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