It is not quite six o'clock in the morning, but the children who live in the Tangerang employee compound, bleary eyed with sleep, are loaded onto a nine-seater school bus. No matter how noisy the bus is, there is perfect silence within, for the children sag down in all directions in order to round off their morning nap. To travel the whole route takes one hour and forty minutes which is ample time to permit them to sleep it out.
Tangerang is approximately 70 miles distant from their school, which is roughly equivalent to a daily trip from Hsinchu to Taipei in order to attend class. Not only is the distance so far, one must also put up with all the discomfort of a heavily overcrowded bus, so one can imagine the inconvenience and discomfort involved. This roundabout way of receiving an education is not chosen because the parents want to send their children to a topranking school for the social elite, but because they want to send them to the only Chinese school in Indonesia--the Taipei School in Jakarta.
It is almost unthinkable that a Chinese school should be established in a country whose laws forbid the publication of the Chinese language.
According to statistics, the number of overseas Chinese residents in Indonesia is as high as ten million. and at one time there were over 1200 Chinese schools. But since 1965, after the abortive revolution organized jointly by the Chinese Communists and the Indonesian Communist Party, the Indonesian government started to discriminate against the overseas Chinese. Orders were issued to close down all the Chinese schools, and Chinese were deported. Those unwilling to return to their native land had to adopt Indonesian nationality. Since then, the Chinese language has died out and the overseas Chinese made themselves invisible.
Steve Fang, chairman of the Indonesia Taiwan Business Club and director of the Jakarta Taipei School, recalls the fact that fourteen years ago, when he just arrived in Indonesia to invest, he could not see any signboard with Chinese writing on it. And setting up a Chinese school was unthinkable!
But today the unthinkable has become do-able, and in fact has been done. This is due to the fact that Taiwan has considerable economic clout in this country. Given the constantly increasing amount of money invested by Taiwan businessmen, the Indonesian government is beginning to take into account the importance of Taiwan capital. Steve Fang pointed out the fact that Taiwanese enterprises have invested US$4 billion, and this carries great weight.
In 1991, Taiwan business invested over US$1 billion in Indonesia, making Taiwan the number one foreign investor. In May of the same year, the Indonesian Ministry of Education allowed the establishment of a Chinese school, in order to accommodate the children of Taiwan investors.
Thus the Jakarta Taipei School came into being. The indispensable architects of this new school were the Taipei Economic and Trade Representative in Indonesia and the Indonesia Taiwan Business Club.
Starting in 1989, Taiwan's former representative in Indonesia, Tsou Wen-hua, made active and urgent representations to the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, its Ministry of Industry, its Ministry of Education, and every relevant government agency, in an attempt to wrest permission from them to establish a Chinese school. Official permission was finally granted in May of 1991 for a school that would "accept the children of Taiwanese investors."
Steve Fang points out that they hurried to establish the school because they were afraid that influence might be exerted by the Chinese Communists, for diplomatic relations between Indonesia and the PRC had just been restored. So as soon as the government ordinance had been passed on May 23, the opening of the Jakarta Taipei School followed close on its heels on September 2.
Within the short space of three months, the school materialized out of nowhere, and this was brought about by the combined efforts and sacrifices of a good many people. The chairman of the board of trustees of the Jakarta Taipei School, Steve Fang could hardly prevent himself from laughing when he recalled the inauguration of the school, for "from the headmaster down to the teacher no one was paid a salary. All the positions were filled by Taiwanese investors or their family members." And so in this fashion, with the use of makeshift temporary classrooms, one school year passed by.
At the same time, the school also took positive action to collect donations from every quarter for foundation money for school construction. The first party solicited was quite naturally the Indonesia Taiwan Business Club, followed by big Taiwanese corporations which had invested heavily in Indonesia; some Chinese merchants in Indonesia were also willing to help out. The concrete steel girders, toilet facilities, and even the school grounds were donated by enthusiastic people.
The Taipei School is located in the planned subdivision of Kelapa Gading, and occupies an area of 6,035 square meters. The landowners are the brothers Liang Shih-jen and Liang Shih-wen, Indonesians of Chinese ancestry. The land was offered to the Taipei School at the nominal rent of NT$12 for ten years. And during the period of school construction, four adjacent shops were used as temporary classrooms at no charge.
The father of the Liang brothers, Liang Hsi-you,was in former times a very public-spirited overseas Chinese leader. Liang Shih-wen said that this piece of land was offered to the Taipei School because of the support which his father had always given to the promotion of Chinese culture and civilization. Although Liang Shih-wen regrets the fact that his own children are unable to study at the Taipei School, he nevertheless adds: "It is worth celebrating that Taiwanese children can enjoy the opportunity for studying at a Chinese school."
The Indonesian government strictly limits the type of students allowed to study at the Taipei School. They must be "children of citizens from Taiwan." In other words, only those in possession of a Republic of China passport are allowed in. Children from Singapore, Hong Kong, or Indonesians of Chinese descent are debarred from attending.
Frequently heads of families come on special visits to Jack H.M. Chou, the school's principal. Once over ten family heads squeezed within the doors of the headmaster's office and told him: "You only have to name the price and we have it." But to these people, Chou can only express his regrets: "It wasn't easy to start the school in the first place. We cannot disobey the law, or otherwise our permit to operate the school will be cancelled."
Apart from the type of students permitted, the Taipei School's curriculum also differs from the majority of overseas Chinese schools.
In general, host countries where Chinese schools are located place limitations on the type of textbooks used as well as the number of school hours. But the academic curriculum of the Taipei School is exactly the same as that of Taiwan.
As of now, there are only three schools of this type; besides the Jakarta Taipei School there is one in Penang and one in Kuala Lumpur (both in Malaysia).
The Jakarta Taipei School implements the trilingual method of teaching. In other words apart from the teaching materials officially approved by the Ministry of Education in Taiwan, the Taipei School starts to teach English beginning with kindergarten, and adds Indonesian language education into the mix from the fourth grade.
Jack Chou declares that formerly there were no Chinese schools, and fathers of families were compelled to send their children to American schools or international schools where all teaching was carried out in English, to receive a completely Western education. "That really is the point of no return," he pointed out. Western education is totally incompatible with Chinese education. And once you"go Western" then you have to stay in that educational system until the end. Nowadays, with the Taipei School, students receive an education in which they have both a sound Chinese language base as well as foreign language skills. Not only is this compatible with education in Taiwan, the student is also granted the option of advanced study abroad, so it's "the best of both worlds."
The Jakarta Taipei School has been operating for two years now. From kindergarten to the first year of junior high, there are altogether two hundred and six pupils, and full-time teachers number twenty-one. This means that there is one teacher for every nine students. When you compare this with Taiwan, where there is one teacher to thirty students, then these students receive far more personal care and attention.
But even if the small class system allows for more individual supervision, the pressure on the teacher is not thereby reduced.
Lin Ya-chiung, a teacher and guidance counselor for second-year primary school students, who taught in Taiwan for twelve years, declares that teaching here is three times more difficult than teaching in Taiwan. She explains: "Family heads here enjoy a maximum amount of leisure, and they keep with the teacher in every respect, and so teachers are under a lot of pressure."
In Taiwan there is a higher proportion of families with both parents going out to work, while it is quite the reverse in Indonesia. Most mothers are housewives, and hence the opportunities for attending school activities and supervising school teaching are greatly enhanced.
Quite a few students travel a considerable distance to attend the Taipei School, and some mothers make a point of personally sending or fetching their children to and from school. They while their day away by going the rounds of the department stores, paying visits to friends to learn how to cook a new dish, or just visiting. Some of them may even wait at school until classes are over.
At Saylong in West Java, the Pt. Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper Corporation is a self-constituted social district. They operate a twenty-seater school bus for the purpose of conveying the children of employees to and from school. Mama Huang, the mother of two children who attend the Taipei School, has taken on the volunteer work of shepherding these young charges to and from school for over a year now. And she has done so without complaint. She notes that the distance from home to school is so far that it's not really feasible to return home and then comeback again when school gets out. "Fortunately the school takes me in," says Mama Huang, who does volunteer work in the school library to avoid the headache of having no place to go all day.
The customs declaration in entry ports of Indonesia stipulates: "No narcotics or Chinese language publications allowed." From this one can deduce the absolute dearth of Chinese information in Indonesia. The Jakarta Taipei School possesses a library of only just over 3,300 Chinese books, but it has still been nicknamed the richest repository of Chinese books in all of Indonesia. The books in this library have been donated for the most part by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission with permission from the Indonesian authorities. A small number have been donated by the children's parents.
In an Indonesia which strictly prohibits the circulation of the Chinese language, Chinese information is very precious. For example, in an area managed by the Ret-Ser (Retired Serviceman's) Engineering Agency, periodicals a week old are called "new newspapers," and a Chinese newspaper being passed on from family to family is a frequent occurrence.
Perhaps it is because of a lack of information, or a lack of cultural stimulation, but the children here seem to be not as mischievous as the children of Taiwan. Wang Miao-ssu, a teacher and guidance counselor for the middle school, says that "this is an environment without window shopping, video games, or movie star hero worship, so the children are very innocent and do not easily become delinquent."
Some people reckon that since the Jakarta Taipei School is very far from Taipei, then it can avoid interference and burdens from the educational authorities, so they are free to build a school totally different from that of Taipei.
As a matter of fact, not only has the Jakarta Taipei School not been able to give up the Taiwan style of education, it is on the contrary even "more Taiwan" than schools in the home country.
Principal Jack Chou points out that because there always exists the possibility of the students returning to Taiwan to take the entrance examination to senior high or the university, the pressure stays on to prepare for the exams, so that the school and parents of the students all tend to regard education in Taiwan as the model to follow.
A parent by the name of Wang Hsi-po, after over two years of careful observation and consideration, finally decided to bring his daughter along to Indonesia to study at the Taipei School. He says that Indonesia is a good place, the air is unpolluted, and the living environment quite favorable, but the only worry is the education of the children. "We are guests here, and there will always come a day when we must return to Taiwan. Will the educations of the children be compatible? Will the kids be able to fit into the schools there? Will they be able to compete? This is the greatest pressure we feel."
Although Jack Chou said in the parents' association meeting that he was confident that "we will not compare unfavorably with the schools of Taipei," he could not dispel all the doubts harbored by the parents. An extremely worried mother came up with the suggestion that the school should test its own standard by making the students take and sit for the Taiwan examinations. And the headmaster agreed immediately. As you might guess, starting soon afterwards the Jakarta Taipei School not only followed the Taiwan curriculum step by step, they even took their examinations at the same time.
The Taipei School not only solved the problem of educating the children of Taiwanese businessmen, it also serves as "an extended family" on foreign soil.
Huang Chih-sheng, a general superintendent for the Ret-Ser Engineering Agency at the Tangerang work site, says that in the past Taiwan businessmen went about their own affairs, to each his own, and they lacked cohesion. But after the Taipei School had been established, everyone participated, and the school gradually turned into a focal center for Chinese activities.
Huang points out that the Taiwan Economic and Trade Representative Office in Jakarta only convened everybody on the occasion of the celebration of ROC National Day on October 10. Now, the Taipei School holds frequent activities, and every time an activity is arranged, it mobilizes 800-1000 participants.
Primary school teacher Lin Ya-chiung feels very much the same way: "Our children's parents used not to know each other at all. Now, not only does every body know everybody else, every Saturday and Sunday they gather together to play ball."
This new vigor has earned the respect of the consortia in the region. Jack Chou points out that there are already five or six consortia which are willing to sell plots of land to the school at one-fifth or one-fourth the current rate. The reason is the location of the school can not only enhance the public image of the neighborhood, Taiwan businessmen and entrepreneurs will also utilize it as a focal center for gathering together, and thus it will attract a good many outlying families to move to the vicinity.
If you ask a parent what there is about the Jakarta Taipei School which does not please him, then nine times out of ten the answer will be: "The tuition is too expensive!"
Principal Chou replied that the reason why tuition fees have remained high is because of the paucity in student numbers, which creates a corresponding increase in cost.
At present a Taipei School student spends on average approximately US$3,000 on tuition and miscellaneous expenses. By comparison, in public primary schools in Taiwan the tuition is free, and in high schools only a miscellaneous fee of about NT$1,000 (US$40) is charged. Even in private high schools and primary schools every year a student spends only NT$20-30,000 (US$800-1,000). And so the Jakarta Taipei School's fees are truly exorbitant.
In comparison with other international schools in the Jakarta area, apart from the American School which charges tuition fees ranging from US$8500-9500 annually, which leaves the Taipei School far behind, the tuition fees charged by the Taipei School are high in comparison with the Japanese School (US$1,000), the Korean School (US$2,400), or the French School (US$2,600).
Perhaps some people believe that Taiwan businessmen are "rich," and footing higher tuition and school fees should not be too much of a burden. But in fact this is not the case. Jack Chou says that if one looks at the families which send children to the Taipei School, out of 143 families, only 23% are headed by independent entrepreneurs, while the others are managerial or technically skilled personnel who have been hired to work in Indonesia. Tony Huang, general manager of the Pt. Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper Corporation, says only half in jest: "We are not Taiwanese businessmen, we are Taiwanese workmen!"
Even the independent entrepreneurs, because they have invested in Indonesia comparatively late, are still at the initial stage of establishing themselves. According to Jack Chou's estimate, at present there are only five to ten families that can really be styled as affluent.
Currently school for overseas Chinese are directed by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission. Being regarded as an overseas private Chinese school, the Jakarta Taipei School is no exception. Yet both the school and the parents feel that this designation is a little inaccurate.
"We are not overseas Chinese. Our families are in Taiwan. We are only transient visitors here!" This is how one parent employed to work in Indonesia feels. He has come to Indonesia to work and not to immigrate, and since he has no means to obtain an overseas Chinese certificate, and since he is still undecided as to how to send his children back home to pass the necessary examinations, everything for him is in a state of uncertainty.
As for the above problems, Chao Lin, the secretary-general of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission, has made it clear that in accordance with the regulations governing technical cooperation with other countries, the term "overseas Chinese" means all those Chinese with ROC citizenship who live outside the territory of the Republic of China. In other words, apart from Chinese citizenship, one must also obtain the right to permanent residence in the foreign country.
As for overseas Chinese living in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, which will not grant them permanent residence, the government has already revised the laws to say that, provided the people can provide evidence of long-term residence abroad, they also can claim the right to be regarded as overseas Chinese.
Since they are overseas Chinese, then their families can quite naturally obtain the same status. Chao Lin says that students of the Taipei School can receive the same favorable treatment on their secondary-and tertiary-school entrance exams in Taiwan as overseas Chinese provided they fill the condition of being resident overseas for at least eight years.
But the Taipei School is still not satisfied with the designation of an "overseas Chinese" school. Jack Chou says that the Taipei School is different from other overseas Chinese schools, which teach the persons of Chinese descent who are citizens or permanent residents of other countries: it is a school set up by ROC nationals abroad.
The ROC Constitution stipulates that each Chinese citizen has the right to receive an education. Principal Chou believes that the government is pushing a "look south" policy of improving relations with the nations of Southeast Asia, yet it has not solved the problem of educating the children of Taiwanese businessmen. This is in fact "unconstitutional."
A good many parents and heads of families believe also that the Jakarta Taipei School should move in the direction of "compulsory education." So-called "compulsory education" means that the Taipei School can become an overseas public school. It would receive the same treatment as Taiwan's public schools with regard to teacher's salaries, tuition fees, and so on. Steve Fang argues," The government wants us to retain roots in Taiwan, but if there is no free education, and if our next generation does not understand Chinese at all, then how can we retain our roots in Taiwan?"
In response to this idea, Chao Lin notes that there is no legal basis for it. There has never been a case of a country which establishes a public school in a geographic location belonging to a foreign power. And furthermore Taiwan does not have official diplomatic relations with Indonesia. Chaoalso notes that the overseas schools of America and Japan, although partly subsidized by their respective governments, remain nevertheless private schools.
"As a matter of fact, we have done our best to support the Taipei School." Chao points out that there are over 3,800 Chinese language schools scattered throughout the entire globe. The Commission annually provides anywhere from US$200-2000 to the majority of these schools in financial assistance. The Commission also provides textbooks free of charge to those who need them.
By comparison, the Jakarta Taipei School enjoys very favorable treatment. Not only has it obtained about US$670,000 of financial assistance, the entire school's textbooks and materials are provided them free of charge by the Commission.
And because the Taipei School belongs to the private school category, and since the financial assistance it has received far exceeds that of other Chinese language schools, the Commission believes that there is a need to enact legal ordinances to guard against the squandering of public money or the disappearance of such money in the private pockets of individuals. Chao reveals that the Commission has already requested specialists to undertake a study of the relevant ordinances.
Although there still remains dispute concerning the status of the Taipei School, this mode of establishing schools has already received public approval. Chao Lin states that the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission is in the process of duplicating the Taipei School model by extending this experiment to Subic Bay, the United States, Canada, and other places.
The establishment of the Taipei School has paved a road for the government's "look south" policy. We will not debate the success or failure of the look south policy here. But what we can affirm is that, in the words of Principal Jack Chou: "In the future,the culturally ambidextrous Chinese nationals produced by the Taipei School will be an important resource for national development and internationalization."
[Picture Caption]
p.22
Taking advantage of a visit from reporters, the whole school gets together for a commemorative photo. They are not posing by putting their hands in front of their faces, it's just that the sun is too strong.
p.23
This three--story building is the only Chinese--language school in all of Indonesia.
p.24
The Jakarta Taipei School teaches English beginning in kindergarten; classes are divided not by age, but by level.
p.25
So that students from far away can get home early, the school has dispensed with the afternoon 70-minute lunch and rest period typical of schools in Taiwan; kids in Jakarta get only 40 minutes.
p.25
School furniture has been donated by helpful people. To accommmodate students of different heights, the school has seven different types of chairs.
p.26
There are just over 50 kindergarten students at the Jakarta Taipei School. Because there are few students, everyone has a chance to get up on stage and perform in arts competitions.
p.27
In Indonesia, where labor is very inexpensive, even middle class families can hire "nurses" to look after the children. Having a babysitter, servant, or chauffeur meet the children after class is a special feature at the Jakarta Taipei School.
p.27
Taking advantage of a Sunday off, the school puts the pillows used by the kindergarteners out to air in the sun.
p.28
The Ret--Ser Engineering Agency people at Tangerang have to set up their homes where they work. Though this is a nomadic existence, at least the kids in the compound aren't lonely.
p.29
The dormitory at the school is full up, and two brothers (first and second at right) who live very far away had to stay at the school principal's home.
p.29
Staff of the Pt. Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper Company have 18 children in the Jakarta Taipei School. The photo shows the company school bus.
p.30
The Jakarta Taipei School is located in the Kalapa Gading new town. It is separated from the nearby residences only by some wire fence.
p.31
Liang Shih--wen, of Chinese ancestry, is a benefactor of the school. Though his family has been in Indonesia for five generations, he can still speak Chinese. The photo shows Mr. and Mrs. Liang with the school principal.
This three--story building is the only Chinese--language school in all of Indonesia.
The Jakarta Taipei School teaches English beginning in kindergarten; classes are divided not by age, but by level.
So that students from far away can get home early, the school has dispensed with the afternoon 70-minute lunch and rest period typical of schools in Taiwan; kids in Jakarta get only 40 minutes.
School furniture has been donated by helpful people. To accommmodate students of different heights, the school has seven different types of chairs.
There are just over 50 kindergarten students at the Jakarta Taipei School. Because there are few students, everyone has a chance to get up on stage and perform in arts competitions.
In Indonesia, where labor is very inexpensive, even middle class families can hire "nurses" to look after the children. Having a babysitter, servant, or chauffeur meet the children after class is a special feature at the Jakarta Taipei School.
Taking advantage of a Sunday off, the school puts the pillows used by the kindergarteners out to air in the sun.
The Ret--Ser Engineering Agency people at Tangerang have to set up their homes where they work. Though this is a nomadic existence, at least the kids in the compound aren't lonely.
The dormitory at the school is full up, and two brothers （first and second at right） who live very far away had to stay at the school principal's home.
Staff of the Pt. Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper Company have 18 children in the Jakarta Taipei School. The photo shows the company school bus.
The Jakarta Taipei School is located in the Kalapa Gading new town. It is separated from the nearby residences only by some wire fence.
Liang Shih--wen, of Chinese ancestry, is a benefactor of the school. Though his family has been in Indonesia for five generations, he can still speak Chinese. The photo shows Mr. and Mrs. Liang with the school principal.
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