"Dream - Elementary and high school students from Indonesia have made the nation proud at the pinnacle event in the prestigious Singapore International Math Olympiad Challenge (SIMOC) last week. The Indonesian contingent won 115 gold medals and earned the right to be crowned as the Math Titans champion. This victory felt even more significant as hundreds of students along with their parents sang the Indonesian national anthem, 'Lagu Indonesia Raya,' which echoed in the Star Theatre, Singapore, on Thursday, July 25, 2024."

"In this competition, the Indonesian contingent sent a total of 456 students from elementary to high school. This number makes it the largest contingent, followed by Mexico, which sent more than three hundred students. SIMOC is a prestigious annual competition that brings together young math enthusiasts from around the world."

"Henry Ong, the founder and chairman of the SIMOC committee, explained that SIMOC is different from other math competitions. This difference is reflected in its unique structure, which consists of three rounds: the Individual Competition, the Team Competition, and the Math Warriors Challenge. This format encourages participants to excel in individual problem-solving while also promoting collaboration and teamwork among the contestants."

"Indra Santoso, the head of the Indonesian delegation, stated that SIMOC is one of the prestigious mathematics competitions in Singapore that is always participated in by Indonesia. The Indonesian delegation comes from various regions in Indonesia, competing with students from 42 countries with a total of 2,000 students competing over four days."

Before participating in SIMOC, students must go through a qualification process in their respective countries. One of the requirements to participate in SIMOC is that students must achieve at least a Bronze medal in the qualification competition at the national or regional level. Six Indonesian students had the opportunity to compete in the main round directly with scholarships from SIMOC. Seven Indonesian students also became overall champions in the main categories, thus appearing dominant on the main stage.

“This shows that Indonesia is demonstrating its dominance, at least at the regional level, in the mathematics competition,” said the Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore, Suryo Pratomo, who felt proud while presenting medals to Indonesian students who succeeded in becoming the overall champion. After participating in SIMOC, Suryo Pratomo hopes that the students can take part in other global competitions, namely IJMO in Turkey in December.

"BIM is a scholarship program awarded to students/graduates who excel in academic and non-academic fields. BIM consists of degree scholarship programs and non-degree scholarships. The degree scholarship programs for the bachelor's (S1) and master's (S2) levels are conducted by the Education Financing Service Center, while the non-degree scholarship program, namely the Overseas Bachelor's Preparation Program, is conducted by the National Achievement Center."