Kunjungan Prof Peter Waterworth ke Diknas Tangsel

Prof. Dr. Peter Waterworth merupakan mantan dosen Universitas Deakin, Melbourne, Australia. Sejak ia pensiun aktif memberikan kuliah paruh waktu di beberapa universitas: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapura, Indonesia, dan memberikan seminar di berbagai Negara Amerika dan Europa. Masyarakat pendidikan khususnya Kabupaten dan Kota Serang, serta umumnya Banten sangat akrab dengan beliau karena sering memberikan seminar, workshop, conference, supervisi tentang pembaharuan pendidikan sejak tahun 1998. Ia juga merupakan mediator kerjasama antar sekolah (sister school) untuk sekolah yang berada di Australia dengan sekolah yang berada di Indonesia.

Pada hari Senin, 12 Oktober 2009, Ia mau mengunjungi Dinas Pendidikan Kota Tangsel (jam 9.00 – 10.00) dan SMA Negeri 2 Kota Tangsel ( 11.00 – 14.00). Di sekolah ini,ia mau bertemu dengan Kepala Sekolah SMA Negeri 2 Tangsel dan bertemu dengan dewan guru ( jam 11.00 – 12.00), dan beliau mau mengadakan workshop dengan para kepala sekolah se- Kota Tangsel yang sekolahnya sudah menyandang kualifikasi SBI/RSBI/SSN yang berada di Kota Tangsel (jam 13.00 – 14.00) bertempat di SMA Negeri 2 Tangsel.

Selain itu, maksud kedatangan beliau juga adalah untuk memotivasi jalinan hubungan sister school yang sudah ada, misalnya: SMA Negeri 3 Tangsel berpasangan dengan Castlemaine Secondary College, Castlemaine. SMA Negeri 4 Tangsel bermitra dengan Weeroona Secondary College, Bendigo. Hal ini sebagai tindak lanjut kunjungan Bapak Drs Dadang Sofyan, Kadis Diknas Kota Tangsel dan rombongan ke Melbourne, Australia pada bulan Agustus lalu. Termasuk dalam kegiatan tersebut adalah mempromosikan sekolah-sekolah di Tangsel, yang salah satunya adalah SMA Negeri 2 Tangsel.

Hubungan sister school antara sekolah di Kota Tangsel difasilitasi juga oleh Drs. H. Herli Salim, M.Ed. Ia merupakan mediator sekolah Indonesia yang mau menjalin kerjasama pendidikan dengan sekolah Australia. Ia bertempat tinggal di Kota Melbourne, Australia, karena saat ini, Ia sedang belajar di Program Doktor Universitas Deakin, Melbourne, Australia. Ia merupakan dosen Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Kampus Serang, Banten. Ia aktif mendampingi Prof Dr. Peter Waterworth dalam setiap kegiatan pendidikan yang diselengarakan di Banten dan di seluruh kota Indonesia. Kerjasama pendidikan SMA Negeri 3 Tangsel dan SMA Negeri 4 Tangsel dengan sekolah Australia sudah terjalin dalam bentuk saling berkirim surat dan membuat web blog bersama.

Kunjungan Prof Dr. Peter Waterworth sudah dikomunikasikan oleh Drs. H Herli Salim, M.Ed. kepada Bapak Drs. Dadang Sofyan, Bapak Drs. Dedi Rafidi, Kasi Dikmenti, dan Bapak Drs. P.A. Sopandy, Kepala Sekolah SMA Negeri 2 Tangsel. Marilah kita gunakan kesempatan ini bagi para siswa SMA Negeri 3 Tangsel dan SMA Negeri 4 Tangsel untuk lebih mengeratkan tali batin dengan sekolah yang berada di Australia. Untuk itu, silakan siswa dan siswi menulis surat dan titipkanlah surat tersebut ke Pak Peter untuk disampaikan ke para siswa di Australia. Untuk keterangan lebih lanjut, silakan hubungi Bapak Drs. Ibni Afan, Koordinator Program, di SMA Negeri 4 Tangsel. Mari sukseskan kunjungan Prof Dr Peter Waterworth ke Kota Tangerang Selatan ! (HS, 2009).

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English Version
Professor Peter Waterworth visits the Tangsel Educational Region

Prof. Dr. Peter Waterworth is an ex-lecturer from the Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. Since his retirement, he is still actively giving part-time lectures in several universities in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. He also gives seminars in different parts of America and Europe. The educational personnel, especially in the Banten region and the city of Serang, knows him very well because of his seminars, workshops, conferences and his supervision of the education renewal since 1998. He also is a mediator for all the sister schools in Australia with schools in Indonesia.

On Monday, 12 October 2009, he visited the Regional Office in the city of Tangsel, SMA Negeri 2 Kota Tangsel. At this school he met with the principal and the leading teachers. He also held a workshop for all of the principals in the Tangsel area who were leading schools who had already qualified for international standing.
Apart from that, his visit was also to motivate other schools to develop sister school relationships. For example, SMA Negeri 3 Tangsel has formed a partnership with Castlemaine Secondary College. SMA Negeri 4 Tangsel has established a partnership with Weeroona College Bendigo. This is because of the visit to Melbourne, Australia made by Dr Dadang Sofyan, the head of Tangsel Region last August. This included the promotion of all of the schools in the Tangsel region, one of them is SMA Negeri 2 Tangsel.


The sister school relationship between schools in Tangsel is being facilitated by Drs H. Herli Salim, M. Ed. He is the mediator for Indonesian schools who would like to form educational partnerships with Australian schools. He lives in Melbourne because at the moment he is undertaking a PhD at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. He is a lecturer at the Indonesian Education University, Serang Campus, Banten. He actively accompanies Prof Dr. Peter Waterworth in all educational activities that were being held in Banten and throughout Indonesia. Co-operative Education between SMA Negeri 3 Tangsel and SMA Negeri 4 Tangsel with the Australian schools has already been formed through correspondence and developing a blog site together.

The visit of Prof. Dr. Peter Waterworth has already been communicated by Drs H. Herli Salim, M.Ed. to Bapak Drs Dadang Sofyan, Bapak Drs. Dedi Rafidi and Bapak Drs. P.A. Sopandy, Principal of SMA Negeri 2 Tangsel. Let’s use this opportunity for all the students in the abovementioned Indonesian schools to form stronger spiritual ties with schools in Australia. For this purpose please encourage the students to write letters and give it to Pak Peter for him to take to the students in Australia. For more information, please contact Bapak Drs. Ibni Afan, Program co-ordinator at SMA Negeri 4 Tangsel. Let us help him make the program successful.

Written by Pak Herli Salim
Translated by Sandra Penna and Robyn Elmi

10 killed, 41 missing in Cianjur after Java powerful quake

The Jakarta Post , Cianjur, West Java | Thu, 09/03/2009 10:08 AM | National

Ten people were killed and 41 others are still missing in a small village in Cianjur regency after a 7.3-magnitude quake shook the southern part of West Java on Wednesday afternoon.

Apudin, 61, a resident of Cikangkareng village, said he had been walking along the kampung alley when he had witnessed the earthquake cause a hill facing one of the village's neighborhoods slide in less than three minutes.

"It happened very fast. We were all too panicked to save our lives," he told The Jakarta Post Thursday.

More than a dozen houses and a mosque are currently buried under rocks and soil from the landslide.

Agus Ibro, 34, a resident who manages the evacuation of the earthquake victims, said it was quite hard for the residents to locate more bodies on Wednesday since they had run the evacuation manually.

"Two excavators are reportedly heading to this place, we hope we can find more bodies today," he said.

Among the victims, according to Agus, was head of the community unit in the neighborhood.

"We only found his left leg, but his family has confirmed that it was his leg," he said

This morning, the residents, helped by officers from the army and local red-cross, will continue the evacuation. (hwa)

Gempa Bumi di Tasikmalaya, Jawa Barat

TEMPO Interaktif, Jakarta - Gempa 7,3 Skala Richter dipastikan oleh Badan Meteorologi dan Geofisika tidak menimbulkan gelombang tsunami. Namun, gempa pukul 14.55 WIB yang berpusat di Tasikmalaya, Jawa Barat, itu merontokkan beberapa atap bangunan. Beberapa menit setelah gempa, badan ini sempat memberi peringatan berpotensi tsunami.

Guncangan gempa dirasakan hampir seluruh wilayah Jawa. Sejumlah kota di Jawa Barat dan Jawa Tengah, warganya merasakan adanya getaran gempa selama beberpa detik. di Kota Bandung, sebuah kantor bank rusak.

Begitu pula di Jakarta, gempa ini menimbulkan kepanikan penduduk dan mengakibatkan kerusakan beberapa fasilitas. Pegawai di perkantoran Jalan Suidrman berhamburan keluar. Mereka memadati ruas jalur lambat, lantaran takut gedung jangkung tempatnya bekerja, bakal terjadi apa-apa.

An Ozzy Dinner

Bu Robyn came to pick us up with a smaller car than the previous one. We all hurriedly got into her car and she started driving the car towards the Bendigo City. The city at night was glamorous with lights and many people performing their nightly ritual. The car crossed the city and began passing the scenic hills and creeks. Along the way, we saw a huge tract of farming land, green grass, as well as farms with various vegetables and fruits, cattle, etc. It was a totally different scene to what we face every day in Tangerang, which is crowded, with many people all striving for land. Here, as far as we could see was a huge, vast land.

The car turned left into a country road. The tyres bumped along a rough surfaced road. On our left and right hand sides were big trees and thick shrub, sometimes we passed ‘a small jungle’. The group began wondering: Mau kemana kita ini? Apakah daerah ini aman? Jangan-jangan ada penjahat! (Where are we going ? Is this region safe? Are we sure there are no thugs over here!). They began to worry about their safety and why Bu Robyn took them to such a place!

The car entered a gate but it was still empty land that we saw. After a couple of minutes driving, the car reached a new, glimmering house. A few cars were there but the surrounding area was black and quiet. Our friend, Andy, came out from the house with two dogs following her to greet us. It was a nice house with white pebbles, which was situated in a remote area. The distance to the other houses was far…far away. Who is the owner of this house? She must be very brave lady living in a house far from neighbours? We had so many questions.

We entered a room. It was warmer inside compared to the cold and windy winter weather outside. We saw a lady, who was busy cooking in a neat kitchen. She greeted us with an Australian accent: “Hello, everyone, welcome to my home, my name is Susan, nice to meet you all.” she said to all of us. We shook hands and introduced each other. Susan is the owner of the house and she was willing to host us and provide us with a typical Australian dinner: BBQ. Everyone was happy and Pak Afan chatted with Andy and asked about his family. Pak Dedi was also excited to see Andy. He met her when she went to Ciputat last Easter Holidays with Bu Robyn. “Unbelievable, Andy, I am here and to meet you?” said Pak Afan enthusiastically. A happy reunion of friends!

Bu Susan took us on a tour of her house. In the backyard she pointed to where Kangaroos wander in that area. However, tonight they did not appear. They were shy because of the visitors. Looking to the other side, we saw many horses standing in the dark with cloth on their backs to protect them from wind and rain. Bu Susan pointed and said, “That was my parents’ old house over there and at the back of it is my nearest neighbour to this house. My house now is relatively new. I just recently finished building it”. Then, we went back into the room.



Everyone chatted happily. We began enjoying the cakes on the table. Bu Robyn was busy helping Bu Susan. Bu Robyn bought a bottle of chilli sauce for this occasion because she knows that we love chilli sauce so much. Talking, laughing, chatting were dominating the living room. An aura and spirit of friendship exists here. Bu Susan did the cooking herself and it was almost done. We looked around the room and saw many antique ornaments from a past time in the living room. There were many pictures of horses with Bu Susan riding them. It was a lovely and well facilitated house!

We ate our dinner at a round table. This table had a moving part with food on it. We turned the table and selected any food we wanted. Grilled chicken, baked potatoes, breads, vegetables, etc were served on the table. We tried to communicate as best as we could. Our body, mind, eyes and face expressed our feeling of this friendship visit. Even though our English words are limited, our hearts are vast and huge to deliver our messages to our best Australian friends. We enjoy and love this friendship.

After we finished dinner, the conversation was continued on the sofa. Bu Susan joined us. All of us could not wait to ask her a lot of questions:
“Why are you living here alone? Didn’t you feel afraid?” said a friend.
“Do you protect yourself with a gun? If a bandit comes you can use it!” said another friend.“It is such a big…Wow! To realize only one person lives in this vast land and in such a big house! We were amazed.

We were amazed by the secure condition of this country life. We knew how safe this residence was from Bu Susan’s explanations. Even, Bu Susan doesn’t even lock the front door at night time. The Indonesian friends’ minds were imagining and comparing this situation with their own country’s situation, which was extremely different. Finally, thank you Bu Robyn, Bu Andy, for organizing this dinner. Our special thanks also go to Bu Susan, who prepared her house and served us with such a delicious meal. We tasted a country Australian dinner. We invite you to come to Indonesia to forge our friendship. (HS).

Posted by CIPUTAT WEEROONA FRIENDSHIPS at 6:59 PM 2 comments

Reached Bendigo

Tangerang Selatan Education Delegation has just visited Weeroona Secondary College in Bendigo last August 2009. This visit was a return visit to a visit made by two WSC teachers to SMA Negeri 2 Ciputat / SMA Negeri 4 Tangerang Selatan during the last Easter Holidays. The delegation comprised of Pak Dadang Sofyan, Director of Education Tangsel City, Pak Dedi Rafidi, School Principal of SMA Negeri 2 Ciputat, and also head of Senior School Department of Education at Tangsel Education City, and Pak Ibni Afan, the Program Coordinator at SMA Negeri 2 Ciputat, and Pak Herli Salim, the Indonesian Sister Schools Mediator. The delegation was picked up by Bu Robyn and her daughter Neima, from Melbourne Airport.

The first amazing thing about Australia was expressed by the group when they saw Bu Robyn driving a bus. Wow! That was something that we do not often see in Indonesia: A lady driving a big bus! We were all excited to talk during the trip from Melbourne to Bendigo. During the trip all of the people ate Nasi (Rice) which was prepared by Bu Ita- Pak Herli's wife. On the way, Bu Robyn explained the places we passed. The trip to Bendigo took us approximately 1.5 hour and Bu Robyn was very skilful at driving the big bus to reach Bendigo.

We stayed at a motel in Bendigo. This motel has a nice view of Lake Weeroona. It is a lake surrounded by green trees and decorated with flowers at its edge. There were many people jogging around it at that time. The area was very quiet and we breathed fresh air. Many birds were flying around and singing. The sun shone and we tried to warm up our freezing bodies. It was far, far away from the busy metropolitan city of Jakarta. We were happy when we saw the lake, and a photo session started. Everyone showed their own style and unique performances. All of us were very excited to take photos at the lake in the freezing Bendigo weather. We were very impressed by the management of the environment. Wow! What a nice city with a good lake management!


Lake Weeroona is situated in Napier Street. It is a popular destination for tourists and locals alike, with hundreds of people enjoying the fantastic amenities and natural surrounds every weekend. The picturesque ornamental lake is situated on an 18 hectare reserve with picnic areas and parkland featuring a fun and fitness track, BBQ's, undercover picnic facilities and a playground, and it is one of the city's most visited recreation facilities. From a simple picnic on the lush lawns on the lake foreshore, to a romantic sunset meal overlooking the water at the Boardwalk Cafe, Lake Weeroona is a great place to spend a glorious summer day.

Then, Bu Robyn escorted us to visit Bendigo Tourist Centre to find out information about Bendigo. We found a lot of information about old mining times when Bendigo was in its golden era. Many people came here to search for gold. We walked to a backyard and went to a tower in a nice and beautiful garden surrounding it. We stepped up to the first level of the tower to see Bendigo City. Pak Dadang was very enthusiastic: he walked to the top. How did you feel Pak Dadang? Wow! Di atas lebih dingin dan banyak angin! (It was colder and windy at the top!). After that, we went to downtown Bendigo to see the city in a glance. Pak Dedi bought an electrical adapter for charging his 'beloved' mobile phone. The others walked along the road and absorbed the Bendigo City activities.

We went back to the motel to take a rest because this was what we expected at this moment. Our stomachs were still full but our eyes asked for some sleep. We noticed a bunch of yellow flowers which was put on our table – native wattle. Thank you for the flowers, Bu Robyn. It was really like our hearts were blossoming in happiness and overwhelmed with enthusiasm of our growing friendship. "Ok, have a nice rest Bapak-bapak, I will pick you up at 5 pm. We will have an Ozzie barbeque tonight," said Bu Robyn when she left us.
(to be continued)

Posted by CIPUTAT WEEROONA FRIENDSHIPS at 1:04 PM 0 comments

VISIT TO WEEROONA COLLEGE BENDIGO

Staff and students at Weeroona College Bendigo are busily preparing a program to welcome our special guests from Indonesia who will arrive on 6th August.

Drs. Dadang Sofyan, MM

He is the director of education for Tangerang Selatan City. Previously, he was the head of the Senior School and Higher Education Section at Banten National Education Office. During his term, he intends to make Tangerang Selatan City an educational icon. In this area there are lot of schools and universities with international standards. He wishes to establish links with the Australian schools for the Tangerang Selatan schools. Therefore, Drs Dadang Sofyan visit to Australia will strengthen his main program and enhance the link between SMA Negeri 2 Ciputat and Weeroona Secondary College in particular and with all Victorian / Bendigo schools in general.



Drs. Dedi Rafidi

He is the school Principal of SMA Negeri 2 Ciputat Tangerang. The school is located in Ciputat where parents are enthusiastic to increase the educational level of their children to reach international standards. This is the main reason that drives the educational link and cooperation with Weeroona Secondary College Bendigo. This visit is intended to cement the relationship which was established when two teachers from Weeroona travelled to Ciputat during the last Easter holidays.




Drs. Ibni Afan

He is the Program Coordinator at SMA Negeri 2 Ciputat Tangerang. He is also an English teacher. His main duty is to plan and provide the school with an annual pprogram, including the educational link with overseas schools. He intends to research and implement activities in cooperation with Weeroona College Bendigo that will enrich the educational opportunities for the students of Ciputat and Weeroona.


We are all excited to have the opportunity to meet with them and show them our school and educational system in Bendigo, Victoria. A regional representative, Mr Rob Hallisey, as well as our school Principal, Ms Leanne Preece, will meet with our guests to explain the Bendigo Education Plan which will become a model for the future of education in Bendigo.

Kami semua merasa sangat gembira mendapat kesempatan untuk bertemu dengan mereka, dan dapat memperlihatkan sekolah kami, dan juga sistim pendidikan di Bendigo, Victoria. Wakil daerah, Bapak Rob Hallisey, beserta Kepala Sekolah kami, Ibu Leanne Preece, akan bertemu dengan tamu-tamu kita untuk menjelaskan Rencana Pendidikan Bendigo, yang akan menjadi contoh/model bagi masa depan pendidikan di Bendigo.

We thank Mr Herli Salim for his hard work and valuable input in preparing for this visit. We know that we cannot match the hospitality and generosity shown by our Indonesian friends in April; however, we hope that this visit will strengthen this newly formed relationship and it will continue for a very long time.

Kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Bapak Herli Salim untuk hasil kerja keras dan pemasukan yang sangat berharga dalam mempersiapkan kunjungan ini.
Kami sadar bahwa kami tidak akan dapat menyamai keramah tamahan dan kedermawanan yang telah diperlihatkan oleh teman-teman Indonesia kami pada bulan April yang baru lalu. Tetapi kami berharap bahwa kunjungan ini akan dapat memperkuat hubungan yang baru tercipta ini, dan akan berlanjut untuk waktu yang panjang.

We also want to express our deep condolences to all the people who have suffered as a result of the latest terrorist bombings in Jakarta. We know that Australia is working closely with Indonesia, to capture the perpetrators of these horrific crimes.
Kami juga ingin menyampaikan rasa dukacita yang sedalam-dalamnya bagi semua orang yang menderita akibat pemboman yang terjadi di Jakarta baru-baru ini. Kami tahu bahwa Australia dengan Indonesia sedang bekerja sama dengan erat, guna menangkap pelaku dari kejahatan yang mengerikan ini.

Written by Robyn Elmi, Pak Herli Salim and Sandra Penna

Indonesia is the country of most smiles

Wednesday July 1, 2009



Translated by Ruth Black and Robyn Elmi

London: Swedish mass media for the last few weeks have reported that Indonesia ranks first amongst nations with their people smiling the most compared to other people in other countries.An excerpt from ‘The Smiling Report 2009’ which was carried out by one of the Providers of Mystery Shoppers who are in Sweden, ranked the Swedish people at number 24, said one of the secretaries from Stockholm KBRI, Sweden, Dody Kusumonegoro to the Antara Correspondent.

In an opinion survey carried out in 2008 which included more than 2.5 million questions about smiling and greeting at sales venues in 66 countries, Sweden placed Indonesia at the top of the list. The Swedish media reported Indonesia as the country that smiled the most. This was the result of the customer service data obtained from an evaluation in Sweden which was carried out in all fields by AB Business throughout the world.

In the report it was stated that Indonesia was the nation that smiled the most, with a score of 98%. Apart from that, Indonesia was also the nation with the highest rating of ‘Greetings’, it scored 98%. Sweden was at number 24 on the list for the category ‘Smiles’ with a mark of 77% and a ranking of 31 for ‘Greetings’ with 81%. Industries which smile a lot were health and beauty, nursing and transportation, with 86%. The lowest mark was in the business services with only 52%. In the opinion survey it stated that ‘Greetings’ in the years 2008 and 2007 were recorded at 81% compared with 88% in 2004. The highest ranking in ‘Greetings’ apart from Indonesia was Hong Kong with 98%, whereas the lowest rank was held by Morocco with 48%.
The highest rate of ‘Greetings’ was found in government services with 94% whilst in business circles it was only 70%. In sales services the highest score was recorded by Pakistan with 82% and the lowest by Finland with 3%. Business services got the highest score with 65%, while the entertainment industry ranked lowest with 40%. In that report there was a big discrepancy between continents: Australia scored the highest of all continents with ‘Smiles’ at 89% and ‘Greetings’ at 92%, while Africa was the lowest with ‘Smiles’ at 61% and ‘Greetings’ at 51% ( quoted from 'Antara' News agency)