'A poorer version of the U.S. -- plus kangaroos'

'A poorer version of the U.S. -- plus kangaroos'

Duncan Graham, Contributor, Surabaya

Australian and Indonesian academics agree: More government and
community support is needed for cultural and language studies in
both countries to help improve relationships.

Enrollments are dropping for Indonesian Studies and language
in Australian schools and universities. In Indonesia only a few
hundred undergraduates are actively studying their southern
neighbor, though numbers are slowly increasing.

Fifteen Indonesian tertiary institutions, private and state,
belong to the Australian Studies Circle, but not all offer full
semester courses, said lecturer Aylanda Dwi Nugroho from
Surabaya's Petra Christian University, and chair of the Circle.

"Some English departments include Australian poems in their
poetry units, or classes on Australian society in their history
departments. About five offer Australian Studies as a major
subject, but there aren't enough teachers who have first hand
knowledge of the country or have undertaken specialized study."

Only the University of Indonesia has a full Australian Studies
course for postgraduates, she said.

The Circle was formed two years ago at a workshop in Bromo,
East Java. It helps other campuses design courses, write
curricula, build resources and open new centers.

In October the Sam Ratulangi University in Manado will open
the latest Australian Studies Center, and the first in North
Sulawesi.

The others are in North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Java,
Kalimantan and South Sulawesi.

Petra has a well-developed center funded in part by the
Australian government's Australia-Indonesian Institute. It
includes a small library of books, topical magazines and DVDs,
and Internet access.

"We want our students to understand Australian life, culture,
communities and institutions," said Aylanda. "We hope this will
strengthen mutual understanding and relationships between the two
neighboring countries.

"Most new students have a limited and simplistic view of
Australia. They tend to think it's a poorer version of the US
plus kangaroos and koalas."

Aylanda studied for her master's degree in applied linguistics
at Canberra University on an Australian government scholarship.
Since graduating in 1994 she has returned about ten times and
plans to do her doctorate at Melbourne University.

"Australia is my second home," she said. "I've visited most
parts of the continent and I enjoy the country and its people.
Good relationships between our nations are so important.

"When I was an undergraduate at Malang University in East Java
Australian Studies was unknown. At that time American Studies was
enormously popular. That changed with the advent of international
terrorism and restrictions on travel.

"British Studies was never taught before 2000. It became
briefly popular in East Java but has also declined since the
British Council in Surabaya stopped its support."

Terrorism has also been a factor in tumbling interest in
Indonesian Studies in Australia. Paradoxically this has come when
the demand for Indonesian-speaking cultural experts in government
departments and security agencies is increasing.

At the national conference of the Australian Society of
Indonesian Language Educators in Perth last month, University of
New South Wales professor David Reeve said periodic crises in
Indonesia and attacks on Indonesia by sections of the Australian
media had eroded student confidence.

The focus on terrorism, government travel advisories warning
against visiting Indonesia and a hostile reaction to the Corby
drug case had aggravated the situation. (Last month Australian
woman Schapelle Corby was sentenced to 20 years jail for
importing marijuana into Bali.)

Professor David Hill from Perth's Murdoch University described
the falling enrollments as "stark".

"In Western Australia last year only one per cent of the
Tertiary Entrance Examination candidates sat the Indonesian
second language paper," he said.

"That's a 24 per cent decline on the previous year. In New
South Wales there's been a 16 per cent drop in the past decade.

"Even committed teachers of Indonesian face resistance within
their schools from parent groups and students influenced by
negative public opinion.

"Positive information about Indonesia - its enormous strides
towards democracy and the predominant peace and tranquility
across the vast archipelago - has become rare. Yet Indonesia's
rapid social and political transformation makes the nation more
fascinating than ever."

An Australian Parliamentary report on relationships between
the neighbors, and published 14 months ago, called for more
people-to-people contacts. It also recommended that Indonesian
Studies be designated "a strategic national priority." So far
the Australian government has failed to respond.

Apart from negative perceptions of Indonesia, Professor Hill
blamed the Australian government for dropping the National Asian
Languages and Studies program in 2002. He said this had turned
students away from studying Asia.

But he also criticized the Indonesian government for banning
two Australian academics and for making research visas hard to
obtain. He said Indonesia should provide scholarships for staff
and students to visit Australia.

The high cost of education and living in Australia makes it
difficult for many Indonesians without outside support to study
abroad.

Professor Hill helped pioneer an intercultural program called
the Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies and
now in its eleventh year.

This places Australian undergraduates in selected Indonesian
universities where they study alongside local students and live
in boarding houses. Most find the costs easy to bear.

Aylanda agreed more resources, training and government support
were required. She said the Australian Embassy in Jakarta had
been "enormously helpful" in supplying materials and encouraging
Indonesian academics.

"The number of Australian government scholarships has also
increased to more than 600," she said. "But when is enough,
enough?"