Colin Brown
Tell us about yourself!
I’m now retired, and an adjunct staff member at the Griffith Asia Institute at Griffith University. My primary interests are in Indonesia’s modern history, economic and politics (when you are retired, you are allowed to make such ambit claims!). I have previously worked in several other Australian universities, and at Gadjah Mada and Parahyangan Universities in Indonesia.
Where does your interest in Indonesia stem from?
I would like to say it was the result either of early and life-changing exposure to Indonesia, or mature consideration of Australia’s geopolitical priorities. In fact, it was accidental. I was studying history in my Economics degree at University of Queensland. Finding some of the subjects on offer rather boring, I asked a couple of 3rd year students who they reckoned the best lecturer in the Department was. “Chris Penders”, they said. So I decided to enrol in the course he taught the next year. It happened be History of Modern Southeast Asia. Indonesia was Chris’ favoured country in the region. He was indeed a very good lecturer: I got hooked.
What is the nature of your engagement with Indonesia – are you an academic, a professional, an alumni?
Professional, but also personal. One of the few advantages of being of mature years is that as an academic working on Indonesia you acquire a wide circle of friends in Indonesia of a range of ages, ethnicities, religions, locations and occupations. And as my wife is Indonesian, I have plenty of relatives there too. My daughter is in fact living and working in Indonesia right now.
Have you ever been to an Indonesia Council Open Conference and if so, what is your fondest memory?
Yes, I went to a number of the earlier ones. It was good to be in an environment where you did not feel your interest in Indonesia was something which had to be regularly justified, defended and legitimised!
How do you think organisations like Indonesia Council can improve Australia-Indonesia relations?
Not sure I have anything original to add to the comments already made in response to this question. The Australia-Indonesia relationship, to be sound and sustainable, needs to be grounded in community knowledge and understanding, of (on our part) Indonesia, but also of ourselves. I think that the IC, and similar organisations, plays an important role contributing to and sustaining that knowledge and understanding. It would be fantastic to see a counterpart Dewan Australia set up in Indonesia with a parallel objective . . . . [Editor’s note: couldn’t love this idea more]
What are some of the challenges and opportunities in the Indonesia-Australia relationship?
Challenges? My personal hobbyhorse is the challenge of getting more Australians to take Indonesia seriously: as an influential country in our region; as a legitimate subject of academic study; as a place which exists outside the beaches of Bali and the traffic jams of Jakarta; as a nation having a rich and challenging language called, in English, “Indonesian” (like French, Dutch, etc), not bahasa (not langue, taal, etc).
Opportunities? See “Challenges”.
Tell us about your favourite Indonesian food experience
Can I have a couple? Sitting in a warung in Banda Aceh with my then Vice Chancellor, wondering whether I should mention to him the reputation the Acehnese have for the use of ganja in traditional cooking (the headline Australian VC caught in Indonesian drugs raid came to mind); eating my first durian with friends in Banjarmasin; sitting in a restaurant with a bunch of Indonesian colleagues staring down at a bowl of soto featuring various pieces of animal innards; discovering the delights of sweet dishes like serabi, kue lapis, dadar gulung and (my personal favourite) kue putu.
(For non-native Indonesian speakers) Do you speak Indonesian and where did you start learning it?
I started to learn Indonesian at the Institute of Modern Languages at UQ, some time ago. I dropped out of the class, but fell in love with my teacher. We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary last year, so our part of the Australia-Indonesia relationship seems reasonable secure!
What’s your favourite Indonesian food and why?
Where to start? I like Padang food generally, though some of the more exotic cuts of meat I am happy to give a miss. Anything made with tempe. Grilled catfish. Rempeyek. Bubur ayam for breakfast. Most kinds of soto. Sate – preferably chicken. Why do I like them? Because they taste bloody good of course!
What’s your favourite Indonesian music/song/writer?
My tastes in music I would describe as eclectic; others might call them non-existent. So I’ll pick up on the last part of the question.
I have been an intermittent reader of Indonesian fiction over the years. Among my favourite books are Y B Mangunwijaya’s Burung-burung Manyar, (probably my all-time favourite Indonesian novel), Linus Suryadi’s, Pengakuan Pariyem and Ahmad Tohari’s Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk. All a bit dated now, I suppose. But I am currently enjoying reading Herry Gendut Janarto’s Yogya Yogya. Google books defined it as “young adult literature” but another reviewer, to my relief, said it appealed to “pembaca usia matang” – the mature age reader!
What’s your favourite Indonesian idiom?
Hard to choose. Perhaps “kabar angin”, idiomatically meaning gossip or rumours. But I like the image the idiom conjures up via its literal meaning: “news carried along on the wind”.
[Last month’s PAY IT FORWARD question]:
Can I ask the same question as the last pay it forward? I am interested in how people get their news!
Mostly, from the same places as everyone else: mainstream news media (Kompas, Tempo, Jakarta Post, Republika); some international news services (BBC News Indonesia is good for extended coverage of particular issues); websites of Indonesian NGOs (including, like Pak Tito in the March edition of the Digest, Project Multatuli); colleagues and friends in Indonesia; and of course mas Google. My great failing in the eyes of some will be that I am not a great user of social media. I do have a Facebook account, but not Tiktok, Twitter / X or Instagram. Old dogs, new tricks.
?PAY IT FORWARD: Finally, it’s YOUR turn to ask a question… Please suggest a question we can ask our next member!
Do you follow any sports in Indonesia? If so, which one/s, and why?