Photographs bring RI and Australia together

Photographs bring RI and Australia together

Dewi Anggraeni, Contributor, Melbourne, Australia

At a time when the relationship between Indonesia and Australia
is still riding on the surf rather than cruising on solid ground,
there is nothing like looking at photographs beaming messages of
friendship based on goodwill and mutual learning, spanning over
50 years, to bring back some sense of stability.

Nothing in the photographs or the stories behind them
indicates bad faith, exploitation or resentment, not even
implied.

The photographic exhibition, titled Australian Volunteers &
Indonesian Communities: 50 Years of Partnership and housed in the
Sydney Myer Asia Center of the University of Melbourne, was
launched on May 23, and opened for public viewing the following
day for two weeks.

The pictures are silent witnesses to various situations. Some
show serious moments where learning is taking place: Indonesian
students learning specific skills as well as Australian
volunteers learning the real-life know-how of living in a place
where the environment and culture are completely different from
their own homeland.

Others are nostalgically cute and touching, such as that in
which the four-year-old child of an Australian volunteer couple
walks nonchalantly into the water followed by two bigger
Indonesian boys who seem overcome with curiosity about where the
little boy is leading them.

Then there is one of camaraderie and bonding where volunteer
English teacher, Betty Feith, helps her Indonesian friend and
interpreter Djaelani unfurl an Indonesian flag to hang up on
Independence Day in 1954.

The organization known now as Australian Volunteers
International indeed began its life in Indonesia, and has been
one of the more solid testimonies to Australia's unfailing yet
unassuming friendship for Indonesia.

The genesis of this volunteer program goes back to 1950, to an
international student conference in Bombay, India, to be precise.

Having heard of the new nation's great need for education, the
Australian delegation felt challenged to share their skills,
working in Indonesia for the same rates of pay as their
Indonesian colleagues.

The late Herb Feith, a leading Indonesianist and a member of a
committee later founded at the University of Melbourne, became
the first volunteer when he sailed to Jakarta in 1951 to work as
a translator with the Ministry of Information.

Over the last 50 years, some 400 volunteers have worked in
Indonesia in more than 70 professions and vocations and in as
far-flung places as Jakarta, Ende, Palembang, Padang, Banda Aceh,
Banjarmasin, Tondano, Maumere, Tual, Kendari, and many more.

In interviews, Herb Feith often emphasized that what had
motivated him was his "curiosity", his desire to learn and
experience first-hand the cultures, lifestyles and values of the
diverse populations of the newly independent Indonesia.

In his remarks at the 50th anniversary celebration for
Australian Volunteers International held in Jakarta last
November, he expressed his desire to break the mold of Western
parochialism, also known as first-world parochialism.

Peter Britton, a senior manager at Australian Volunteers
International, in his article in Inside Indonesia, wrote of his
belief that what motivated a volunteer was a complex mixture of
factors, altruism and self-interest among others. Indeed many
former volunteers have gone on to influential positions in
various fields in Australia.

Looking around the room at the launch of the exhibition, it
was reassuring to see some of the people in the photographs walk
around in real-life, albeit somewhat more mature and maybe older.

And talking and reminiscing with them were some Indonesians
whom had worked with them in various parts of Indonesia during
their time as volunteers.

Political storms may toss the relationship between the two
countries about, but these friendships between real people will
always be the mainstay.