Tribute to Harry Perkins

Tribute to Harry Perkins

Harry Perkins, a truly great Australian, passed away in Perth, Western Australia last weekend. While it is rare for a tribute such as this to be published in an Indonesian newspaper, I would like to say a word in his honor as follows.

Harry Perkins was the type of visionary, despite these times of conflict and misunderstanding between Australia and Indonesia, who fought very hard to build bridges between Australia and Southeast Asia.

He was a very well-known and public figure in business as chairman of the Wesfarmers Group, in education as chancellor of Curtin University, in medicine as chairman of the WA Institute for Medical Research and in community circles as a kind, compassionate and caring gentleman. Whilst he was not as well known in Asia, there are countless thousands of Asians who knew him.

As chancellor of Curtin University, Harry presented thousands of degrees to young Asian and Australian men and women who attended Curtin University in Perth. Harry also traveled to Asia several times a year to officiate at university ceremonies so that young Asian graduates from Curtin could be presented with their degrees in front of their friends and families.

As chairman of the Wesfarmers Group for 16 years, Harry oversaw the transformation of what was once a farmers co- operative into one of Australia's largest and most dynamic companies.

While Harry was the Australian chairman of the Nuffield Farming Scholars Association, he developed a program that saw the inclusion of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore on the annual Nuffield study tours. These tours, which have taken place since 1997, have given countless international farmers exposure to the culture, issues and economies of Southeast Asia. At the same time, farmers in Southeast Asia have had the chance to interact with some of the most progressive farmers in the world.

Harry was a great man and many, many people feel his loss, he was a man of passion, with the kind of wisdom and vision that has been lacking in Australia for many years. We can only hope and pray that what Harry started will provide the platform for others to fulfill his vision for harmonious, tolerant and mutually beneficial relationships to develop between the nations of Southeast Asia and Australia.

MICHAEL SHEEHY, Jakarta