Mea Obiter Dicta – The Years of Astronomy in Indonesia

Welcome to my Cosmic Diary! Well, today is my birthday, (on Dec, 24th) and the next day is Xmas, still, many things hang over my head. So much to do, here & there. aWhat should i write for the Cosmic Diary? Not long ago, there were messages for my bday came on my facebook, also on my cellphone. Thanks to you all, for giving me such nice msgs for my bday. But then again, still D-7 before the official IYA 2009, and still have no clue what should i write.

Now, let’s play some musics; they said, music is a fine cure if you are not in a proper mood to do things. Should we rely on mood to do our tasks? Maybe .. at least what i am listening right now could do the trick.

Let’s follow the rhythm, (music: Solsbury Hill – Peter Gabriel & the mood: a little bit unusual). Yeah, with 7/4 time signature, that should be unusual .. Let’s my mood follow the rhythm, as the words flow in tremendous rate.

First, welcome to the Year of Astronomy! (If you read it on the 1st of January 2009). Astronomy? Whoaaa (reaction: awe), cool!! (reaction: excite), yeah (reaction: apathy), what? astronomy? (reaction: cynical), well .. there are many reactions about ‘astronomy’, but what i have learned from around me, they share something in common. Astronomy is an alien words, either too far to reach (as the stars), or simply they have no clue, what is astronomy after all.

Yes, indeed, the word astronomy, still accepted as foreign things. The word itself brought from the foreign vocabulary, and the understanding about it, still mix between the ‘science’ and ‘metaphysics’ (astrology), or simply something so far far away. Further more, the coming of Bill Gates sometimes ago and his explanation about WWT to our President only make more ‘woaaaw’ to the public.

Why does that happen? That would required a long journey to have a proper explanation. Nevertheless, there is a long history & tradition of astronomy in Indonesia, and i want to to divulge about.

The Legacy

Long before history ever recorded, the ancestor of Indonesian already had knowledge of the starry pattern in the sky. The purpose varied, either for agricultural activities, religious ceremonies, and for the marine activities, depend on the particular society that practice the knowledge. Then came the foreign religious believe, which brought another advancement to the knowledge. The Hinduism from India brought mathematical astronomy, in which still used in calendrical system until today in Balinese Hinduism. After the decline of Hindu kingdom, then came the Islamic teaching, which brought the knowledge, in particular for religious purpose, such as calculation for determination of direction (determination of exact direction of the Qibla on the Holy City in Mecca, Saudi Arabia) and day to day variation of the celestial bodies (the Sun and Moon), for the purpose of calendrical system and daily prayer. At that point, the determination and calculation of celestial bodies play important roles.

Then, in 17th century, for the first time, there was a contact with the Western culture. Establishing a contact between different cultures does not mean that there will be an easy transformation between the two, in the particular on the astronomy. Consider on how the two perceived astronomy. For the western, the observational of the sky is an underlying fact of how they do the observational science, as for the local, the observational is simply a tool for regular activities, as long as it’s work, so it is.

For that reason, it is understandable that in astronomy, while the Westerners flourishing the knowledge from the discovery of new world, the local still stay behind. For the eastern, the working of scientific observation seems a long and laborious work, without immediate nor applicable effect on them. It would take long time for the Indonesian to embrace the modern astronomy.

The New Era of Modern Astronomy

Since the first voyage to the southern hemisphere, the Netherlands had contributed much to discoveries that we know now as modern science of astronomy. Adopting the model of Basalla[1] on how the western science spread into non-European nations, this might fit the first phase of the model. The second phase epitomized by the commissioning of Bosscha Observatory, in Lembang, West Java, around 1920s. During that period, there were little number of large observatory in the southern hemisphere.

There, the observers from the Bosscha observatory nurturing more to the modern astronomy, like the contribution of measurement of Proxima Centaury. I will not discuss much about Bosscha observatory here, but i just want to emphasize the important role of Bosscha Observatory on shaping astronomy in Indonesia.

As a side note, my work on preserving the heritage of The Bosscha observatory also accepted on the IAU Symposium 260 in Paris. It is a pity that i can not go to Paris. Uh well.

The entrace of the third phase of the acceptance of modern astronomy in Indonesia strongly tied to the socio-political in Indonesia. There is a stage of Japanese occupation around 1942-45, then came the struggle for independence. The return of astronomy should wait until in 1951, when astronomy incorporated to university level of education in Indonesia (in ITB/Institut Teknologi Bandung). Until now only Institut Teknologi Bandung provides astronomy for university level in Indonesia. And since that time, the indigenous struggled to co-opt the science and establishing the independent scientific culture.

Contemporary Astronomy in Indonesia

In 1960, astronomy in Indonesia finding new direction, with the commissioned of 60 cm Schmidt telescopes, and from that time, the number of astronomers growth from time to time, along with the broadening of the field of interest. If previously, the astronomers involved in the study of double stars & galactic structure, the interest gradually broaden to theoretical cosmology, high energy astrophysics, solar physics, and so on, as the interest continue to expand. But, the nourishing interest on the field of astronomy does not simply reflect the flourishing of science.

On global level, the endeavor of humanity continue far beyond the boundary of our planet. The human had landed on the Moon, the rocket had been launched to the outer space, brought within the satellite to explore new planets, to observe objects beyond limitation of ground observations, to observe our own planets, etc. All in all, the progress of science, hand in hand with the development of technology have brought humanity to the new land of understanding, as we call it the modern world.

But as always, there is no such a thing as a free lunch. As the modernity move forward in an exponential pace, so does the ability to handle that progress also need to be multiplied, if one need to keep up the pace. As Indonesian tried to co-opt with the modernity, the progress does need new priorities and the same time new activities, so everything has to be divided, is it for the sake of social welfare? Is it for the sake of basic education? Is it for the sake of basic science? The priority has to be set. One can argue between the progress of science and the benefit of economy, but it is depend on how society perceive the science shall define the growth of science here.

Basic science is not a favorite subject if one want to pursue higher education on university nor on direction on governmental policy. In a harsh word, i would say, science is marginalized. That is understandable, because of some reasons:

1. As of many people perceive science seems as a long & tedious labor, without immediate effect nor direct application, so, why bother to pursue something that no immediate effect on society? Better spend the resources on something that have immediate effect on society. If we need transportation, it is easier to purchase a car, rather than to build one.

2. On the opposite end, many working field on society required person with education on applicative field. So, instead of pursue the study on basic science, the prefer to go on more applicative study, because that would be more accepted to works. No wonder, disregard the numbers of university grows in Indonesia, most of them cater the applicative field of study instead of basic science.

3. For the developing country, the availability for research depend strongly on fund from the government. So government dictate the direction of contemporary research. The only research institute in Indonesia that working on space science is LAPAN, so the institute should follow the need of the government and what government want, like the research on developing rocketry, satellite, and solar-terrestrial related. The freedom of research of astronomy only found within the wall of university.

Despite that the science astronomy live only in a small environment, but it is growing, at least reflected on the active membership on IAU, and because of the postgraduate study also available. And at the same time, more challenge need to be answered by current astronomers, for astronomy to be flourishing as the culture of science. The first challenge came from the science of astronomy itself, with more and more the new discoveries found, how ready the local astronomers follow it, continue to contribute to development of science? Consider this example, the study of extra solar planet, not just required the study from observation, but required the study of atmospheric science, biology, modeling, and so on, for sure, the field continue to expand and required more manpower, more disciplines to follow that study alone. Surely that would be challenging.

Not just from the science per se, the astronomy become the attention of amateur, and from time to time, the number of amateur grows and numerous communities & clubs created in many cities. Simply because of curiosity of the sky grows. Not just because people curious about what the see in the sky, but often people looks for basic understanding of celestial phenomena. So there is a need of the role for communicator of astronomy, who will bridging between the scientific realm and the laymen.

I don’t want to say that all those challenges should be answered by astronomers alone, because many fields also could fill the hole, but what i want to emphasize that is, the challenges can be answered if we can grow the culture of ‘modern science’, which is still a long run, and rely on how society perceive it in the future & continuous hard labor of current astronomers to pave the way for the future.

The Perspective of the Future

The long history of astronomy in Indonesia strongly tied with the existence of Bosscha observatory, so it is safe to say that astronomy in Indonesia already have a long tradition. There are many persons already acknowledged in the world as ‘astronomer from Indonesia‘, but that should not make we in Indonesia proud (at least me). Instead, i want to ponder more about what would be the future of astronomy in Indonesia?

Modern science getting more complex by new finding that always captivating, so it required more and more excellence, because the work of mediocre will simply produce mediocre results. That would be contra productive for the developing country like Indonesia. Maybe excellence people are hard to find, but that would not be the case. We have 200 million populations, and also, since the mid of 2000s, Indonesia attend the olympiad of astronomy for young students, and the result always satisfying. That means there are plenty of excellence generations. The question is, will they continue to study in astronomy? Or even they continue to study in astronomy, will they continue to work in astronomy? To continue in astronomy, it’s required a passion, otherwise, one should go elsewhere, because to continue in astronomy does not guarantee a better welfare.

The time will tell, if things will change. The time also will tell, because of Indonesia also (according to rumor) propose for the IAU General Assembly on 2018, interesting to see the future of astronomy.

Also, since the curious of community grows, more and more people paying attention to celestial phenomena, maybe the contribution to the astronomy will grow, and those contributions will shape the future of astronomy also, but the basic is still the same, it required a passion for the sky.

On regional level, such as on South East Asia region, the neighboring countries also start to give special attention to astronomy. The Malaysian already commissioned the Langkawi National Observatory, the Thailland shall commission the 2.4 m telescopes on 2009. And the current works of South East Asian Astronomy Network (SEAAN) and subsequently will be followed by the South East Asian Young Astronomers Collaboration (SEAYAC) is reflecting that the future of astronomy not only shaped the working of astronomy on one country is unique from one country only, but even, for the case of developing astronomy in the developing country, the astronomy have open the boundary between countries. Indeed, astronomy is belong to the humanity.

The Verdict

Like the year of 2009, known as The International Year of Astronomy (IYA), ‘Yours to Discover‘, which mean the time to share the sky to all, not just astronomy as the science per se, but astronomy is about our nature. But the year is not merely about the year of ‘Bazaar of Wonder‘, simply, it is the time to share the awareness about astronomy to all, and the repercussion of that year will shape the future of astronomy. But the question is still remain, why astronomy? Once, Frans Magnis Suseno SJ wrote[2]:

“Astronomi tak lain adalah ilmu yang ikut menjawab pertanyaan siapa manusia itu.” (Literal translation: “Astronomy is the science to answer who is human?“). Yeah, to understand who we are and where we are, indeed we need to understand how the nature works.

As for myself, why astronomy? Because of it’s fun? Yes indeed, it is always exciting to share the sky with people. But, should i play as ‘communicator of astronomy?’.

Hardly! I think my friends in the community, like ‘langit selatan‘ had nicely play that role. I hope they should have more attention and help to grow on communicating astronomy to public.

As the matter of fact, i work on scientific institution, so i have to stick on what my responsibility is. To do science, and should be a good science. However, science in developing countries is not simply pure scientific endeavor, it tied to the surrounding, the goal is dictated by the need on more important, more pressing issue.

Just recently, our Minister of Research & Technology, stated that the direction of national research should be focused on: Food sustainibility, renewable energy, technology of information & communication, transportation, defence, health & medicine.

To quote Primavera[3], (Mangrove expert from Philippine):

“We scientist in developing countries need to come down from the Ivory Tower and disseminate results not only in peer-reviewed journals but also through advocacy and the popular media. We must not forget our hearts even as we apply our minds. We do science not in a vacuum but against the grinding poverty and environment-unfriendly character of modern times, and we can use our scientific knowledge to reduce suffering and make life more full for fellow humans and creatures.”

…. then a brief pause ….

All in all, the Year of Astronomy is days ahead, i think i should prepare for the ‘Dawn of IYA’, post this right away & continue later on, let’s discover sumthin. Yours to discover.

Btw, happy holiday to you all reader! Hope you will have a great experiences from the sky next year!

Desiderata:
[1] Basalla, G., 1967, Science, 156:611-622.
[2] Suseno, SJ., F. M., 2001, Seminar Peringatan 50 Tahun Pendidikan Astronomi di Indonesia, Dept. Astronomi, ITB.
[3] Primavera, J. H., 2005, Science, 310:57-59.