Indonesia Council Digest - November 2024
Well – did you get your abstract in? The deadline for ICOC2025 abstracts closes TOMORROW, 17 November, so you’ve still got time to get yours in. And a reminder that Indonesia Council is also offering small bursaries for eligible postgraduate members – you can find out more about the bursaries here.
Now that I’ve reminded you of the important stuff, let’s talk about the fun stuff. I spent four busy days in Indonesia at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in late October. My personal highlights included a session on the future of ethnography in Indonesia (chaired by Tito Ambyo and featuring Annisa Beta, Benjamin Hegarty, Eni Puji Utami and Geger Riyanto); seeing the oratory skills of Soesilo Toer (‘baby’ brother of Pramoedya) in real life; Ken Setiawan, Andreas Harsono and colleagues discussing the safeguarding of human rights within corporate practices in Indonesia; and pretty much anything with Lynette Russell. This is just a tiny snapshot of a massive program: I haven’t even mentioned the extensive film program (including screenings of Wangany Mala, Eksil and Manual for the Displaced), book launches, poetry slams or emerging writers initiative. I take my hat off to the organisers!
Finally, Indonesia Council made a submission to the New Colombo Plan External Advisory Group earlier this month. The focus of our submission was on educational viability and equity / access issues arising from recent changes to the NCP. You can read our submission, prepared by the Indonesia Executive Team, here.
Sampai bulan depan,
Natali
What’s happening
Asialink recently brought together a panel of leading experts to explore the outlook for Indonesia’s international political, economic and security relations under new President Prabowo. The session, which is available on YouTube, explores issues including whether Prabowo will tilt away from the West and embrace China and the Global South as geopolitical rivalries intensify; the value he places on ASEAN as a conduit to managing regional and international problems; and the bilateral relationship with Australia.
And on the topic of new Presidents…
Prabowo released a video showing him congratulating President Elect Trump. There is plenty of online analysis about the tone and implications of the call – feel free to go and explore that on your own, sir – but I was struck by this still which, as Erin Cook points out, appears to show a copy of China Daily on the desk.
We recently reported on the passing of Adrian Horridge, a long-time researcher of Indonesian seafaring traditions (which he did in his spare time, his main gig being as a world authority on honeybee vision as a Professor of Behavioural Biology). As reported by Jeffrey Mellefont in Inside Indonesia, Horridge’s archives have now been donated to the Australian National Maritime Museum, where they will be accessible to students and other researchers. They archive includes over 10,000 fieldwork photographs, a large research library, manuscripts, maps, Indonesian boat models and boatbuilding tools.
Speaking of maritime (well, it is the world’s greatest archipelago)… and China… and Prabowo… there have been some pretty interesting developments in this space in the past week or so. On a recent visit to China, Prabowo signed an MOU that included an agreement to jointly develop fisheries, oil and gas in maritime areas of overlapping claims – leading to criticism that Indonesia had effectively legitimised China’s illegitimate maritime claims in the contested South China Sea, including near Natuna. Aristyo Darmawan has written about the blunder for The Interpreter, while others described it as a strategic setback and as very dangerous for Indonesian sovereignty, reflecting particularly poorly on the new and inexperienced foreign minister Sugiono.
Publications and Podcasts
Andrew Catton wrote this piece, ‘From Sate to Sour: Why Indonesian Studies Lose Flavour After Year Eight’, for AIIA. Pointing to the recent announcement that Melbourne’s Scotch College—a school once at the forefront of Indonesian language education—is planning to phase out its Indonesian program, Catton says this is not just a local issue but one of national significance. Action needs to be taken, including through the development of level-appropriate teaching materials to keep students engaged – especially from year eight onwards.
Meanwhile, I wanted to draw your attention to this new(ish) (to me anyway) podcast by Billy Adison Aditijanto, The Perantau Podcast, in which he sits down with overseas Indonesians and the Indonesian diaspora to explore what it means to be Indonesian. New episodes drop every alternate Wednesday, and so far he has lined up a great list of speakers including Monika Winarnita, Wulan Dirgantoro and Sharyn Davies.
Podcast fans may also wish to check out this SSEAC Stories podcast (full disclosure – I am the host!) with Dwi Noverini Djenar from the University of Sydney, in which she discusses the languages of Indonesian politics.
What’s happening in Higher Education?
There has been a lot going on in Indonesian higher education (as I write this, Universitas Indonesia has just suspended Golkar Chief Bahlil Lahadalia’s Doctorate degree, with UI issuing an apology for causing public unrest), so I invited Evan Doran, PhD Candidate at the University of Sydney, to share some more insights. Evan’s doctoral research focuses on Indonesia’s higher education policies for enhancing academic research culture. As he says, Indonesia’s new higher education minister has work to do to reduce academic misconduct. Thanks so much for this fascinating snapshot of the higher ed sector, Evan.
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As the new minister of Higher Education, Research and Culture, Dr Satryo Soemantri Brodjonegoro took office in late October, Indonesia’s legacy media and social media again briefly lit up on the issue of academic misconduct. Suspected plagiarism by lecturers at Gadjah Mada University and the case earlier this year of rising academic star Dr Kumba Digdowiseiso’s dubiously inflated publication track record serve as a depressing reminder that reported cases of academic misconduct might only be the tip of the iceberg. The case might also be symbolic of the suspicion that Indonesia’s remarkable growth in publication output over the last decade is somehow artificially inflated, not so much by misconduct but by the (almost) adjacent practices of journal brokering, predatory publishing and the profusion of conference proceedings. If misconduct is an iceberg, it is one of at least a pair, the other being the increasing volume of research output with, purportedly, only the very tip reflecting high-quality science. Whether the suspicion is accurate or not, there is justifiable concern that academic misconduct and predatory publishing darken the reputation of all Indonesian institutions and undermine the nation’s ambition to be home to world-class universities.
Academic misconduct does not occur in a vacuum. Many observers and scholars point to a weak academic or research culture that tolerates practices such as gift-authoring and is not sufficiently appalled by plagiarism. It is also well-recognised that Indonesia’s ambition for its universities to be world-class has meant scholars have come under increasing pressure to publish internationally, which is where it counts for rankings that confer world-class status. As the ministry responsible for higher education has morphed into different formations under different administrations, the Secretariat General for Higher Education or Dikti has overseen a ratcheting up of incentives for publishing internationally, essentially publish or perish, creating a scramble among academics striving for promotion and much-needed salary allowances to publish something, somewhere. Scopus Fokus is a felt reality, which does not excuse misconduct but it does make time-poor academics look for doable outcomes.
Misconduct will be only one of the challenges facing Dr Satryo in improving the quality of Indonesian higher education. The new minister might be helped by having fewer responsibilities than his predecessor, Go-Jek founder Nadiem Makarim, now that the education ministry has been divided into three new ministries—primary and secondary ministry, higher education, research and technology ministry and a ministry of culture. Nevertheless, getting the right policy mix to adequately finance university teaching and research, extend university autonomy, manage the internationalisation of Indonesian higher education and balance academic freedom will be a challenge. Prof Satryo is well-placed to understand the issues, a senior academic with a Berkeley doctorate, a strong research track record and former head of Indonesia’s Academy of Science (AIPI). Dr Satryo is also an experienced administrator having been the Director General of Higher Education during the transition to democracy (1999-2007). The new minister will need all that experience to address misconduct and its root causes and advance the international reputation of Indonesian universities and academics.
By Evan Doran
Membership
All the cool folks are signing up to become members of Indonesia Council – and you can too! Paid membership allows us to cover our modest operating costs and to support keynote speakers at the biennial ASAA conferences. It also provides added benefits for you, including eligibility for:
Biennial Indonesia Council Early Career Book Prize
Dedicated postgraduate events and workshops
Special members-only newsletters
Other events, activities and subsidies as suggested by you