K-pop band BLACKPINK and Dua Lipa dance track goes global

K-pop band BLACKPINK and Dua Lipa dance track goes global

The song boasts bilingual vocals by the Korean girl band and British singer, and climbed to eighth place on Billboard’s US chart

BY KOREA TIMES

23 OCT 2018

Billboard US has trained its spotlight on Korean girl band BLACKPINK’s new collaboration with British musician Dua Lipa.

BLACKPINK – the first all-female pop group formed by Korean entertainment agency YG Entertainment – made their international crossover by joining Lipa on the song Kiss and Make Up.

The bilingual dance track is their first with the singer and is included on her latest album, titled “Dua Lipa”.

The song, which was released on October 19, quickly topped the iTunes chart in 21 countries and climbed to eighth place on the US chart.

A Billboard review praises the Korean group and describes the track as “thriving on their addictive vocals”.

Forbes magazine also wrote a lengthy preview of the song, calling it an “East-meets-West summit between international It Girls”.

Calling BLACKPINK “one of the K-pop girl groups with the most crossover potential”, the magazine says the teamwork shown on the song made it feel like Lipa was part of the group.

BLACKPINK reached No 55 on the US Billboard Hot 100 with “DDU-DU DDU-DU”, the highest a K-pop girl band has ever climbed. On YouTube, the song became one of the most-viewed music videos within a day of its release.  YG Entertainment has announced that all band members will soon release individual albums, with Jennie’s solo debut expected by the end of the year.

(taken from: https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/people-events/article/2169686/k-pop-band-blackpink-and-dua-lipa-dance-track-goes)

Jakarta student shares stories from Summer Science Program in US

• 
  Wening Gitomartoyo

  The Jakarta Post

Jakarta | Sun, September 16, 2018 | 10:07 am

Della Nathania, a student at Singapore Intercultural School in South Jakarta, participated in the Summer Science Program at the University of Colorado Boulder, United States, starting in late June.

For over 39 days and with 35 fellow high school students from countries around the world that include Pakistan, Uruguay and the United Kingdom, Della conducted research in astrophysics and had the chance to operate a research-grade telescope to take images of a near-earth asteroid. With her team, consisting of three students, they then calculated its orbital path and chance of impacting Earth in the future.

The program, founded in 1959, is an independent non-profit and operates in cooperation with host campuses at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, the University of Colorado at Boulder and Purdue University, as well as affiliates at the California Institute of Technology, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvey Mudd College. It offers experimental science research in astrophysics and biochemistry; and topics in astrophysics typically include astronomy, physics, mathematics and scientific programming.

Having received a full scholarship for the program, Della said what prompted her to enroll was her curiosity of working in science. “I have always been fond of science and math, but I didn’t know what it was like to actually work in the field. I was also interested in science research,” she said.

The program was filled with daily activities. Lectures went from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., while homework was done between 4 p.m. and 12 p.m., excluding dinner time. There was also the opportunity to learn from guest lecturers who came from various backgrounds and are respected in their fields, such as Scott Pace, the executive secretary of the US National Space Council. 

Della said she found the first week to be rather tough, as lessons were highly difficult and feelings of being homesick often came up. By the second week, she started to feel adjusted and bonded with a close-knit group of eight like-minded individuals in the program.

Aside from studying, the students had the chance to go hiking and on field trips to places like the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum in Denver. 

After 39 days, Della said the program made her feel certain about pursuing a degree in science. “Learning and applying science in real life is very different from studying in class. It convinced me of which path I want to take and what I want to be in life,” she said. 

The program also opened her eyes to the reality that women are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). “I wish women could be more active in the science world. In elementary school, I remember how a lot of my female friends were interested in science. But in movies and television shows, we saw that most scientists were male, and it made them think that perhaps women didn’t belong in science,” said Della.

“I never felt that way and I continued to like science. But I still think there should be more representation of women in science, both in movies and in the media,” she said, adding that a guest lecturer in one of the program's panel discussions stated that women were underestimated in the world of science.

Della also discussed the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). “Most students find their interest for science during school, and a program like the one I recently participated in helped immensely. I hope LIPI would be interested in starting an internship or summer program for high school students, as this is a critical moment for us to find out what we want to aspire toward in life,” she said. 

The Summer Science Program boasts the tagline “The Educational Experience of a Lifetime”, and Della said that, at first, it didn’t really speak to her. But nearing the end of the program, she realized that she would never find a greater opportunity and she found the tagline to be very true. 

“I said to my friend, ‘This is the coolest thing I’ve ever done’,” she said, strongly recommending the program to fellow high students. “This was a lifetime opportunity and it was so special, what with the program and how I met like-minded people that I would have never had the chance to meet without [the program]. I still miss my friends I met there.”

(taken from: http://www.thejakartapost.com/youth/2018/09/15/jakarta-student-shares-stories-from-summer-science-program-in-us.html)

Government introduces new rules for public university admission

• 
  News Desk
  

  The Jakarta Post

Jakarta | Tue, October 23, 2018 | 02:12 pm

The Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry has set a new regulation concerning the Entrance Test for State Universities (SBMPTN), which is set to take effect next year. 

On Monday, Minister Mohammad Nasir revealed that test takers would have to follow the new rules next year, including the order of the steps in public university admissions, one of the most significant changes to the procedure. Future participants will have to take the tests before registering themselves, while previously, all SBMPTN participants needed to register themselves with the desired university before taking the test.

“The exam result will be used to registered with the university of choice,” Nasir said.

Nasir also said that the test would be organized by a new institution called the Institution of University Entrance Exams (LTMPT) starting next year.

The computer-based exam (UTBK), a part of the series of tests in the SBMPTN, will be conducted 24 times in a year. 

“The UTBK will be conducted every Saturday and Sunday,” the chief organizer of this year’s SBMPTN, Ravik Karsidi, said as quoted by kompas.com.

The ministry also planned to remove the written test (UTBC) and will only use computer-based exams in the SBMPTN. (dpk/swd)

(taken from: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/10/23/government-introduces-new-rules-for-public-university-admission.html)

Better or worse under Jokowi?

• 
  Editorial Board

  The Jakarta Post

Jakarta | Tue, October 23, 2018 | 08:31 am

After four years under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, Indonesia has seen the construction of new roads, toll roads, seaports and airports that have expedited the movement of goods and people and brought basic services to places that were previously hard to access.

The chain effects of the decision to make infrastructure a priority agenda are overarching. According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data, the country has recorded a declining poverty rate, while the relatively stable prices of basic commodities, as evident in the low inflation rate and the rise in household spending, has helped the economy continue to grow. This cannot be separated from the massive infrastructure development Jokowi’s administration has prioritized.

Such an approach is costly, not only because it saps a big chunk of the state budget, but also because it appears to sacrifice the country’s democracy. For many critics, Indonesia today under Jokowi resembles the Soeharto era, when efforts to propel economic growth justified the curtailment of civil liberties and democracy in general.

Freedom House has consistently ranked Indonesia under Jokowi among the partly free nations, which are characterized by, among other things, systematic corruption, discrimination and violence against minority groups and the politicized use of defamation and blasphemy laws. Indonesia once joined the group of free nations in 2013 during the tenure of then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, according to the United States-based democracy watchdog.

As Freedom House noted, the blasphemy case against former Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian Chinese-Indonesian, and the ongoing restrictions on unrecognized religious minorities’ access to identification documents have contributed to Indonesia’s failure to move up the ladder to reach the status of a fully fledged democracy.

Worse, Jokowi’s administration has enforced a law that allows the state to ban any mass organization without due process under the law. Initially, it was intended to freeze hard-line group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, but nobody can guarantee it will not be used to target groups critical to the government in the future.

Human rights protection is another field Jokowi’s administration has failed to perform in, as evident from his persistent failure to realize his own promises to address past human rights violations such as the mass killings of supposed communist sympathizers in the mid-1960s. Jokowi rose to power partly with the support of those with checkered pasts, and has not dared risk losing their backing. Last Friday, the National Commission on Human Rights gave a red mark to Jokowi’s unfulfilled commitment to human rights. 

Some may hold out hope that Jokowi can change, but with the presidential election just around the corner he is likely to favor populist policies so as to maintain and expand his support over issues related to human rights and democracy, which in the developing world are seen as a concern of the elite. Life is neither better nor worse under Jokowi than in the past, and voters will keep this record in mind when casting their ballots next April.

(taken from: http://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2018/10/23/better-or-worse-under-jokowi.html)