Indonesia flourishes as country struggles

Indonesia flourishes as country struggles

Rita A. Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Sanur, Bali

Political and social instability in Indonesia has created an
increased interest in learning the Indonesian language and
culture, a professor of Indonesian studies said here on Monday.

Arief Budiman, head of the Indonesian Study Department at
Melbourne University in Australia, told reporters that Australian
scholars and experts had shown an increasing interest in learning
Indonesian languages over the last few years, especially since
1997 when Indonesia was hit by several major crises.

"People want to read news and analysis on economic, political
and social conditions in Indonesia in order to understand the
problems," Arief said at the opening of the International
Conference of Indonesian Language Instructors at the Grand Bali
Beach Hotel.

Indonesian has been popular in Australia for a number of
years. Public schools such as those in the Northern Territory,
Queensland, Western Australia have even included Bahasa Indonesia
in their required curriculum. There are more than 22,000
Australian students learning Bahasa Indonesia and 38 universities
with Indonesian Language Programs.

"Some universities, including the Australian National
University, Monash University and Melbourne University, have
established Indonesian study centers," added Arief.

The three-day conference, which started on Monday, involves
more than 300 experts on Indonesian language from Australia,
Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Britain, Russia,
Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy and the United States.

The meeting is jointly organized by the Bali chapter of the
Indonesia-Australia Language Foundation, the Indonesian National
Language Center, the Ministry of National Education and the
Association of Indonesian Language Instructors.

The event is aimed at sharing experiences and problems on how
to teach Indonesian to foreign students. It is also intended to
improve the methods of teaching and learning Indonesian as a
second language.

Dendi Sugono, head of the Indonesian National Language Center,
admitted that there is still a lack of effective methods to teach
Indonesian to foreigners.

"There should be improvement in the provision of Indonesian
language instructors. So far, we still don't have formal
institutions for those who want to become instructors," he said.

Learning Indonesian is not easy. "Instructors must be creative
enough to arouse their student's interest," he said.

Indonesian language instructors in Australia and Russia shared
their experience.

Lucretia Prang, an instructor of the Country Indonesian
Program at Northern Territory University in Darwin, Australia,
has developed a cultural exchange program. "The Country Language
Program gives students the opportunity not only to acquire
knowledge in Bahasa Indonesia but also in the customs and
religion of a different society," she explained.

She invited students to visit Lombok, an island near the
resort island of Bali.

Having experienced very little in regard to the various
religions within Indonesia, the Australian students visiting
Lombok are given plenty of opportunity to meet other people, she
said. A visit to some Islamic boarding schools as well as a Hindu
kampong has broadened the horizon of many students.

The program is available for nonstudents and professionals and
aims to improve relations between Indonesia and Australia, which
have been rocky in the last few years mainly due to
misunderstandings between cultures, she explained.

Veronika Novoseltseva, an Indonesian language lecturer at
Moscow State University for International Relations in Russia,
found it hard to obtain adequate materials in Indonesian.

"We need a professional book on the Indonesian language. My
students need to understand both the language as well as its
social, cultural and political contexts," she explained.