What has been or will be the impact of your project on your community?

The key objective of our project is not only to promote the Monas to non-Jakartans but also for everyone interested to extend the knowledge and understanding of the monument. Along the process, we hope that they will develop a deeper appreciation of what the Monas represents as well as the nation's distinctive culture and history as embedded in the different sections of the Monas and the symbols that were incorporated in the design.

 

For many people, Indonesia is an unknown, strange and ‘exotic’ land. They do not really know a lot about the harsh years of agony and imprisonment from foreign empires that our country went through. Through our project, we hope that it would not only encourage people to visit our nation and its historical sites but for them to be informed as well.

 

We also believe that our website, would be a useful resource for teachers and students. While the information we have provided may not be exhaustive, it could be an excellent starting point for it contains different types of information not commonly found in other websites (e.g. costs). Also, we hope that the website would be a springboard that would invite dialogue regarding critical issues.

 

With the success of our website, we hope that our school will increase its support for projects that encourages students to harness the power of the web and collaborate not only with their schoolmates but also with their peers in other schools here and abroad. We also aim to be a model for other schools in our area in spearheading projects like this.

 

Last but not the least, we hope that with the increased interest in the Monas, it would spur more economic activities especially for people who are plying their trade around the Merdeka Square.

 

How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

As this is the first time we have ever participated in the International Cyberfair Competition, our resources are quite limited. Nevertheless, we are very grateful for the support from everyone who helped us make this project a success.

 

We are grateful to our Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian Language) teacher, Mrs. Tuberta Lase, for training us how to properly conduct an interview and for guiding us during the field work. She also gave several input that enhanced our research.The Information Technology Department of our school, which includes Mr. Shie Fung and Pak Kris, should be cited for their assistance in providing us with a dedicated internet connection and for helping us with the use of IT tools. We would also want to thank our Principal, Mr. Frederick Laurente, for helping us organize our research trip. Credit also goes to Pastor Alex for arranging the meeting with different contact persons. 

 

Our deepest appreciation goes to Pak Zulham, our guide in the site who provided us with detailed knowledge about the monument and our country that could not be found in the web. We also enjoyed the candid conversations that we had with the members of the staff and security personnel who were working in the Monas as well as the vendors around the area while we were conducting our research.

 

Finally, we would like to thank our parents as they gave us their consent and financial and moral support so that we were able to set out for the trip and accomplish this project.

 

Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises

Even though we are from Jakarta, for many of us it’s our first time to visit the Monas. Being there up close and personal gave us an ‘authentic’ experience for we were exposed to the ‘real’ Monas, warts and all. Some of the things we noticed are not mentioned in many websites and books like the leaking pipes, broken tiles, and chipped paint. Despite the lack of maintenance, we at least thought that the Monas is well-visited.

 

The project also made us realize how limited our knowledge about the Monas and Indonesian history is. For many of us, we did not know who the architects were, and we were not even aware how the Independence Date was embedded in the design of the structure. As we were compiling our data, we were overwhelmed with the amount of information that we had to know only to realize that there’s still so much more to learn, especially that there are some topics pertaining to our turbulent history that people are not comfortable talking with.

 

Finally, we had to come to terms with the fact that our skills are limited especially in researching, choosing the right information, and in citing our sources. Interviewing and striking a conversation was especially hard. We then had to write and re-write our articles numerous times. We also made a lot of trials and errors in building our website. Experience is indeed the best teacher.