YOGYAKARTA – Pharmacy professor from UGM, Prof. Dr. Umar Anggara Jenie, is one of 14 national figures that have been awarded by the Indonesian National Commission for UNESCO (KNIU) in the Education and Culture Ministry on Thursday (27/8) in Jakarta. Umar receives the UNESCO award in the category of science.
Speaking at the Faculty of Pharmacy UGM on Monday (14/9), Umar said the award was an appreciation from the UNESCO for his role in developing science in Indonesia . For one, he initiated the opportunity for young scientists to join the prestigious Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting between 2004 – 2008 in Germany when he chaired the Indonesian Science Institute (LIPI). It was not easy for the young scientists to join the event as they had to already have good publications of their scientific researches. “At that time I sent up to 15 scientists annually to the event,” he said.
For Umar, he did not merely implement the programmes of the UNESCO, but also ecouraged the young scientists to gain more knowledge from Noble laureates in the category of science, which enabled the young scientists to build a network between countries.
Umar, however, regretted the discontinuation of the Indonesian participation in the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting since his tenure had ended.
Furthermore, Umar recounted the programmes of UNESCO in developing basic science in Indonesia. In his opinion, many of Indonesian researchers are not interested in basic science researches, but applied sciences. Basic science is, actually, key for a nation to take good command of sciences.
Umar also commented that Indonesian science is not lacking behind, but we lack in facilities and funding, which prompt our scientists to stay overseas after they have completed their doctoral degrees. He suggested that they are given the opportunity to pursue their career anywhere in the world.
“We can be making progresses if we set up an open network with other countries,” he suggested.