Connecting Communities for Good

What started out as a self-initiated scholarship programme in 2006, Indonesia Bright Foundation (IBF) – founded by 135 SIF-ASEAN Fellows from Indonesia - today supports some 70 Indonesian beneficiaries ranging from elementary school pupils to undergraduate students. IBF is eager to continue with their plans to make a positive impact on educational development by supporting promising Indonesian students from needy families.

Towards this end, the IBF will embark on a new collaboration with SIF and the Singapore-based Indonesian Professionals Association (IPA), which will greatly support the Indonesian NGO in its next growth stage.

“Through the years of supporting promising students from needy families in Indonesia, we have witnessed and are encouraged by stories of students who have made good of their lives when given financial help to continue their studies. This partnership with the Indonesian Professional Association in Singapore, made possible by the Singapore International Foundation, could not be timelier as we seek to grow our resources to extend bursaries to more youths in the Cilincing area, and eventually expand across Indonesia. We are excited and grateful for more people to work alongside us to enable more promising Indonesian youths to receive education, right up to university level,” said Mr Moch Kurniawan, a founding member of the IBF.

This new Singapore-Indonesia collaboration in the area of education is a 20-month initiative which would culminate at SIF Connects! Singapore in December 2015, where IBF undergraduate beneficiaries would embark on a study visit to Singapore with support from IPA. Members of IPA, many of whom have accomplished careers in banking, finance, media & communications, information technology, and engineering sectors, would also be contributing their expertise and professional networks across Singapore and Jakarta to assist IBF in capacity building and reach.

At the recent SIF Connects! Jakarta held on 9 May 2014, the Friends of Singapore community in Jakarta turned up in full force to celebrate such enduring friendships between Singaporeans and Indonesians.

At the event, Mr Kurniawan, a SIF-ASEAN Fellow who spent an academic semester at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 1997, was re-appointed for a second term as SIF’s representative in Jakarta. He shared that and he is looking forward to reconnecting the Indonesian programme alumni community to SIF and Singapore.

“With my re-appointment as SIF’s representative and through new alumni initiatives, I aim to strengthen the Singapore-Indonesia friendship into one that is enduring and meaningful to our community, while continuing SIF’s strong history of partnering Indonesians and Indonesian organisations,” said Mr Kurniawan.