Tanjung Niasari

Average school enrollment has increased across Indonesia’s diverse archipelago, yet two million Indonesian children still don’t have access to primary education. Mey Tanjung Niasari, a psychologist, is providing a means for nomadic and extremely disadvantaged children of island minorities to develop motivation and a desire to obtain schooling with support from their parents and community members.

Nomadic tribes in Indonesia are common and can be invisible; particularly disadvantaged are the children who are a critical population group for the successful future of Indonesia. Without education, jobs and stability there is no hope. This group is often neglected by the government and overlooked by development efforts, and data on the children who have been educated is very scarce if not nonexistent; it is safe to say most have no education due to the itinerant lifestyle of their families.

Tanjung has begun to work with these children through Rumah Motivasi (House of Motivation) a kindergarten she has set up for underserved communities. The idea is to begin to work with the Bajo people, an ethnic group known as “sea-gypsies”. This tribe lives everywhere throughout the far flung islands of Indonesia working in the fishing industry when they can. By first working with this wandering tribe they can build a reputation, credibility, trust; then the hope is that other tribes will learn of the kindergartens and they can begin to work with other local tribes such as the Tolaki.

Tanjung creates small learning groups in order for the children to build self-confidence and increase their motivation to learn. She uses cognitive psychology teachings and patterns, and the arts to teach basic literacy and math. Tanjung is also teaching children to be creative and helping them with basic skills in reading, writing and counting. The teachers that are recruited are often from the same communities as the students.

The effort is collaborative involving the community, facilitators, teachers, children, local women, and mothers all involved with the school. Jobs are found for learners which is key to the possibility of a less nomadic lifestyle.

Indigenous language education seems to serve as a way to both perpetuate traditions that are currently being lost and to help replace marine-based livelihoods rendered obsolete due to changes in lifestyle.

The Bajo people, with an estimated population of 250,000 in Indonesia and 900,000 in Southeast Asia, are indigenous to maritime Southeast Asia. In addition to being nomadic boat dwellers, they are inshore and land-based peoples. They live a seaborne lifestyle, adapting to the rich maritime environment and to the island ecosystems. Even though geographically widely dispersed, the Bajo people are a united ethnic minority, linked by strong bonds of kinship, marriage, and language. Over the past decades, the Indonesian government appears to have put pressure on nomadic tribes to resettle and become more integrated into society. This has resulted in a denigration of seafaring traditions and a change in the day-to-day life of nomadic peoples. Recently, over 100 nomadic peoples were detained by the Indonesian government for not having identification, an event that highlights their precarious situation, considering themselves not belonging to any one country. Although they have settled down, Bajo communities are still mostly isolated from mainstream society and continue to make a living from the sea.

Their unique culture, lifestyle, and social isolation often results in discrimination and prejudice. As exploitative fishing techniques, such as the use of poisons and explosives, proliferated in the 1990s, they resulted in extreme reef degradation. This poses a significant problem for Indonesia as a nation, given the amount of coastline the country has and significant ties between the marine environment and the economy. (Recently, this issue has attracted the international attention of Greenpeace, which launched an initiative based on a 2012 internal study focused on the problems of overfishing in Indonesia.) Because their livelihoods are dependent on reef health, the Bajo could potentially play a pivotal role in spurring conservation initiatives. However, the government does not see the connection between this important role and developing educational resources for the Bajo people in an effort to improve their understanding of the marine environment. Organizations such as the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries are developing education programs for children of fishermen, believing this a means to decrease their public social stigma, but have not formally linked with the Bajo communities.

Government engagement has encouraged the Bajo’s relocation and assimilation. However, the resettlements have had minimal impact in terms of education. For example, there are currently only 100 young Bajo people with secondary and university degrees. But even these young people find it hard to secure formal employment. Due to their dispersion, only limited public services, such as schools, health centers, and support for their indigenous institutions, are made available to them. The same problems also occur across the smaller islands in Eastern Indonesia, from Eastern Kalimantan and Sulawesi to Maluku and the Philippines in Southeast Asia, and along the Lesser Sunda Islands, where the Bajo populations also live widely dispersed.

There has been limited support for the development of indigenous institutions. Although primary schools are available in the village, preschool education is not provided and junior and high schools are only found in capital cities of sub-districts. Due to geographical and cultural constraints, the access of Bajo children to the existing schools remains low. Furthermore, their attendance is often irregular and their performances are considerably poor. Only a few complete their junior and senior years of high school, and even fewer receive a tertiary education. In remote areas, teachers are often absent for several days at a time. The ratio of teachers and students is disproportional, limiting the possibility of stimulating interaction and learning. Teachers are also inadequately trained and lack an understanding of developmental psychology.

Consistent with her belief in people’s capacity, Tanjung did not recruit professionally trained teachers; instead, she hired poor women with little formal education. As former laundry ladies, tailors, and steam-bread hawkers, they were recruited and trained to be teachers, with their passion for children, personal motivation, and willingness to learn being the only criteria. Tanjung did not begin by working with the Bajo people; she initially started with a homeschooling program for autistic children and other children with special needs in Kendari. She then set up a formal school, with a playgroup, kindergarten, and a primary school.

This school, Kingdom Academy, (with no relation to the US Kingdom Academy) proved to be a good training ground for the cadre of teachers who became her core team, to take on the greater challenge of teaching Bajo children in underserved neighborhoods and island communities. In the islands, Tanjung recruited teachers through a “Got Talent” island competition. She teaches Bajo children in their language and uses the arts, such as songs and theater, as learning tools.

The Rumah Motivasi was started by simple survey, discussions with local leaders, potential local volunteers, and finding an appropriate space—often in someone’s home. When agreements are reached, the volunteers are trained on the job by Tanjung and her staff. Volunteers are also given the opportunity to intern at Kingdom Academy. Tanjung trains teachers on how to be motivated and how to create songs and run puppet shows. Together they produce songs in Bajo and in partnership with a company, Tanjung recorded the songs on a CD. In addition to instilling pride in their culture and identity, the CD sales provide an income for Tanjung’s organization to operate the school.

Based on her pilots, Tanjung’s immediate goal is to expand to at least 15 other small islands. In the long-term, Tanjung intends to expand Rumah Motivasi to other remote islands. For this, she is developing a partnership with the Bajo Bangkit (Up-Raised Bajo), an organization of young educated Bajo in Kendari. She also intends to recruit fellow university students as volunteers to work with community groups. In the province, Tanjung partners with the government to use their infrastructure—especially boats to reach the small islands. She also provides educational methodology training to teachers in the provinces. Regionally, Tanjung is in negotiations with the Eastern Indonesia Regional Office of the Ministry of Education to replicate her model for the government’s early childhood education program (Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini-PAUD) in remote islands.

Tanjung was born to a Chinese father and a Japanese mother in Malang (1979). She was raised by her grandparents. However, Tanjung’s grandfather died when she was twelve, and she stayed with her grandmother—both a mother and a father to her. During school, she enjoyed participating in and excelled at all kinds of competitions, including dancing, singing, and sports. Due to Tanjung’s family background, her childhood and teenage years were difficult and she had no confidence. Tanjung used the competitions to compensate for her insecurity and feelings of inadequacy. She has made peace with her past and realizes it makes her who she is today. Tanjung now wants to spread the message that there is always a way out and there is always hope.

Tanjung’s uncle and aunt collected money to send her to university. She attended Sanata Dharma University in Jogja and majored in psychology. Tanjung studied harder than any of her peers, involved herself in activities, and began vocal training in music and theater. She also volunteered with children in a community living by the Clift banks of Code River, part of a community development project initiated by Romo Mangun, a Catholic priest. This project became well-known in Indonesia for its creative and innovative approach, its site planning, and its architecture to improve a slum of riverside squatters about to be evicted by the government.

After graduating, Tanjung moved to Lampung, Sumatra to work for two years as a chief instructor for Max Recall, a private agency providing trainings called “brain gym” to stimulate left brain thinking through mind-mapping exercises. She met her husband there, married him and moved to Makassar, Sulawesi, for his new assignment. In Makassar Tanjung initiated the Kelompok Anak Hebat (Great Kid’s Group), which involved creative learning activities for street children. To do this, she recruited volunteers to work with the children and run all activities at her residence. They taught music, dance, and singing. The children quickly became skilled and were invited to perform professionally in shopping malls. At the same time, she also hosted radio shows on parenting and wrote articles on motivation for an online magazine—which she continues to do today.

When Tanjung’s husband was transferred to Kendari, she followed, and regretfully left Kelompok Anak Hebat. However, in Kendari, she built a school, recruited and trained teachers, and started educational activities for children with special needs in her house. Tanjung created Kingdom Academy for the considerably well-off children with special needs and Rumah Motivasi for poor urban children working as garbage pickers, street vendors, and hawkers living in the garbage dumpsites, public cemetery, and slum areas. She spread the concept of school for underserved kids when she lived by the Kendari coast and in the nearby small islands where she “discovered” the Bajo people and felt compelled to work with them.

When Tanjung’s husband was transferred to Manado in North Sulawesi, she stayed in Kendari to continue her work and build a larger support network in order to grow her initiatives. Seeing his wife’s commitment and passion, Tanjung’s husband resigned and returned to Kendari to work with her as the Headmaster of Kingdom Academy, while Tanjung focuses on developing Rumah Motivasi. As an umbrella for her work and to fulfill legal requirements, Tanjung set up a foundation, the Lembaga Motivasi Obor Dunia (World Lantern Motivational Agency).