wageningen University in 1993. One of the Dutch promotors, Prof. Adema, defended “his work was not printed as articles in expensive prestigious high impact factor journals, but printed on the landscape of the South East Asia”. Otto Soemarwoto produced a sheer volume of scientific writings, but his ideas and thinking implemented in the real world were as decisive as his writings. We realized that such a judgement could only be left to experts most knowledgable in the field, not the children, not the family.
At another point of the spectrum of academics, as Otto Soemarwoto has shown us over his life time, he sometimes emerged as an activist whenever necessary. His direct contacts with various layers of the society demonstrated an authoritative dissent, which was exercised with full responsibility based on scientific knowledge. As a result of this, in many events he sometimes experienced alternate responses from the layers of the society towards his ideas and thinking. We realized that only those people who had been in touch with him, the students, the politicians, the businessmen, the artists, the youth of mountaineering clubs, and others are the ones who can describe best the impacts of his ideas and thinking, not the family, not the children.
Having said that, let me use this opportunity to share with you what I myself have picked up from my interaction with my father. As most of you know, my mother, Idjah Natadipradja, was also a scientist who had delivered a significant contribution as a research coordinator at the Institute of Ecology. I think everybody can agree with me that academic and scientific atmosphere in Indonesia was, or still is, challenging in terms of financing, policy, implementation, collaboration, etc. compared with that in the more developed world such as the US, Europe and Japan.
It is not surprising that often times the discussions were continued at home. I was already old enough to understand when they were facing challenges. After I became an academic and research staff member at the Bandung Institute of Technology ITB, I myself also experienced similar challenges.
My father’s advice to me can be summarized as follows: full-time but one commitment at a time for a long time. Furthermore, as a strategy he advised “think about things that other people don’t think about”, and you will be considered an expert, and people will entrust you with their interests and problems for you to solve, which means funding. Finally, act institutionally as an individual as part of a many. He said that that was how he started with home-garden.
However, I really obtained a full sense of understanding of his advice, after I started to work as a scientist 18 years ago at an aerospace research institute, Netherlands Aerospace Centre NLR at Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, a more developed country.
Remembering back the discussions between my father and my mother, I could begin to perceive that the Institute of Ecology was operated like other institutes in more developed countries. Within somewhat unfavourable academic and scientific atmosphere in Indonesia, I perceived the Institute of Ecology like an island where world reputability was built.
I am confident that the establishment of Otto Soemarwoto Award will strengthen the foundation of the society in general, and Institute of Ecology in particular, that was laid by my father to engage with ecological challenges in the country and on planet earth, towards a sustainable prosperous future of the world.
