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Salient. The Newspaper of Victoria University College. Vol. 20, No. 8. September 14, 1956

Frustration hazard

Frustration hazard

As a member of the scheme, I worked as a chemist for the Indonesian Government with the Ministry of Health and then with the Ministry of Economic Affairs. In my first position I discovered that frustration is one of the occupational hazards in Indonesia. Often the Government is not sufficiently well-organised to make the best use of the available staff, and contact with administration often calls for an abundance of patience. But eventually I obtained a position where I was being useful.

As an example of the kind of job waiting to be done I shall mention the work I was engaged in, in connection with the manufacture of dextrin, which is widely used as a glue for paper and a filler for medical tablets. Tapioca starch, the raw material for dextrin, is produced in abundance in Indonesia. The manufacturing process is one of the simplest in industrial chemistry. Yet much of the dextrin used in Indonesia has still to be imported, because the local factories lack the technique for producing the good quality material.

At the Chemical Research Institute, which is directed by an Indonesian, I assisted in the development of satisfactory apparatus and operating procedure for making dextrin on a small scale. It is hoped that this production can soon be expanded so that in the future Indonesia will not have to waste precious foreign exchange on importing this material.