The Indonesian Mathematical Society

Founded in 1976


The Indonesian Mathematical Society was founded on 15 July 1976 in Bandung. Several mathematical Societies were founded in South East Asia around this time and those founded first influenced the founding of further societies in the region. The Mathematical Society of Malaya and Singapore was founded on 26 June 1952. In the late 1960s it ceased to function for both Singapore and Malaya and it became the Singapore Mathematical Society with the Malaysian Mathematical Society being founded in 1970.

For background concerning the political and social situation which was of great significance in all mathematical activities in this region, see THIS LINK.

The Southeast Asian Mathematical Society was founded in 1972. The first of the Society's conferences was held in Singapore in July 1972. The next was held in Penang in 1974 followed by Bandung in 1976. It was when this Bandung meeting was being organised that there was a move to found an Indonesian Mathematical Society. It was Lee Peng Yee from the National University of Singapore who suggested that the 1976 conference might be in Indonesia and he visited the Bandung Institute of Technology where he met with Achmad Arifin and discussed holding a conference in Bandung. Then Lee Peng Yee visited Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Surabaya. In Surabaya he discovered that the scholars there had formed informal groups to discuss mathematics. There had been the "Mathematics Study Group", followed by the "Mathematics Learning Group" and then, in 1973, the "Mathematics Interest Association" had been founded by Slamet Dajono.

Slamet Dajono (born in Tulungagung on 24 June 1927) did his doctoral studies in mathematics in 1962-64 and became a lecturer at the State University of Surabaya. He held several important positions at the State University of Surabaya including Vice-rector (1964-66), Dean (1970-74), Rector (1974-84) and Head of the Mathematics Education Department (1980-90).

Discovering that there was a "Mathematics Interest Association" in Surabaya encouraged Lee Peng Yee who returned to Bandung and encouraged those at the Bandung Institute of Technology to organise the first Indonesian National Mathematics Conference there in 1976 which was held in parallel with the Southeast Asian Mathematical Society Conference. It was at this conference that the decision was made to found the Indonesian Mathematical Society. The founders made a definite decision to name the Society a 'Mathematical Society' rather than a 'Society for Mathematicians' since they wanted all those interested in mathematics, whatever their speciality, to join.

M Ansjar was elected the first president and all those attending the 1976 conference were considered to be founder members of the Society. Here is a list of the first few National Mathematics Conferences organised by the Indonesian Mathematical Society
1976 1st National Mathematics Conference. Institute of Technology Bandung, Bandung, West Java.

1978 2nd National Mathematics Conference. Universitas Gadjahmada, Yogyakarta, DIY.

1979 3rd National Mathematics Conference. Institute of Technology Ten November, Surabaya, Jawa Timur.

1982 4th National Mathematics Conference. University of North Sumatra, Medan, North Sumatra.

1983 5th National Mathematics Conference. University of Indonesia, Jakarta, DKI Jakarta.

1991 6th National Mathematics Conference. Universitas Padjadjaran, Bandung, West Java.

1993 7th National Mathematics Conference. Ten November Institute of Technology, IKIP Surabaya, AIRLANGGA University, Surabaya, East Java.

1996 8th National Mathematics Conference. Hasanuddin University, Ujung Pandang, South Sulawesi.

1997 9th National Mathematics Conference. University of North Sumatra, Medan, Sumatera.
The Indonesian Mathematical Society has two publications, the Journal of the Indonesian Mathematical Society and the Indonesian Mathematical Society Journal on Mathematics Education.

Journal of the Indonesian Mathematical Society
The Journal of the Indonesian Mathematical Society has been published by the Indonesian Mathematical Society since 1992. Formerly it was named Majalah Ilmiah Himpunan Matematika Indonesia. As of 2010, the Journal of the Indonesian Mathematical Society publishes original research papers in the main areas of mathematics, especially in: Algebra, Geometry, Analysis, Applied Mathematics, Discrete Mathematics and Statistics. The journal also publishes survey papers that stimulate research in the above areas.
Indonesian Mathematical Society Journal on Mathematics Education
The Indonesian Mathematical Society Journal on Mathematics Education is designed by and is devoted to Indonesian Mathematics Society members especially mathematics school teachers, teacher educators, and university students who want to publish their research reports or their literature review articles about mathematics education and mathematics instruction. It began publication in July 2010 and is published two times a year, in July and January. It was launched on 31 July 2010 at the opening of the Society's 15th National Conference on Mathematics held in the University of Manado, Manado, North Sulawesi. The President of the Indonesian Mathematical Society, Professor Widodo, said that this journal was intended to facilitate not only the members of the Indonesian Mathematical Society but also all mathematics teachers/teacher educators in publishing their research reports related to the mathematics education. The first issue, dated July 2010, included the following papers: Lee Peng Yee, Designing a Mathematics Curriculum; R K Sembiring, Pendidikan Matematika Realistik Indonesia: Perkembangan dan Tantangannya; Tatag Yuli Eko Siswono, Levelling Students' Creative Thinking in Solving and Posing Mathematical Problem; Neni Mariana, Birthday Cake Activity Structured Arrangement for Helping Children Determining Quantities.
The Indonesian Mathematical Society has made revisions to its statutes and we give below a version of a few of the articles [2]:-
The Indonesian Mathematical Society is a scientific, non-political and non-governmental organization and it is designed not for profit. The Indonesian Mathematics Association aims to foster and develop mathematics, foster and develop mathematics education, and improve the role of mathematics in Indonesia. To achieve these objectives the Indonesian Mathematics Association shall undertake the following activities:

Organise meetings to examine, discuss, and solve mathematical problems facing countries, communities, mathematicians, educators, users of mathematics, and mathematical enthusiasts.

Organise distribution of reading materials, periodical journals and other means of communication to distribute works and news in the field of mathematics as information and knowledge for members and for society in general.

Improve the ability of members through education and training, both at home and abroad.

Popularise mathematics in order to support the National Development of Indonesia.

Establish cooperative relationships in the field of mathematics with other similar organizations, both at home and abroad.

Seek non-binding contributions from various sources to assist organisational activities in the context of mathematical development.

Carry out any other activities that forward the interests of the organization that do not conflict with laws and regulations.
In 2013 the Indonesian Mathematical Society made proposals to improve the quality of training for teachers of mathematics [1]:-
Due to the large number of institutions, both government and private, there have been inconsistent standards resulting in issues related to the quality of teachers produced by the institutions. In order to address this challenge concerning mathematics teachers, the Indonesian Mathematical Society initiated and formulated the standards of the curriculum for mathematics education and mathematics departments for pre-service mathematics teachers. The Indonesian Mathematical Society Team (2013) recommended that the curriculum for mathematics and mathematics education must consist of at least seven strands of study, they are: (1) general field of study (for example, science, humanities or knowledge subjects), (2) mathematics content field of study (for example, real analysis, abstract algebra, complex numbers, etc), (3) school mathematics field of study (for example, school mathematics topics such as number, geometry, algebra, etc), (4) mathematics education field of study (for example, learning theories of mathematics, use of teaching aids to develop conceptual knowledge, etc.), (5) pedagogy field of study (for example, psychology of teaching and learning, managing students, etc.), (6) additional skill field of study (for example, enrichment courses like academic writing, public communication, etc.), and (7) special field of study (this depends on the expertise of the university and their prime focus). Pre-service teachers need to take at least 144 credits in 8 semesters including teaching practice and thesis writing in the final semester.

Visit the society website.

References (show)

  1. B Kaur, O Nam Kwon and Y Hoong Leong (eds), Professional Development of Mathematics Teachers: An Asian Perspective (Springer, 2016).
  2. Indonesian Mathematical Society website. http://indoms.org

Last Updated February 2018