Australian teenagers set for rare audience with Soeharto

Australian teenagers set for rare audience with Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): Ten Australian high school students will meet
with President Soeharto at his office this morning for a rare
audience which might even leave their Indonesian counterparts
envious.

The students from St. Stephen's School in Perth will also
dispense with the need for the translators that normally
accompany the President in his meetings with foreign guests --
All of them are trained in Bahasa Indonesia and will have a
chance to use it.

The students arrived on Sunday to start a two-week study tour
while honing their Indonesian language skills. They are
accompanied by their language teacher, Ms. Wendy Young, principal
Rev. Gavin E. Collinson JP and two parent supervisors.

The ten grade-12 students have all been learning Indonesian
for about four years.

Rev. Gavin told The Jakarta Post that the school has held four
or five study tours for students participating in Indonesian
language courses.

"We have two trips coming this year, these students are from
year-12 and we have another one from year-11 coming in
September." he said.

St. Stephen's has incorporated Indonesian its curriculum since
1985, when it became a compulsory course for eighth grade
students.

There are currently 200 students enrolled in the Indonesian
course, most of whom are taking it as an optional subject.

"Our school has the largest number of students learning
Indonesian in Western Australia," Rev. Gavin explained.

He noted the importance of the language since Indonesia is a
growing trading partner and Australia's closest neighbor to the
north.

"To this stage the largest Asian language being taught is
Japanese, but Indonesian is growing very rapidly," he said.

One of the students, Julie Peterkin, said the close proximity
and a previous trip to Bali helped her decide to learn
Indonesian, "It's not like learning a language that's on the
other side of the world where you probably never go there."

Both Michael Illinaworth and Melissa Barrett who have never
been here said they liked the language and decided to continue
Indonesian as an option after the compulsory grade eight course.

When asked if they now spoke the language fluently, Michael
said "we're getting there."

The students said they have had some opportunity to exercise
their Indonesian and have found it to be quite useful.

"Especially when we're bargaining," Melissa enthusiastically
said.

Language

Meanwhile Julie displayed her delight at her ability to
converse in the language, unlike her first trip here, "I could
actually meet and talk to people and understand what they're
saying."

Another student, Laurina Bullen, remarked at people's surprise
at their ability to speak the language. "It's a real shock when
we come up to them and speak Indonesian."

After their audience with Soeharto, they will leave for Solo,
Central Java, where they will tour the area and visit the fabled
Prambanan temple and Yogyakarta.

From there, they will continue their journey to the holiday
island of Bali before finally heading home to Perth.

Meanwhile, from Canberra it was reported yesterday that
Australia will give Indonesian students preferential treatment
under its immigration rules, Reuters reported.

Indonesia will be added to the list of countries whose
students are given easy visa processing and better work rights
for dependents, the Immigration Department said in a statement.

Countries are put on the preferential list if there is a low
risk of their students overstaying their visas. (07)