Tale of Indonesian studies in Melbourne University

Tale of Indonesian studies in Melbourne University

By Dewi Anggraeni

MELBOURNE (JP): When Indonesian academic Arief Budiman arrived
earlier this year to take up the position of Chair of the
Indonesian Language Program at the University of Melbourne,
colleagues and friends saw the event as the coming of age of the
university's Indonesian studies.

It was also timely evidence that the university's proposed
cultural diversity policy is not mere rhetoric.

At his inaugural lecture in October, Arief reminded the
audience that he was only continuing a journey that others before
him had embarked on over 40 years ago.

And it was during an informal gathering after the lecture that
Associate Professor Charles Coppel -- currently of the History
Department -- one of the program's forerunners, gave an
historical account of the program since its inception on March 1,
1956.

Despite the seriousness of the topic, Coppel's presentation
drew a lot of laughter.

It was probably the entertaining way he recounted the
chronological events, or it could have been the fact that seen in
the context of today's political atmosphere, the earlier events
sounded quaint and slightly patronizing.

The year 1956 saw the humble birth of an Indonesian Program at
the University of Melbourne.

It had been conceived, it appears, during discussions -- very
likely informal, between the then vice chancellor George Paton,
who later became Sir George Paton, and the director of the
Commonwealth Office of Education, J. Weeden. Correspondence
between the two gentlemen bears this out.

On June 24, 1955 Weeden wrote two letters to Paton. The
informal one reads: "Dear Paton, You will remember our recent
discussions about the possibility of providing courses in
Indonesian and Malayan Studies at your University. The
Commonwealth government has decided that if the University of
Melbourne is willing to make provision for such studies it will
be prepared to meet the costs .... you will recall you mentioned
a staff of two, a senior lecturer (European) supported by a
junior (native speaker)..."

The formal one reads: "Dear Professor Paton, The Commonwealth
Government is interested in the possibility of providing teaching
in Indonesian and Malayan Studies in Australia, and I have been
asked to enquire whether the University of Melbourne could
provide teaching in this field. The Government recognizes that
the form which courses in Indonesian and Malayan studies would
take is a matter for the University to decide. It is hoped,
however, that if a course can be provided they might be such as
would form part of a degree course in Arts, or in other faculties
in which Arts courses may be included. While the language of
Indonesia might be the major study, possibly provision could be
made for teaching something of the culture of the region. If a
sufficient number of students enroll for the course it might be
possible in later years to provide for wider and more advanced
studies..."

In his reply dated July 12, 1955, Paton wrote, "I welcome the
offer of a Commonwealth grant for Indonesian and Malayan studies.
We have already begun to develop these at Melbourne and the grant
will enable us to make definite progress just where it is needed
most. We definitely need to appoint a qualified lecturer
forthwith and are confident that a trained linguist could handle
the languages of Indonesia and Malaya simultaneously. If we can
get one from the beginning of 1956, we should require him first
to introduce a basic language course into the existing seminar
for graduates and students preparing for work in Indonesia where
the immediate need is most urgent..."

Suspicion

The interest in Indonesian and Malay Studies then may have
been related to the government's suspicion that Indonesia was
becoming expansionist.

It was then that the "recover Irian Barat" campaign was at its
peak, and Indonesia's active role in hosting the Asia-Africa
Conference in Bandung, and the growing support in Indonesia for
the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party did not help.

All this development was making Australia very uncomfortable.
It was considered wise therefore for Australians to "know their
enemy" in order to "subdue it".

The "junior" native speaker lecturer subsequently appointed on
March 1, 1956 was Zainu'ddin who held the position for five
years.

He pioneered the language program, run at this stage as an
external studies' and summer school course.

His efforts let to the establishment of an Indonesian
Department, with the appointment of Jamie Mackie (later
Professor) in 1958 to fill the position of Senior Lecturer in
Charge.

Indonesian grew in status and in volume. Under Mackie the
Department of Indonesian and Malayan Studies was established and
in 1961 (the late) Pieter Sarumpet -- who later became head of
Indonesian -- was appointed. Mohamad Slamet was appointed in
1967.

As a growing program, it was reasonable to assume that a Chair
in Indonesian be appointed. But a 7 percent cut in the
Commonwealth Office of Education budget for the university and
reduced funding for the Indonesia Program threw the department
into damage control mode.

While program expansion was constricted, the university did
influence the development of Indonesian in Victorian schools and
tertiary institutions.

Having no Chair also may have contributed to the relative ease
with which the Indonesian Program was uprooted, then "housed" in
a different department, merged with another existing one, or
"spread out" over several departments.

Charles Coppel led the Program from 1979 to 1987, and from
1973 to 1987, he, Pieter Sarumpaet and Mohamad Slamet taught in
the same program, from three different departments.

East Timor

In 1959, the Indonesian Department began with a modest six
students, increased to seven (first year) and two (second year)
in 1960. The number of students peaked in 1966 at 75 (first
year), 30 (second year) and 12 (third year), to ease off -- and
then drop dramatically in 1976.

Since the drop occurred in other universities Australia-wide,
the most likely explanation is the widespread negative reaction
to what happened in East Timor.

Indeed the most strident opposition to East Timor's
integration into Indonesia at that time was among university
students.

While the program now has solidified with the appointment of a
'native' Chair, Charles Coppel points out that its previous fluid
nature had positive effects.

From the late 1970s the Indonesian Program moved away from its
original combination of Indonesian language and "area study" by
introducing expanded self-standing language subjects and
orienting its "area study" subjects toward the disciplines of
anthropology, sociology, history and political science.

After Slamet's retirement in 1987, the language program and
staff were regrouped with other Asian languages, while the
discipline subjects and staff moved to the mainstream discipline
departments.

The elimination of the then Department of Indian and
Indonesian Studies at the end of 1987 had the paradoxical effect
of encouraging the study of Indonesia in mainstream departments
elsewhere in the University.

It now has Indonesian specialists in History (Charles Coppel),
Linguistics (Mark Durie), Anthropology (Douglas Lewis), Women's
Studies (Maila Stivens), Law (Tim Lindsey), Economics (Howard
Dick) and Music (Cathy Falk) among others.

Interest in Indonesia is now widespread on the campus,
fostered by the active networking of the Indonesia Interest
Group.

Arief Budiman was right.

While his appointment brings status to the Indonesian Program,
he has in fact walked into a world already shaped by colleagues
before him.

The strength of this world will be an important asset in this
era of competitiveness in the tertiary education business.