Indonesianist Faith dies in accident
Indonesianist Faith dies in accident
The Jakarta Post, Melbourne/Jakarta
Leading Indonesianist Herbert Feith died on Wednesday evening
in Melbourne in an accident that occurred during his trip home
from Monash University.
He was cycling when a train hit him, sources close to the
family said. He died at about 6:30 p.m. at the accident site near
Glen Iris Station near his residence. Further details were not
available.
Family members said the memorial service would take place at
Monash University next week. Feith, 71, is survived by his wife
Betty and three adult children -- David, Annie and Robbie -- and
a number of grandchildren.
He returned to Melbourne from Indonesia last year after
retiring as visiting professor for almost 10 years at Gadjah Mada
University in Yogyakarta, where he became a familiar figure on
his bicycle. Feith was born in Vienna, Austria, on Nov. 3 1930
and emigrated with his family to Australia while still a child.
His studies and books are considered among the pioneering
works on Indonesian politics and history, such as The Decline of
Indonesia's Constitutional Democracy, his doctoral thesis from
Cornell University, and Indonesian Political Thinking, 1945-1965,
co-edited with Lance Castles, who also teaches at Gadjah Mada
University.
Among his numerous students are Harold Crouch, Dewi Fortuna
Anwar and Ichlasul Amal of Gadjah Mada University.
Feith was first an English language assistant, the first
volunteer from Australia, with the ministry of information in
1951. He helped set up the Australian Volunteer Association and
played a crucial role in developing networks and close
relationships between intellectuals of Australia and Indonesia,
said David T. Hill, a Perth-based professor of Asian Studies at
Murdoch University.
Former students in Yogyakarta remember him as a very polite
professor who asked to be taught about working with a computer.
Even in English he would be very careful in choosing his words in
interviews.
"He always called out Selamat pagi, Selamat siang, when
passing the university hall on his bike," Agus, a former student,
said.
Latest interviews with Feith included those on the 1997
general election based on, among other things, his studies of the
1955 elections.