Singapore-registered social app Sanct Social asked 112 students at a Jakarta school fair who is still there for them, and many came back with their loved ones

SINGAPORE – The question sat on a card on the table, in Indonesian: "Siapa yang masih ada buat kamu?" Who is still there for you? Almost nobody at the Sanct Social booth answered with "lots of people". They paused, smiled, and said one name. On Saturday 18 October 2026, 112 students and parents did.

The booth was in Ruangan Nova 6 at SMA Tarakanita 2 in Pluit, North Jakarta, during Tar2Cup "Cerita 2026: Luminara", the school's annual fair, open from 8 am to 5.30 pm Jakarta time (one hour behind Singapore) while teams from schools around Jakarta competed on the field. Sanct Social is a social app for close friends and family, built by a start-up registered in Singapore and free on the App Store in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia and nine more countries, and for one Saturday its table at a school fair asked a single question.

Tar2Cup "Cerita 2026: Luminara" runs from 16 to 23 October 2026 on a theme of the moon and stars, with two star mascots, Astra and Stellar, and ends with a closing ceremony on Saturday 24 October 2026.

One question, 112 names

The answers came as short stories. A student named the deskmate who waits for her after class every day. Another named an older sister at university in another city who still calls every night. A boy named his mother, who was standing right beside him, and she laughed. None of the answers were long, and all of them were about a real person.

They went to get that person

What happened next is the part the team keeps retelling. Students left the table and came back with the person they had just named: a deskmate pulled out of the stands, a best friend from the next classroom, a parent brought over from the corridor. The two of them downloaded Sanct Social there and then, scanned each other's code to become each other's first friend, and started with just those two. It was hot, and they kept coming back anyway.

That was the real takeaway of the day, and it was the visitors' takeaway before it was the team's: a clear answer about who matters to you, and the will to bring that person along and try it together. For a Singapore reader the question travels well. Many families here have someone a short flight away, and the one-hour time difference with Jakarta is just enough to miss each other at dinner.

"One hundred and twelve people answered, and almost all of them answered with a name rather than a number," said Mr Sion Abednego, founder of Sanct Social. "What sent us home smiling was not the queue. It was students walking off and coming back holding the hand of the person they had just named, and downloading the app together in front of us. That is exactly what Sanct Social is for: you know who is still there for you, and you bring them in."

What the team took home

Three things. The same smile from every visitor the moment the name was said. The students' plain encouragement to keep the app going. And the scene that repeated all day: someone says a name, then goes to get that person.

Sanct Social thanks the Tar2Cup "Cerita 2026: Luminara" committee and SMA Tarakanita 2 for the room and the welcome, and every student and parent who stopped by. Tar2Cup continues until its closing ceremony on Saturday 24 October 2026.

About the app

Sanct Social is a personal networking app for close friends and family, with a virtual room where they meet when they are far apart and open up about their day. It is free with no ads on the App Store in Singapore and eleven more countries, and more than 1,000 people are already on the platform.

Sanct Social can be downloaded through https://sanct.social