Bahasa Raya

Volume 1 Issue 2

March 2000

SELAMAT DATANG! Welcome to the second issue of Bahasa Raya. Our subscriber base is growing rapidly (hooray) and we're pleased to see members who come from all over the world, although the majority of our subscribers still live in Australia, where this ezine originates.

This ezine is in simple "easy-to-read" format. I invite you all to contribute and I'd especially like to thank the contributors for this March issue, for giving some of their much valued time in sending us some interesting tidbits.

WANTED contributions for April issue!!

Hi Everybody! Here is our second issue of our new electronic magazine, "Bahasa Raya". Thanks to everyone who helped make it possible.

It has become apparent to me in the past few weeks, after talking to many of you via email, that Indonesian has really suffered in our schools and many of you are battling to keep the fires burning. I'd like to sympathize with the struggling Indonesian faculties who have been dealt a difficult hand in these tough times, largely due to the backlash from the economic and political woes of the past eighteen months.

I'm really happy to report that we have started to take some initiatives at Kambing, in improving the web site offerings. Check out our section entitled: "Safe As Cash…and other stuff!" in this ezine, to find out more.

Thank you also, to those WHIP students, (especially yr 9), who have been corresponding with me regularly. It's great to know that you're working away there and really benefiting from the programme. Congratulations to Erna Tan's students, who are really hard WHIP workers and deserve the success that they have really earned!! The QLD students are also particularly diligent -well done!

Selamat membaca dan mengajar!

Dari Redaksi

Suzanne Weatherburn

TEACHING TIPS FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

In lower primary, in fact up to year 4 really, a nifty idea to increase your student's motivation and pronunciation skills, is to prepare an Indonesian "Take Home" reader kit. This is how you can design a useful teaching resource for the children to take it in turns to take home. (Just as one would do with an English based reading programme.) It can be on a reward basis and the children must promise to bring it back the next day.

This is how you put it together:

You can do three readings, one reading the story at a normal pace, the second reading it in phrases and leaving a gap for "listen & repeat" and and the final reading can be with perticular vocabulary you are tergeting along with their English meanings.

HINT: When you have recorded the cassette to your satisfaction, remove the plugs in the cassette to prevent the children from recording over your master!

When your kit is ready, you can begin distributing it in class. With one child receiving it each day, and a few missed days, when they forget to bring them back, you should get through that kit in approximately 4 weeks - 6 weeks, depending on the numbers in the classroom.

You may want to run two or three kits at once, but try to focus on some of the vocabulary you have already covered, so that it isn't 100% new vocabulary and that the children will have some confidence in knowing a few of the words already. If you have a mixed ability classroom, then two kits which are at differing levels of difficulty, might be a good idea.

Sydney University

University of Sydney: Dept of Southeast Asian Studies

NEWS

Marina Paath has joined the full time language teaching staff as Project Officer for the HEIP (Higher Education Innovation Program) project. This is a new initiative following successful application to DEETYA for a grant to establish the teaching of the Sydney University Indonesian Program at Macquarie University, making Indonesian available to students who would otherwise not be able to study it. The program began in 1999 with Introductory Indonesian and is continuing this year with the addition of Intermediate Indonesian. An important component of the program is the development of IT materials.

We continue to be committed to facilitating in-country study for our students. The Intensive Courses in Indonesian Language and Culture at Satyawacana University in Salatiga continue to attract students from all over the country. Details of next course are available from Abbie Messiter (02) 93513173. The ACICIS (Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies) program is also popular and students can choose from a range of options appropriate for their particular needs. The Field Studies option in Malang is particularly popular with students who can use this component towards their Honours degree.

One of our former students, Fiona Collins, has recently completed a round- Australia, sixteen and a half thousand kilometers cycling marathon to raise funds for impoverished Indonesians, hit by the recent and ongoing economic crisis. She established the OzIndo Project after studying with the ACICIS program at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta and seeing at first hand the suffering of the local people. She was joined on the journey by Jan Lingard, her lecturer in Indonesian at Sydney University and Timur Nugroho from Yogyakarta as the Indonesian representative in the team. Thanks to the generosity of the hundreds of Australian people the team spoke to both formally at fund raising functions, and informally along the way, over $60,000 was raised for food subsidisation programs in Central and East Java and, and for relief aid in East Timor and Ambon. An important component of the OzIndo Project was awareness raising about the people and culture of Indonesia which are rarely reported in the Australian media.

Meanwhile, the 2000 academic year is in full swing, with class numbers being sustained at a healthy rate. We are presently preparing for our annual schools day, when we invite senior secondary students of Indonesian to visit the department and see what we do here and to learn about the Salatiga program.

UWS - Macarthur

Kabar dari UWS

Indonesian at the University of Western Sydney, Macarthur has started 2000
in survival mode. The Faculty cancelled first year Indonesian, in the
belief that enrolments would be down after the negative publicity on
Indonesia in 1999, before waiting to see actual numbers. However
enrolments are up for both second and third years with several new students
entering the courses at a more advanced level. The cancellation of first
year Indonesian implies the possible phasing out of Indonesian at UWS, but
kami terus berjuang!

For the second year UWS Indonesian classes welcome exchange students from
La Rochelle University in France, one of the two French universities where
Indonesian is taught. The four students, two in second and two in third
year, will have their first opportunity to visit Indonesia on their way
home from Australia in July. The three 1999 La Rochelle students are now
finishing their degrees in Bandung, after returning home for one semester.

In second semester we will have one, maybe two students undertaking the
ACICIS semester abroad program in Yogyakarta. Several students over recent
years have participated in this most successful program, and returned with
fluent Indonesian and a lifelong commitment to Indonesia .

Salam,

Toni Pollard
(Lecturer in Indonesian)

Study the internet survey above and answer the following questions in English:

ACTIVITY:

Using this survey as a model, design an internet usage survey written in Indonesian, which is particularly tailored to the students in your class or school. Try it out and then write up some conclusions according to the statistical results of your survey in Indonesian.

An Invitation From The AIA (Australia Indonesia Association)

The AIA social calendar contains an avid array of activities such as visits to exhibitions, connoisseur’s dinners at our favourite Indonesian restaurants, gala nights, gatherings at members’ homes and information sessions with visiting Indonesian dignitaries and, of course, visits to our neighbours in country New South Wales.

The last five years have seen a rapid growth of interest in the study of Indonesian. To support this and to assist local communities become more familiar with Indonesian and Indonesians in Australia, the AIA has established a Regional Festivals Programme. The festivals usually incorporate cultural displays with stalls, street parades, school displays, Indonesian art exhibitions, entertainment and a special dinner.

The AIA has established an annual schools prize called the E. Seymour Shaw award. Instituted by a past president, the prize provides resources for schools teaching Indonesian and demonstrating a commitment to the fostering and promotion of the Indonesian language and culture within the school and the wider community. A number of schools are already AIA members and the executive committee is keen to see this expand.

The AIA participates in fairs, bazaars, festivals and many events with the Australian-Indonesian communities. AIA members are also active in local arisan groups. The Association also has a great rapport with the business community and its representative body, the Australia Indonesia Business Council, and the AIA is looking at ways to further enhance and develop these relationships, including the use of new technologies, to bridge the distance and bring us all closer together.

The Australia Indonesia Association (AIA) was formed in Sydney in 1945.

It was originally established for the encouragement of art, culture and literature, and to foster and promote friendship, understanding and good relations between the peoples of Australia and Indonesia.

For 55 years the AIA has endeavoured to achieve these aims by all means within its power and particularly by the promotion among the peoples of Australia and Indonesia of increased knowledge of one another.

During this time the Association has arranged for:

• the interchange and distribution of information relating to the Australian and Indonesian peoples;
• the exchange between Australia and Indonesia of literature, films, cultural exhibitions, recordings and other cultural and educational materials;
• hospitality to Indonesian visitors;
• addresses by representative speakers; and
• the study of matters of concern and interest to the Australian and Indonesian peoples,

and has pursued by all available means the education of each of the peoples in knowledge and understanding of the others and their problems.

Australia Indonesia Association

GPO Box 802 Sydney 1043

New South Wales Australia

Telephone: 02 9747 2920

Facsimile: 02 9703 5520

Mobile: 0419 419 269

Name/s: _______________________________________________________________

Residential Address: _____________________________________________________

__________________________________________________ Postcode: ____________

Postal Address: __________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________ Postcode: ____________

Telephone: home ______________________ work ______________________

Facsimile: home ______________________ work ______________________

Mobile: _____________________ Email: ____________________________________

• Foreign Affairs, Diplomacy and International Relations
• Humanitarian Relief, Foreign Aid and Social Welfare
• International Trade, Finance and Economic Development

Other interests: __________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Learn the Language of Peace

There are reports that a Victorian primary school class walked out on their Indonesian language teacher in protest at the behaviour of the Indonesian army in East Timor. If this is true, it raises questions about the demonisation of Indonesia in the eyes of the Australian community. It also raises questions about implications for the teaching of Indonesian language in Australia. Some schools appear hesitant to continue teaching Indonesian because of their support for East Timor.

Despite tensions between the two countries, Australians have had a long, and generally friendly relationship with Indonesia. The East Timor situation has tested this relationship because Australia’s actions have helped focus international attention on what was happening in East Timor, and our support for the creation of an independent, democratic East Timor has offended elements of the establishment in Indonesia.

Australian support for an economically viable, democratic East Timor is a good thing, and we can be proud of it. There is, however, a risk that in our support for the East Timorese, we ignore the plight of the two hundred million Indonesians who are searching for a way out of social and financial chaos. The Suharto regime not only oppressed the East Timorese; it oppressed its own people.

There are two separate issues here, justifiable support for East Timor and the need to support the Indonesian people in their struggle to achieve democratisation.

Do we really want a truly democratic government in Indonesia instead of an oppressive authoritarian regime? Do we really want a vibrant economy in Indonesia instead of corrupt crony capitalism? If so, rather than backing away from that society we should be trying to help it. If Indonesia is to become a true democracy, the only way it can happen is through the support of other countries. If we turn against the Indonesians, they may go back to what they had.

Australia is in many ways uniquely well placed to help Indonesia, not only because of our geograpical closeness but also because of our position at the forefront of Indonesian language and culture studies. Although Indonesia is the fourth largest nation in the world in terms of population and also one of the largest in terms of territory, it is surprisingly little known in the rest of the world. In the whole of the United States, for example, less than a hundred people would probably be learning Indonesian in any year. In Victorian primary schools alone we have 70,000 students enrolled in the study of Indonesian language.

One of the best ways we can support positive developments in Indonesia is to continue the good work done in primary, secondary and tertiary sectors in the development of Indonesian language and cultural studies in Australia. Producing a generation that has an understanding of Indonesia and can communicate with Indonesians is a way to further our mutual interests.

Indonesia now has clean, democratic government in place, and if it can survive the tensions that threaten its stability at present, the stage will be set for a period of growth and development that could be marked by a flowering of creativity and productivity.

It’s worth remembering that Australia has a lot to gain from a good relationship with Indonesia.

Economic growth in Indonesia will bring increased opportunities for Australian involvement in consultancies, businesses, projects, studies, education, medicine, science and the like.

Australian exports to Indonesia will grow (already Australia exports more to Indonesia than the other way around).

More Indonesian students will study in Australia, more Indonesian visitors will come to Australia. More Australian tourists and students will visit Indonesia, too. Increased interpersonal contacts will lead to further opportunities for activities that will benefit both sides.

East Timor is going to continue to be a focus of international attention, and Australia is also well placed to become involved in the reconstruction efforts that will be mounted. East Timor will continue to be very much a polyglot community. Indonesian will for some time be an important vector of communication and a major source of ideas and information in the new nation.

All of the above should make it clear that there is every reason to continue supporting and promoting the teaching of Indonesian in Australia. A working knowledge of Indonesian is likely to be a very useful, employable skill for Australian professionals to have in their portfolios.

There is a danger, however, that the teaching and learning of Indonesian could be downgraded in Australian schools. Although from one angle Indonesian language teaching can be viewed as a success story, in terms of sheer increase of numbers of students presently enrolled in the language, from another angle the position of Indonesian as a school subject looks precarious.

There are a lot of things working against the success of Indonesian as a school subject.

There is a chronic shortage of teachers of Indonesian and, as a result, uneven quality. When they lose Indonesian teachers, schools often have difficulty replacing them.

Lack of interest and support from parents and the general community has always been somewhat of a problem because Indonesian has had an ‘image’ problem as a language that does not offer particularly good career prospects. At present, in some school communities, this lack of enthusiasm has turned into antipathy.

Studies have shown that there is a lack of strong support for language learning in the general community in Australia and even in the education community.

The Indonesian government, unlike some other governments, does not have the wherewithal to provide support for Indonesian language study in other countries, so there is no equivalent of the Goethe Institute or the Alliance Francaise.

The Indonesian community in Australia, unlike some other ethnic communities, is small and spread thinly throughout the major cities. It keeps a low profile and does not lobby to promote the learning of Indonesian.

In recent years neither Commonwealth or state governments have shown the genuine interest and commitment to promoting language learning that marked the Hawke and Keating period.

All of the above factors translate into negative pressure on school adminisrators regarding the teaching of Indonesian and could easily lead to a downgrading of Indonesian language teaching programs.

If this should happen, it would be a pity. It would be a case of lack of imagination leading to poor policy decisions.

Up And Coming Events

In Sydney

Safe As Houses…….And Much More!

"WHIP" At Kambing.

"try before you buy!"

Well here it is,

Check it out!

Your Free Copy

OF A 40 WEEK AUTOMATED INDONESIAN HOMEWORK PROGRAMME

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1) Guru ini adalah guru saya.

2) Anak itu adalah anak saya.

3) PR ini adalah PR baru.

4) Nama guru saya Ida.

5) Bapak anda Pak Greer.

6) Kotak pensil ini, pastilah kotak pensil saya.

7) Anak-anak itu anak-anak keluarga Smith.

8) Ibu Jones adalah guru yang bagus sekali.

9) Dia bapak saya.

10) Bapak saya guru.

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