It was a now out-dated university policy regarding entrance requirements that led to Tim Lindsey’s interest in Indonesia. In the 1970s and early 1980s, students wishing to gain entry to an Arts degree were required to have passed either Maths or a language at HSC. The ruling seemed tough to those who had to make the choice at the end of Fifth Form (Year 11), but was actually farsighted and led to a higher participation in language studies at both secondary and tertiary levels.
In Tim’s case, he opted for Indonesian and, as he admits, had little interest in it until 1977 when his Indonesian teacher organised a visit to a town in South Central Java for him and a small group of his schoolmates.
Tim admits that he ‘did every stupid thing that a Westerner’s ever done in Indonesia’, including climbing into the fresh water tank and soaping himself up, thereby ruining the family’s drinking water. A language blunder based on the dual meaning of the word for ‘shyness’ led to his farewell speech coming
out as ‘Ladies and Gentlemen I’ve got an enormous pair of genitals’, instead of the conventional ‘I’m very embarrassed to be speaking to you today’!
Despite these instances of dontopedalogy or foot-in-mouth syndrome, Tim came back from the trip absolutely enchanted by the warmth, tolerance and welcoming nature of his Indonesian hosts – and a love affair of sorts began.
Now, when Australian–Indonesian relations are at a low due to the presidential phone-tapping scandal and concerns regarding the Australian Navy’s incursions into Indonesian waters, Tim remains firm that only by a true understanding by both nations of the other’s culture and ‘realities of life’ can the relationship between Australia and its most important ally develop into a true partnership. Education forms a vital cog in the process, and encouraging Indonesian students to study in Australian through Trinity College Foundation Studies (TCFS) is an important step.
‘It’s only by immersion in [a] country that you really get to understand it because you experience the culture, the languages and the realities of life directly, and that’s why it’s so important to have kids from other countries studying here in Australia – and vice versa,’ explains Tim.
The reality, says Tim, is that most Australians are yet to realise the importance of the Indonesian relationship for
Australia. Indonesia’s Central Statistics Agency figures show that more than 600,000 Australians holiday in Bali every year. Despite this, an exit poll conducted at Perth Airport in 2013 noted that one in three of those polled didn’t realise that they’d been to Indonesia.
Adding to the issue is the fact that the percentage of Australian secondary students studying Indonesian is dropping dramatically. In 1972, with the White Australia Policy still in place, approximately 1,200 Year 12 students studied Indonesian. Forty years on and with a population now 30 per cent higher, the number is less than that, and government reports show that it could be gone from schools within five years, with university teaching to follow. This would be a disaster for Australia, Tim says. He states unequivocally that Indonesia is the superpower of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) in the same way that Germany is the key player in the European Community. As a trading partner, while Indonesia ranks 12th or 13th, ASEAN is number two on the list. The significance of the Indonesian partnership will grow in years to come as the economy expands.
Tim notes that ‘90 million new consumers will likely emerge over the decades ahead. It’s already a country of 250 million people – a tenth of that market is more than the Australian population.’
Tim believes t
