Through its leadership development programmes, Tanoto Foundation empowers our leaders of tomorrow. In Singapore, Tanoto Foundation supports a variety of promising individuals in their pursuit of higher learning. Tanoto Scholar Ms Chia Yi Mian, a final year medical student from the National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, is one of them.

The following is her reflection of her journey as a recipient of the Tanoto Foundation Scholarship and her experiences with Project Sukacita, a Tanoto Scholar-led community service project that uplifts the lives of underserved communities in Pangkalan Kerinci. This is reproduced with the permission of the Singapore Medical Association (SMA), which published her reflections in the April 2021 edition of their SMA News.

2020 was a rough year not just for Singapore, but for the whole world. As measures were put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19, community involvement projects (CIP) could not carry out their usual activities. As part of the organising team of Project Sukacita VII 2019, an overseas CIP in Indonesia, I was dismayed that we would not be able to follow up with the villagers that we had interacted with previously in person.

The team and our goals

A flagship community service project under the Tanoto Scholarship, Project Sukacita is a platform where Tanoto Scholars work together to volunteer and contribute towards enhancing the quality of health and education of the underprivileged communities. The annual CIP has been running since 2012. Our team comprises Tanoto Foundation scholars from the National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Singapore Management University and Nanyang Technological University. With strong support from the Tanoto Foundation and the three schools, a total of 33 volunteers took part in Project Sukacita in May 2019.

Our project aims to encourage the locals in Pangkalan Kerinci, Indonesia, to adopt a healthier lifestyle by improving health awareness, achieved through conducting health screenings and health education. In Indonesia, one out of four children under five years old face the threat of stunting. Stunting is the result of malnutrition and a lack of physical and social stimulation. This can impact a child’s development, resulting in lower cognitive ability and, on a larger scale, impact economical productivity. Of note, the SMERU Research Institute projected an increase in the poverty rate in Indonesia as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, further perpetuating the risk of stunting in children.

Serving the community

During our two-week long trip, we held multiple educational activities with the children which taught them the importance of hand and oral hygiene. Targeting our concerns of stunting in the region, we also engaged the children with interactive play to educate them on food nutrition and the importance of a balanced diet. Separately, we held two sessions of health screenings for the children and their parents. The health screenings focused on identifying existing ear and oral conditions for the children and the measurement of body mass index and blood pressure, and addressing any acute concerns, of the adults. 143 children and 122 adults underwent our health screening programme.

During the health screenings, our volunteers shared advice tailored for each participant based on findings during the sessions, and provided educational pamphlets. Participants with alarming complaints or conditions requiring medication were directed to local doctors who volunteered their time with us. As our project only spanned two weeks in an entire year, it was important to ensure that the locals were directed back to the local healthcare system for follow-ups. Having local doctors volunteering on-site was the first step towards sustainability and ensuring long-term follow-up.

We also launched a longitudinal programme with the local childcare to track the children’s height, weight, diet and dental hygiene monthly. The collected data is reviewed by our team such that early identification of children who are not growing adequately or require more nutrients in their diet will receive prompt intervention. With this, we hope to alleviate the problem of stunting faced by the children we serve. The Tanoto Foundation, which oversees our project, is also actively engaged with the Indonesian government in efforts to prevent stunting. To find out more, visit https://www.tanotofoundation.org/stunting.

Looking to the next trip

Although Project Sukacita 2020 was cancelled, I hope that the local children will be reminded of us when they practice hand hygiene frequently during this pandemic. I also hope that the locals will be as excited to see us again as we are to serve them again!

© Singapore Medical Association. This article was originally published in SMA News April 2021 issue

Through an endowment from the Tanoto Foundation, Northwestern University’s Kellogg Center for Family Enterprises has been renamed John L. Ward Center for Family Enterprises.

Professor John Ward, Clinical Professor Emeritus of Family Enterprise, previously served as co-director of the center and has played a crucial role in its success. The center provides cutting-edge thinking and guidance for family business strategies, governance, succession, entrepreneurship, foundations and business culture. A pioneering researcher in the field, Professor Ward has worked with families around the world while conducting extensive research and contributing meaningfully to the field.

Professor John L Ward and Tanoto Foundation Co-Founder Sukanto Tanoto

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony held by the Kellogg School of Management in the Chicago campus on May 21, 2021, Tanoto Foundation’s co-founder Sukanto Tanoto said, “The main purpose of our gift today to Kellogg is to capture and sustain the essence of what makes Professor John Ward a preeminent scholar in family enterprise, and to pass this spirit and wisdom to future generations.”

Mr. Sukanto Tanoto was joined by his wife and co-founder of Tanoto Foundation, Tinah Bingei Tanoto. They were accompanied by RGE Managing Director and member of the Tanoto Foundation Board of Trustees Anderson Tanoto.

“The vast majority of businesses around the world are family businesses, and they drive significant innovation and growth in our global economy,” said Dean of Kellogg School of Management Professor Francesca Cornelli.

Northwestern University President Professor Morton Schapiro said that family enterprises was an area that was under-appreciated and under-researched, but gave thanks to the brilliance of Professor Ward elevating the field at Northwestern. He shared he had a long-term close relationship with Indonesia stretching back to the 1980s when he gave lectures. He later paid tribute to the Tanoto family’s visionary philanthropy that not only helped bridge the Center with Indonesia-focused research, but also resulted in a remarkable transformative gift that was made in honour of Professor Ward.

Research conducted by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) showed that family enterprises contribute over 57% of GDP in the United States. Family businesses contribute to 60% of China’s GDP. In Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation and sixteenth largest economy, more than 50% of local businesses are family owned.

Mr. Sukanto Tanoto makes an address and congratulates Professor John Ward and the Center for Family Enterprises.

Mr. Sukanto Tanoto emphasized that there’s a special opportunity for family businesses to make a difference in the world. “A typical public company is run quarter on quarter and executives are incentivized based on ‘short-termism’. Family businesses should and must think long-term and embody the spirit of stakeholder capitalism,” he said.

“Professor John Ward’s prolific work with family businesses has been pivotal for companies, leaders and researchers around the world,” added Mr. Sukanto Tanoto. “His evidence-based work has created groundbreaking insights into the science and dynamics of thriving family businesses and philanthropies.  In this constantly changing world, we need John’s work to continue.”

Mr and Mrs Sukanto Tanoto and Tanoto Foundation Trustee Anderson Tanoto share a special moment with representatives of Kellogg and the Center on the day of its renaming.

This is not the first time the Tanoto Foundation contributed to the study of family business governance and succession. In 2012, the foundation established the Tanoto Center for Asian Family Business and Entrepreneurship Studies at HKUST, which seeks to bridge the knowledge gap between academics, practitioners and policymakers while spurring knowledge creation in Asian family businesses and entrepreneurship.

With the recent endowment, Tanoto Foundation will help John L. Ward Center to conduct activities such as groundbreaking research on the challenges facing enterprising families globally and engage scholars and family enterprises to inform the discipline more fully.

When the number of COVID-19 cases escalated quickly and partial lockdowns began to take place in March 2020, schools across Indonesia found themselves in new territory as they had to stop in-class learning and switch to virtual classes.

Unprepared, teachers, parents and students tried to adopt new means and adapt with remote learning. The abrupt shift to online teaching might make parents feel inept in helping children study at home, while it is not unusual for students to get bored and experience digital fatigue. Added to this is the staggering digital divide in Indonesia, where lack of internet or device access means students are unable to do schoolwork. According to a nationwide survey conducted by the Indonesian Internet Providers Association (APJII) in the second quarter of 2020, the internet penetration rate is highly concentrated in Java with 56 percent, followed by Sumatra (22.1 percent). The number goes lower in the country’s eastern parts, such as Sulawesi (7 percent), Bali-Nusa Tenggara (5.2 percent) and Maluku-Papua (3 percent).

Fearing the potential learning loss that will deepen with time, the Ministry of Education and Culture in January authorized schools to start providing in-person learning at limited capacity, combined with remote learning.

In the sixth episode of Pojok PINTAR, our host Jerry Arvino chats with Sri Wahyuningsih, M.Pd., Director of Elementary Schools of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology’s Directorate General of Early Childhood Education, and Merryen Silalahi, Manager of Program PINTAR at Tanoto Foundation, about what parents need to know about returning to school during COVID-19.

This episode covers:

a. What you need to know about limited in-person learning
b. What parents need to prepare in assisting children going back to school
c. The importance of partnership between parents, teachers and students

Back to School

Going back to school will be a big change after months of remote learning. Parents need to be prepared to ensure that the change will be comfortable for all parties involved.

For in-person learning, here are some of the rules the school and students need to follow. There should only be a maximum of 18 students in one class and they are required to keep a minimal distance of 1.5 meters. Schools will apply alternating shifts for students based on their own assessment. For example, a group of 18 students will go to school on Monday and Wednesday, while another group will go on Tuesday and Thursday.

There will be no extracurricular activities and sports, and the school’s cafeteria will not operate in the first two months of in-class learning.

Everyone at school must wear a three-ply cloth mask or surgical mask and wash their hands or use hand sanitizer regularly. They must also ensure that they and their family members at home are free from COVID-19 symptoms.

With the joint ministerial decree of in-class learning in effect, the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Minister Nadiem Makarim said that parents can always opt for remote learning.

“For virtual classes, the school and parents need to ensure that they can provide the required technology by students, and teachers need to be able to guide them in learning,” said Wahyuningsih.

“The ministry also encourages that in-person learning at limited capacity is done in a satisfactory manner,” she added. “We urge clean living habits in schools to make a healthy and helpful learning environment.”

Laying the Groundwork

In a survey conducted by U-Report in June 2020, 87 percent out of around 4,000 Indonesian students said they could not wait to go back to school, citing boredom and lack of internet access as well as teachers’ guidance as the reasons.

Wahyuningsih also noted that with remote learning, interaction among students and between students and their teachers have dropped drastically.

“In-person learning provides the opportunity of interaction, which psychologically can benefit students in terms of cooperation, independence and the ability to care for one another,” she said. “They can also interact with the community, although all activities must have limits.”

Merryen proposed six elements with which we can prepare children to go back to school, namely rest, inform, discuss, practice, attention and respect.

Getting enough rest is essential for the development of young minds. During remote learning, children might not get an adequate amount of rest as they are constantly in front of screens. Then, inform them that their schools have reopened and they can choose to go back. Tell them what to expect and what they need to prepare at home.

With discussions, children are encouraged to speak openly about their feelings, including if they have any anxiety around returning to school. “When talking to my children about in-person learning, I noticed they got excited but that they also favored virtual classes, as the environment at home was more relaxed,” Merryen said. “So, discuss everything they need to know.”

With practice, we keep healthy living habits at home and parents can remind their children in creative manners to keep them interested.

“For instance, when you’re in a birthday party, you can incorporate health protocols by singing them in the ‘Happy Birthday’ melody,” said Merryen. “Or you can also ask the children to write the protocols and make it into a poster to go up in their rooms. It will act as a reminder for them.”

Children also need to always pay attention to anything they bring to the school and keep them sanitary. And finally, remind them to always respect other people. Especially in the time of a health crisis, parents are encouraged to teach empathy so that children will be considerate should a friend or a teacher fall ill.

Working Together

A good learning environment can only exist when all parties involved make a joint effort.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, a survey conducted in Tanoto Foundation’s partner schools showed a gap in their preparation toward remote learning, which led the foundation to hold training for teachers and principals from May to July.

“We also came up with a learning module to help students adapt to blended learning,” said Merryen, referring to a combined method of online and classroom education. “Students are the next generation in the following 10 or 20 years. Our collaboration with the ministry is done to make sure that we can save this generation.”

Noting that some parents are not heavily involved in their children’s education, Wahyuningsih expressed hope that parents will play a bigger role. “Education can be likened to a golden triangle of parents, teachers and students where collaboration and cooperation is crucial,” she said.

She stressed that parents and teachers need to communicate openly for the sake of students. For instance, parents can share about how their children are at home or what are their favorite activities. That way, both parties can foster partnerships and learn from each other to ensure the best education method for the children.

“For parents, support the children and try to have good communication,” Wahyuningsih said. “With good support, children won’t have to worry about going back to school.”

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