AIYA Links: 4 October

PM Abbott in Jakarta

• Prime Minister Tony Abbott visited Jakarta this week, and Sam Roggeveen at The Lowy Interpreter blog has helpfully compiled links to some Australian analysis.
• One of the big wins for Indonesia enthusiasts in Australia was the PM’s announcement of a new Australian Centre for Indonesian Studies based at Monash University. Paul Ramadge from Monash explains the importance of the new institution.
• Bernard Lane (@Bernard_Lane) from The Australian has a great piece today looking at how the initiatives announced in Jakarta might help build Indonesia expertise in Australia.
• The PM’s remarks at a business breakfast on Tuesday are well worth a read—he spoke quite frankly about how the balance of economic clout is shifting in Indonesia’s favour, and how Australia needs to respond.
• Indonesian reporters were denied access to the event, angering the Alliance of Independent Journalists (Aliansi Jurnalis Independen; AJI).
• Lowy’s Dave McRae (@_DaveMcRae_) took a look at how the Indonesian-language print media saw the visit.
• We got a good run in the international media, too: today’s Economist highlights how Australia is trying to shift the relationship’s focus to economic matters.
• Now the bad news: enrolments in HSC and VCE Indonesian courses are still on the decline.

In the news

• Leading the news in Indonesia: the chief justice of the Constitutional Court, Akil Mochtar, has been arrested and charged by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) with accepting bribes from a party in an electoral dispute.
• The court’s former chief justice Jimly Asshidique has called for the death penalty if the case is proven, and KPK chief Abraham Samad agrees.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping this week visited Jakarta, where he became the first foreign leader to address the Indonesian parliament.
• The World Bank will launch its Indonesia Economic Quarterly today, which should appear here this afternoon (Australian time).
• The Financial Times’ Ben Bland (@benjaminbland) reports on the state of Indonesia’s foreign policy.
• Reuters reports that Bank Indonesia ‘has few options left to defend the Rupiah if Asia’s worst-performing currency comes under fresh attack’.
• Also from Reuters, ‘Indonesia’s $5 billion of lost coal’ has the KPK smelling a rat.
• Barack Obama has cancelled his visit to Malaysia due to the government shutdown in the U.S., and it is still unclear whether he will attend APEC along with President Yudhoyono and PM Abbott next week.

Jobs and events

• Canberra, 8 October at 6:00p.m: AIYA ACT will host an Indonesian Career Night at the Hedley Bull Centre.
• Melbourne, 11 October at 7:00pm: La Trobe’s Bahasa Indonesia Students Association is hosting their first trivia night as a fundraiser; RSVP at the Facebook event.
• The upcoming Conference of Australian and Indonesian Youth has just secured the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra and the University of Melbourne as official partners. Take a look at CAUSINDY’s interview with Indonesian ambassador HE Nadjib Riphat Kesoema, and CAUSINDY’s Chris Urbanski speaking to SBS Radio.
• Design a postcard and win a study tour to Australia as part of this competition sponsored by Austrade.
• SBS Radio’s Indonesian language unit is looking for a correspondent from outside NSW and Victoria—details at the AIYA Job Board.