The Construction Of The Polymarin Campus Has Stalled, This Is What Moeldoko Did

Presidential Chief of Staff Dr. Moeldoko hopes that the construction of the Palimarin campus will accelerate so that President Jokowi can inaugurate it. (Ist Photo)

JAKARTA - Presidential Chief of Staff Dr. Moeldoko emphasized that the construction of the new campus of the Indonesian State Maritime Polytechnic (Polimarin) must be fast and it could be inaugurated by President Joko Widodo in 2024. Moeldoko conveyed this, while chairing a coordination meeting for the acceleration of the construction of the new Polymarin campus, in the city of Semarang, Central Java.

The coordination meeting was attended by the Special Staff for Learning at the Ministry of Education and Culture Hamid Muhammad, the Commander of the Indonesian Navy Base (Danlanal) Semarang, Marine Colonel Hariyono Masturi, and the leaders of the Polimarin.

“We (Presidential Staff Office) have been working bloody hard to get this land. The president will inaugurate this at the end of 2024. Either way, don't back down,” said Moeldoko in a written statement received by VOI on August 19.

As is known, President Joko Widodo pays great attention to Polimarin as a funnel of education that realizes the vision of Indonesia's maritime axis. Moreover, the absorption rate of Polymarin graduates is always 100 percent, and Indonesia has a need for superior human resources in the maritime field.

Unfortunately, the old campus of Polimarin, which was built on an area of 1.5 hectares, was considered inadequate to accept the number of cadets of one hundred people in each batch. Because, apart from being a dormitory, this seafaring-printing campus also needs a place to practice.

Jokowi's Help

Moeldoko tried a four-dimensional simulator at the Polimarin Semarang. (Ist photo)

For this condition, in 2016, President Jokowi instructed the construction of a new campus. However, due to budget constraints and land acquisition issues, namely a tug of war for the release of land which is an asset of PTPN IX, the construction of the new Polimarin campus in the Bergas sub-district, Semarang district, has stalled.

The Presidential Staff Office team also carried out debottlenecking, by going to the field and coordinating with ministries/agencies. Namely, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of SOEs, the Central Java High Court, PTPN IX, and PTPN Holding.

As a result, land acquisition for the construction of the new Polymarin campus can be realized. This was marked by the handing over of a 30-hectare land certificate from the Semarang Regency BPN to Polimarin, Friday 12 August.

Moeldoko said the new Polymarin campus must produce strong sailors who can turn Indonesia's maritime potential into strength. The character of a fighter at sea must be built with mental strengthening. If this is realized, Moeldoko is optimistic, Polimarin can become a benchmark in ASEAN and the world.

Moeldoko had a dialogue with the Semarang Polymarin academic community. (Ist photo)

“Since Indonesia was not yet independent, our ancestors were excellent sailors who were reckoned with by the world. When taken into account, it definitely has an advantage. I am sure that Polimarin can make it happen in the future,” Moeldoko exclaimed.

After leading the meeting, Moeldoko who was accompanied by Deputy II Chief of Presidential Staff Abetnego Tarigan also saw firsthand the simulator laboratory for piloting a four-dimensional ship. From the KSP media team's observation, this room is surrounded by a 360-degree circular screen.

In the middle, there is a room like a ship's wheelhouse complete with various panels for piloting a tanker. And when the ship was moving, it felt like the wheelhouse swayed like being on a real ship. Even the sounds of the sea to the sound of the horns of other ships are also heard. "It's really like being on a real ship," Moeldoko said, when asked to be the captain.