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.