July, 2013: The Australia-Indonesia Youth Association this week opened applications for the inaugural Conference of Australian and Indonesian Youth, or CAUSINDY. The conference, to be held at the Australian National University from October 17-20, will bring together 15 young leaders from each country.

CAUSINDY will build on the Australia-Indonesia relationship by creating a platform for young leaders to connect with each other, and with established leaders from business, government, and academia.

The conference program is designed to shape new ideas about the future of the relationship, and to act as a catalyst for change, by delivering recommendations on economic, social, cultural and political issues.

“CAUSINDY presents an amazing opportunity for young people,” said co-founder and director Chris Urbanski. “Besides the opportunity to connect with like-minded young people, delegates will lead the development of concrete policy ideas on the future of the bilateral relationship.”

“We’re looking for young people who have demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities – in terms of academic experience, but also in their chosen profession – with a demonstrated commitment to the Australia-Indonesia relationship” added Mr Urbanski.

The CAUSINDY program will also include social and networking events with leaders in business and government.

Applications are now open through the CAUSINDY website.

Although the conference is in its first year, the delegate selection panel anticipates a highly competitive application process as the importance of engagement with Asia – and particularly Indonesia – has come to prominence following the release of the Australia in the Asian Century white paper.

Download this press release in PDF format.

About AIYA

The Australia-Indonesia Youth Association is a non-government, youth-led organisation which aims to better connect young people in Australia and Indonesia to each other and to Indonesia-related opportunities.

For more information on the conference, visit the CAUSINDY website at causindy.org, or contact Conference Director Chris Urbanski: [email protected], or +61 431 666 976.

As many of you will have noticed, AIYA recently undertook a survey of our membership base to inform our submission to the DFAT Indonesian Country Strategy. The Indonesia Country Strategy forms part of the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper process, and will outline an aspirational vision of where the Australia-Indonesia relationship should be by 2025.

Download AIYA’s submission to the Indonesia Country Strategy.

The Indonesia Strategy will be shaped by submissions made by various organisations and individuals as well as by a public consultation process DFAT has undertaken throughout Australia. Members of AIYA attended a number of these consultations in order to present the perspective of young people passionate about the bilateral relationship.

For our AIYA Indonesia Country Strategy Survey we asked members about the current state of the Australia-Indonesia relationship and their hopes for the future. We also asked members about their personal experiences of engagement efforts and about the challenges and opportunities presented by the growth of Indonesia.

We received 206 responses to the survey, which meant that we could identify key thematic trends to present to government. Respondents told us the most critical aspects of the relationship today and the future were close government-to-government relationships, strong economic ties, including trade and investment, and education. Meanwhile, the biggest impediments to the relationship were seen as cultural misunderstanding, mutual suspicion, and the inability of political leaders to successfully engage each other.

Consequently, AIYA will recommended that to progress the Australia-Indonesia bilateral relationship, the Australian government should:

1. Work with the Indonesian government to resolve bureaucratic hurdles involved with Australians wanting to access the Work and Holiday visa.
2. Develop an information pack about the visas available for Australian businesses and universities regarding the most appropriate visas for interns.
3. Involve a greater cross-section of both Australian and Indonesian societies in the bilateral relationship through a diversification of engagement efforts, which could include holding another OzFest.
4. Launch an online cultural centre to promote Australian / Indonesian lifestyle and cultural activities, supported by coordinated social media outreach and fixed or mobile physical centre (s) in Jakarta.
5. Expand the AsiaBound grant program and ensure inclusion of university consortiums such as ACICIS.
6. Form a unified alumni network for all inbound/outbound scholarship programs that receive Australian government funding and support network-building events between current participants abroad with returned alumni from the opposite country.
7. Expand initiatives that support in-country study in Asia such as AsiaBound to include later year high school students.
8. Make more internships/secondments or other short‐term work placements publically available within Australian Government offices in Indonesia.
9. Create more opportunities for young people to participate in the formal structures of the Australia Indonesia relationship.
10. Determine a national criteria and accreditation framework to define and measure Asia capability for individuals and organisations and implement this in public sector recruitment processes.

Our survey also uncovered interesting demographic data about AIYA members. We discovered that AIYA members tend to be:

• Professionals (39 per cent) or undergraduate students (33 per cent).
• Work predominantly in Professional Services (33 per cent) or Government/ Defence (30 per cent) sectors;
• Below 35 years of age (82 per cent).
• Studied Indonesian at university (88 per cent) or in high school (43 per cent).
• Would consider a career in Indonesia (84 per cent) or Australia (80 per cent).
• Advanced (36 per cent) or fluent (19 per cent) in their Indonesian language abilities.

We’d like to thank all members who took the time to complete the survey, and shared their thoughts about the Australia-Indonesia relationship. DFAT is currently reviewing submissions and formulating the various country strategies and we expect to see an Indonesian Country Strategy released fairly shortly.

Our hope is that the Indonesia Country Strategy will outline practical, concrete and achievable goals that will both broaden and deepen the relationship between Australia and Indonesia, thereby setting Australia up for success in the Asian Century.

What do you think of the recommendations? Do you have any feedback on the process? Let us know in the comments below!

The Australian Consortium for In-Country Studies, or ACICIS, are looking for a Secretariat Officer to join them at their secretariat at Murdoch University, Perth.

The Secretariat Officer will be part of a small team,reporting to Consortium Director Prof David Hill. They will work with the current Secretariat Officer to ensure the overall smooth running of the ACICIS Secretariat and will also take responsibility for some specific projects. They will be employed on a full‐time fixed‐term 12‐month contract, which is available from 1 July 2013. Any extension would be dependent both on performance and continuing funding. The initial appointment will be at Higher Education Worker Level 4.10 ($52,667 pa). This is a Perth‐based position and no re‐location expenses will be provided.

The full job description is available on their website. Applications are due on Wednesday, June 12.

The Australia Trade Commission is advertising for Assistant Trade Commissioners, to begin posting in 2014:

Assistant Trade Commissioners participate in Austrade’s Trade Commissioner Development Program, which is designed to allow you to gain valuable experience working in an Austrade office overseas.

Several Assistant Trade Commissioner Positions are available. Subject to the successful applicant’s relevant skills, experience and to organisational requirements, the applicants can expect to be posted in the following markets: India or China, Latin America, ASEAN, and USA or Europe.

You will learn how Austrade develops in-depth market knowledge and how it assists Australian exporters, attracts foreign investment and promotes Australian education providers.

They’re looking for highly-motivated candidates, with:

• A strong record of academic achievement in disciplines including (but not limited to) International Business, Management and Finance, Economics, Law, Asian Studies or Politics
• Language capability in an Austrade priority language: Bahasa Indonesia, Hindi, Japanese, Mandarin or Spanish.
• Relevant international experience or exposure, which may include professional services, government or commercial business
• Well-developed interpersonal communications and representational skills and qualities.
• Business acumen including the ability to strategically analyse issues and draw out insights
• A high level of integrity and commitment to ethical behaviour.

More information on the Austrade website.

Since we launched the AIYA website last year, we’ve had a great response, with more than 4,500 visitors so far and a huge number of subscribers on social media and email. Since February, we’ve also been publishing an AIYA Blog, which has already collected a range of interesting articles presenting a youth perspective on the Australia-Indonesia relationship. Going forward, we’d like to continue growing – which is why we’ve decided to advertise for a volunteer website editor.

Working with me and AIYA’s operations manager Rachelle Cole, your main responsibility would be sourcing and posting content for the AIYA website. Besides this blog, we run semi-regular career champions profiles, share advice on working and studying in Indonesia, and have begun to share job opportunities through our own jobs board.

If you have a background or experience in writing, research, or particularly journalism, we think this role would be a great fit. Candidates should have excellent written English, ideally with some proficiency in Indonesian, too.

Download a copy of the full position description for an indication of the time commitment, the responsibilities involved, and your ideal skills and qualifications.

Besides access to an audience of more than 3,000 young Australians and Indonesians, you’ll have the opportunity to work with AIYA’s partner organisations, our national executive and chapters around Australia and Indonesia.

If you’re interested in applying for the role, just send an email through to [email protected] introducing yourself, explaining the sort of content that you’d like to see on the AIYA website, and setting out how you’d go about creating it. Don’t forget to attach a copy of your CV, too.

About AIYA

If you haven’t heard of us before, we’re a non-government, youth-led organisation that aims to better connect young people in Australia and Indonesia to each other and to Indonesia-related opportunities. AIYA’s objectives are threefold:

Engage Media, a portal for independent film makers which ‘uses the power of video, the internet and free software technologies to create social and environmental change’, is looking for a Jakarta-based project manager to start in mid-June:

The Project Manager ensures workshop participants are trained to the highest standards and that content produced and collected creates real social impact. Note that you need not be a trainer, the key skill requirement is project and production management.

Aims for the position include:

• increase the skills of advocates in video production, outreach, engagement and security so that they can effectively tell their stories
• increase the exposure of human rights and environmental issues in remote communities in Indonesia to national and and international audiences, linking content strategically to campaign and media organisations
• improve the networks and relationships of video activists in remote regions in Indonesia, increasing access to opportunities

Applications close on the 31st of May. For more information on the position, including its responsibilities, work experience, and to apply, see the full listing on Engage Media’s website.

Aubrey Belford grew up on the northern beaches of Sydney, and studied a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Sydney. It wasn’t until his third year that he began studying Indonesia, taking up a course on Indonesian politics by Ed Aspinall. ‘I quickly became obsessed, and managed to squeeze myself in as a student in a beginner-level Bahasa Indonesia course’. Aubrey went on to take a month’s intensive Indonesian study in Salatiga, West Java, before completing an honours year in history.

Describe your experience working in Indonesia so far.

I moved to Indonesia shortly after graduating in 2006. I wanted to work in journalism, and was doing grunt work at the ABC at the time. I took a look at the career options available, which pretty much all involved moving to country towns, and decided I’d try my luck in Indonesia instead. I sent an email to the chief editor at the Jakarta Post, Endy Bayuni, and got a job as a copy editor at the Jakarta Post.

I had traveled around Java and Nusa Tenggara before, but I had little idea of what living in Jakarta would be like. I ended up being surprised by how much I loved it. My job at the Jakarta Post was pretty basic – correcting English mistakes and trying to bash stories into more readable structures – but it gave me an excellent primer on what was going on here. Studying in Sydney and Salatiga had given me enough Indonesian to find my way around but, more importantly, it have given me the full rundown on how Indonesian grammar works. I found that I was able to become fluent much quicker than I would otherwise because I was able to understand the logic of the language. I can’t stress how important that was.

After about 8 months at the Jakarta Post, I got myself a job with Agence France-Presse as a correspondent. I was 23 at the time, and my only real claim to the job was that I spoke Indonesian. I wasn’t quite fluent yet, but I was getting there. After two years at AFP, I went freelance, and then onto a series of gigs that included the International Herald Tribune / The New York Times, The Global Mail, and, now, Reuters. My work has brought me to most countries in Asia, and I have dipped my toe in the Middle East. Through it all, I have been based in Indonesia, and every time my Indonesian-language skills and familiarity with the country have been what has won me the jobs. There is a limited pool of people with these skills, so as I result jobs have usually come looking for me, rather than the other way around.

Right now I’m brand new in my position at Reuters. The job is as a “special correspondent” for Southeast Asia, which means focusing on big stories and investigations. I don’t know how long I’ll be at it, but it looks like fun.

What are your general thoughts on Indonesia?

I’ve always loved Indonesia because it combines the best of what I’m looking for in a country. Yes, it’s chaotic and dysfunctional, but it’s also cosmopolitan. You can get decent cocktails here, as well as riots (journalists love both). Indonesia has strong local cutlures but is also one of the most open places to outside influences. Asia, the West and the Middle East are all exerting their gravitational pulls on this place.

My dream itinerary at this stage would probably be Maluku. It’s the part of Indonesia that I still haven’t had the chance to check out and I know it needs a lot of time to fully appreciate.

I think it’s inevitable that Indonesia is going to become more important, both economically and politically. But I’m definitely not a pure optimist on the country. Indonesia’s rise is in many ways a result of geography, resource and demographics, not governance. There is the distinct possibility that Indonesia will be a less democratic country in five years. There’s also the risk that it will go through spasms of instability. Right now the country’s elite has worked out a way of doing things that works out very well for people at the top, but not so much for people at the bottom. This state of affairs is going to have to change at some stage.

Do you have any practical advice for young Australians?

My practical advice is focus on getting your Indonesian basics right and doing it sooner rather than later. I have friends who have been here as long as I have but still struggle with the language because they didn’t do formal study at the start.

My other bit of advice is to get over here and jump in it. Find an opportunity, even if it isn’t ideal, and use it as a launching pad for other things. Jakarta is a small town and the rest of Indonesia is even smaller, so people are constantly sharing opportunities.

Got any questions for Aubrey? Send him an email at [email protected], or follow him on Twitter.

With the AIYA survey left to run until Friday, we thought we’d share some early trends in your responses. If you haven’t given your feedback just yet, don’t miss out! Your responses will inform our submission to the federal government’s Indonesian Country Strategy, as well as AIYA’s advocacy worth going forward.

The first thing we noticed was that, amongst Australian respondents, the vast majority have expressed an interest in a long-term career in Indonesia – more than 85% indicated that they’d be interested in working in-country for at least five years. Likewise, just as many Indonesian respondents (86%) indicated that they’d be interested in working in Australia, too. For us, this shows that most AIYA members are interested in building a career in – or about – the other’s country.

We also found it interesting that relatively few respondents indicated that Australian news and current affairs coverage had improved their understanding of the Australia-Indonesia relationship. By contrast, more than 50% indicated that they had found Indonesian news and current affairs useful in this respect. For most respondents, cultural exchange – through music, art, food, and sporting events – had deepened their knowledge. Membership organisations (including AIYA), social media, and in-country experiences were also popular responses – which is reassuring!

One of the most evident trends came in reply to our question about obstacles to the bilateral relationship: almost 65% of respondents indicated that cultural misunderstanding between Australia and Indonesia was the most significant issue. Mutual suspicion, a lack of work opportunities in each others’ countries, and language differences also featured prominently.

We’ll have more – including your ideal policy solutions, what can be done to improve the relationship, and how you think we should measure success – in a future blog post. In the meantime, make sure you’ve had your say – and let your friends know, too!

Do these observations square with your own opinions? Let us know what you think in the comments.

We’re looking for your help!

As you might have seen at the start of the year, our national executive have been hard at work responding to the federal government’s Australia in the Asian Century White Paper. We published the full response back in January, and we’re now working on a submission to the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Indonesia Country Strategy.

According to DFAT:

The strategies will outline a vision of where the relationships should be in 2025 and how we intend to get there. They will be forward-looking documents taking in the views of groups with important stakes or insights in each relationship.

We feel it’s an important opportunity for youth in the Australia-Indonesia relationship to share their thoughts, which is why we’re conducting a survey into the attitudes and opinions of young people on a series of topics. We’d like to know what you think of our relationship right now, and where you see it heading in the future.

Take the survey now.

To take the survey, and read more about what we’re planning, head over to the AIYA Survey page. If you’ve got any questions or comments about it, post away below – or send us an email.

Joel Backwell, who grew up Breamlea in southern Victoria, studied Arts/Law at Monash University, majoring in Indonesian language, history and politics. After graduation, Joel worked for Freehills (now Herbert Smith Freehills) as a lawyer, which included stints in Jakarta with Indonesian law firm Soemadipradja & Taher and Santos, a major Australian oil and gas company. From 2010-12, Joel worked as a senior policy adviser in the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet, and contributed to a number of Victoria’s international engagement policies.

Joel has long been a passionate advocate for the Australia-Indonesia relationship, presenting at language and cultural forums across Melbourne, and has spent a significant period of time in Indonesia providing pro bono legal advice to members of the ‘Bali 9’. Adding another string to his already impressive bow, Joel was recently appointed as the Assistant Trade Commissioner to Malaysia and Brunei and will move to Kuala Lumpur in May 2013 to take up the role. Joel sat down with the AIYA team to talk about his Indonesia experiences.

Tell us a little about your experiences in Indonesia to date?

I first went to Indonesia when I was 16 on a scholarship with the Victorian Department of Education where I went to school and did a homestay in Bandung. This was the point at which I first became really interested in Indonesia and I subsequently went back on two other exchange programs – first with AIYEP (the Australia Indonesia Youth Exchange Program) in 2001-02 and then with ACICIS (the Indonesian in-country program at Gadjah Mada University) in 2002-03.

After finishing university, I began work as a solicitor for Freehills which opened up a number of doors to working in the legal profession in Indonesia. For example, in 2007 I was seconded to Santos by Freehills for three months to work on the Sidoarjo mudflow disaster, which saw me assisting with negotiations and liaising with the Indonesian government on a liability settlement and compensation package for affected villagers.

Similarly, since 2006 I have worked with a group of Melbourne barristers in representing a number of Australians currently on death row in Indonesia for narcotics crimes. Needless to say, my Indonesian fluency and understanding of Indonesian law, cultural and politics has been critical in my ability to pursue these opportunities.

While I didn’t use my Indonesian language skills directly in my previous job in the public service, my understanding of Indonesia and the region generally was still extremely useful, particularly in the development of Victoria’s country strategies and policies for improving our engagement with Asia. It was also an important factor in me being selected for the Asialink Leaders Program in 2011.

I have recently accepted a job as Assistant Trade Commissioner to Malaysia, commencing in 2013. My language skills were a key component in me getting this job, given that Malay is very similar to Indonesian, and I anticipate that knowing the language will give me an important edge in my new role.

What do you enjoy most about Indonesia?

The two things I enjoy most about working and living in Indonesia are (a) the people: always so friendly, welcoming and willing to share their homes, lives and ideas with those who show an interest in their country and their culture; and (b) the fact that no two days are ever the same – some people see the jumbled, haphazard craziness of a city like Jakarta as challenging, but for me it is so exciting to walk out of your house or hotel each morning knowing that anything could happen and that the monotony of Western life is very far away.

Practical advice?

I could think of nothing more valuable right now than learning Indonesian. Some would argue that Chinese is more important – and in some ways it is – but the reality is that every country in the world is focussed on China right now, so we are competing against a large group of people, whereas people are only just beginning to take notice of the opportunities that Indonesia offers and Australia’s close proximity to Indonesia gives us a huge advantage in this regard. Anyone who wants to work in the law, in export and trade, and in government, will have ample opportunities to work in and with Indonesia in the years to come. This will be driven by pull factors (such as Indonesia’s growing economy and middle class) and push factors (such as the policies coming out of the Asian Century White Paper).

The best advice I would give to those wanting to pursue careers in Indonesia is get yourselves over there! The best thing you can do is jump on a plane, familiarise yourself with different parts of Indonesia (not just Bali and Java), improve your language skills and immerse yourself in the culture and customs of the country. Back home, get involved in things like AIYA, Indonesian film nights, cultural events at your nearest Indonesian Consulate, etc. Look around for funding or scholarship opportunities to go and live, travel or study in Indonesia. There are plenty around and their number will only grow. Remember too that you can get a job teaching English for example and live quite well in a place like Indonesia where the cost of living is quite low and airfares are ridiculously cheap, so you don’t need to have a huge bank account to be able to spend some quality time there.

Finally, what would be your ideal itinerary for a one-month trip in Indonesia?

A dream 4-week itinerary would involve flying into Lombok to ease my way into the weather and pace of life, hopping across to Surabaya and catching a boat to Makassar, doing 2 weeks overland through Sulawesi up to Manado, flying to Jakarta to catch up with friends and former colleagues, hopping across to the seaside village of Banding in Southern Lampung by fast ferry and angkot, and then finishing up for a weekend with my host family in Bandung.