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LUMEN | JOSEPHIANS
Following his
and
Passion Making a Mark
By Daisy Chia
Agung Santoso ’ s maturity belies his age even when he was in SJI . Observed for his natural leadership he was duly appointed Head Prefect of the 2006 cohort . It was in school that Agung developed his instinctive love of language and became a creative and gifted writer . He underwent a baptism of fire later during his pre-university days and came to terms with himself but more importantly he learnt to march to the beat of his own heart rather than that of the world .
To this day , some people would still remark to Agung : “ Aren ’ t you supposed to be in Harvard ? And you ’ re doing Mass Communication now , huh ?” It would have been so easy for Agung to take the path of prestige : law school in Oxford or Cambridge to ensure a lucrative career at a renowned firm but he had been through depression and failure that warned him against choosing the popular choice .
From a young age , Agung had always been fascinated by words and would occupy his waking hours surrounded by books . Entire recesses would be spent devouring magazines , encyclopaedias and being transported to the different worlds found in various books . In no time he was participating in writing and storytelling competitions . Winning was not the goal but rather it was the sense of accomplishment that gratified him .
It was in SJI , though , that Agung discovered he has a gift for language . He had come to Singapore at a tender age of 13 with a relatively limited grasp of English ; not knowing the meaning of ‘ neither , nor ’, ‘ either , or ’, and how they are supposed to be used . Within a few months however , he began to enjoy his English and Literature classes . He even fell in love with poetry . He reflects , “ I realised then that essay writing is just as intellectually engaging and stimulating as arithmetic or a scientific experiment . This changed my perspective entirely .”
Agung considers himself fortunate to be part of the Talent Development Programme ( TDP ) in SJI . Even as early