by Sammi Taylor.
Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating once said “no country is more important to Australia than Indonesia.”
Yet Australian students are showing little interest in our closest geographic neighbour, as high school enrolment in Indonesian studies slumps to an all time low.
There are less students enrolled in Indonesian now than there were 40 years ago. Enrolments in VCE Indonesian as a Second Language are dismally low, with just 555 Victorian students completing their Unit 4 studies in 2015. Only 11 students chose to study Indonesian as a first language.
Indonesian, once the third most popular language studied in secondary schools, has dropped to seventh place. Victorian students are instead choosing to study French, Chinese, Japanese and Italian.
While enrolment rates in language studies continue to fluctuate, some are thriving—the number of students choosing to study Chinese in VCE has doubled in the past eight years.
So why not Indonesian?
https://infogr.am/a15891b1-e9cb-4967-b4df-28dbbdc4dec0
Indonesian language study has seen a steady decline in the past twenty years. Enrolment levels began to slump after the 1997 Asian financial crisis and took a hit after the 2002 Bali bombings.
Nurfitra Asa, Director of the National Australia Indonesia Language Awards, says a number of factors have contributed to the decline in interest.
“The Australian travel warning following the Bali bombing might have caused concerns for some parents. They would advise their children against taking Indonesian as a subject at high school. [It] might have prevented many exchange programs to Indonesia and as a result students were not exposed to the language and real cultural immersion,” he says.
Negative perceptions of Indonesia—fuelled by the media controversy surrounding the execution of Australian drug smugglers in 2014—and a lack of knowledge about the country might also be to blame for the decline in enrolment.
Recent research from Monash University’s Australia-Indonesia Centre found that Australians had an overwhelmingly unfavourable view of Indonesia.
Of 2000 Australian participants surveyed, almost half had a somewhat or very unfavourable view of Indonesia—with only 12% deeming the country ‘safe’ and 13% finding it ‘trustworthy’.
Yet the results seem promising, with 76% of Australians surveyed asking that basic understanding of Indonesia should be improved in Australian schools.
Improving the Australian view of Indonesia starts with youth. The more eager our students are to learn about our closest geographic neighbour, the better the bilateral relationship between the two nations.
Image: Shutterstock
For Beth Dozzi, Diploma of Languages student at Melbourne University, Indonesian is more than just her favourite subject—it’s a possible career path.
“I just loved learning about a different culture and being able to gradually learn skills in another language,” Ms Dozzi says.
“I chose to study Indonesian at university as an extension from my VCE Indonesian studies. I have been able to now see possible career paths that might involve Indonesian which has really excited me.”
Ms Dozzi is a 2016 New Colombo Plan grant recipient, an education and immersion scheme established to encourage Australian students to strengthen the Australia-Asia relationship. She used her grant to study Bahasa Indonesia in Bali last January.
“I think that for Australian students, having knowledge of Indonesian culture and language is important for future positive relations between the two countries. This knowledge will hopefully be beneficial even if it doesn’t result in a career involving Indonesian for me, being ‘Asia-literate’ should be of interest to many employers.”
Ms Dozzi says declining enrolment rates are “sad and disappointing”, considering how much Bahasa Indonesia study has enriched her life.
“The cultural understanding [of Indonesia] will drop as enrolment drops. The future of the relationship between the two countries relies on students being interested to learn about Indonesia.”
Nurfitra Asa agrees and the Australia Indonesia Language Awards is one of many organisations promoting positive relations between the two nations.
“We can further encourage Australians student to pursue Indonesian by highlighting the importance of learning Indonesian in all aspects of our lives moving forward,” Asa says.
“Initiatives and organisations such as the New Colombo Plan and the Australian Consortium for ‘In-Country’ Indonesian Studies have been supporting young Australians in equipping them with cultural and language knowledge. These [organisations] prepare young Australians to become more Asia-literate, preparing themselves to better engage with Asia as a driver of Australia’s productivity in the future.”
