International Relations

Indonesia No Longer Popular Among Australians

VIVAnews - As one of the geographically closest countries to Australia, Indonesian language was once a popular subject in school classes in Australia. However, today Indonesian language classes do not interest  Australians anymore. Teachers are having difficulties finding students who are fond of learning Indonesian language.

According to Professor of School of Languages and Cultures from University of Sidney, Adrian Vickers, travel warning to Bali that the Australian government issued following the Bali Bombing incident was believed as the main cause.

Schools are not able to send students to Indonesia because the Federal Government's travel warning creates insurance problems and other problems. "As a high school student, I went to Indonesia on school excursions in 1972 and 1975. These experiences started my career of researching and teaching about Indonesia," said Vickers as quoted from Sidney Morning Herald on Monday, Feb 23.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade erroneously rates Indonesia as more dangerous than places where there are regular terrorist attacks, such as the Middle East, or where there is a very high crime rate, such as parts of Africa.

"For four years its website has warned of imminent terrorist attacks in Indonesia, but none has occurred since the killing of the bomb-maker Azhari Husin in 2005," said Vickers. Australia is deemed as showing excessive attitude towards Indonesia compared to the United States, which was always extremely cautious about potential danger for its citizens but pulled its travel advisory on Indonesia last year.

Vickers then criticized the policy of the Australian Federal government which he considered as absurd. "Because of these warnings, a federally funded scheme to give school teachers in-country experience of Indonesia has to send these teachers to Darwin," he said.

However, those warnings are not the only cause. "The media should accept culpability in contributing to negative portrayals of Indonesia," said Vickers. The negative description on Indonesia causes people to have no interest on Indonesia.

As a solution, "We academics could do more to make the subject accessible, as there are many pressures on students' choice of subjects," he said, adding that "Few students and parents realize that large corporations with Asia-related business interests, such as the Commonwealth Bank, want to recruit graduates who can speak Indonesian."

He went on to say the Rudd administration has to make a substantial investment in teaching Asian languages and cultures and send positive messages, rather than the mixed ones currently being put out by Foreign Affairs.

Pengunjung Coba Kelabui Petugas Lapas Yogyakarta Simpan Pil Koplo di Betis, Malah Ketahuan

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Translated by: Bonardo Maulana Wahono

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