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Semester 4 (February 1997)Gary Dean is a past ACICIS student who got married in Indonesia has put some of his journal of the time he spent there on the web. He is the managing director of PT Okusi, a business research and management services firm based in Yogyakarta. Robert Letchford (photo) completed his Honours at Murdoch University in the field of Sustainable Development and was the Indonesian project coordinator for the 'OzIndo Project'. He worked for two years in East Timor as a translator/interpreter and training advisor for the Ministry of Planning and Finance, and returned there to work on the 2004 census. Since then, Robert has completed a Masters of International and Community Development (Deakin University). He is currently doing a PhD in International Development and hopes to have a career in aid policy development and public sector reform in the Asia/Pacific region. Diana Glazebrook participated in the Study Indonesia Program in 1997. She recently submitted a PhD in anthropology (ANU) on West Papuans in PNG and currently works as a post-doctoral research fellow at the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research at the Australian National University. Gavan Cushnahan arrived in Indonesia with just six hours of Indonesian language training. The RD at the time nearly had kittens when he found out, as he thought Gavan had six months training. Needless to say, Gavan found the intensive language training course at UGM challenging. In 1998-99 Gavan conducted doctoral research with backpackers and local residents on Gili Air, West Lombok, sponsored through UGM. He finally finished his PhD and just recently submitted it at UWA. Since 2001 he has been a member of the Commonwealth public service, first with the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs in Canberra, and more recently with the Australian Taxation Office in Perth, working with culturally and linguistically diverse small business people. Siobhan Campbell completed a BA (Asian Studies) degree at the University of New South Wales and began working as a liaison officer at the Indonesian Consulate General in Sydney. From 2000 to 2001 she worked as a translator/interpreter with the Land and Property Unit of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor. She now works as a translator/interpreter in Sydney. Ben McLean Since finishing his ACICIS semesters in Yogya and Malang, Ben completed an Indonesian Studies degree at Murdoch and an honours degree in economics there. Since then, he has been working at the Reserve Bank of Australia, first in the Research Department and then as the Exports and Commodities Economist in the Economic Analysis Department. He picked up a Masters in Economics at Oxford University along the way and is now the senior representative of the Reserve Bank for Victoria and Tasmania. Fiona Lawson is currently working as a lawyer at the University of Melbourne. After her semester in Malang, she graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours in Indonesian and Malayan Studies, and University Medal) and then Bachelor of Laws (Hons) after a semester on exchange in Belgium. After working and travelling in Europe for a further year after her exchange in Belgium, she worked for five years as a lawyer in Sydney, mainly at a top tier law firm and then a corporate before moving to Melbourne this year. However, she's always been more interested in Indonesian, languages, human rights and development than law and is ready for a career change. Fiona is hoping to do a joint PhD in Indonesian and Malayan Studies and either human rights law or development studies and already has a topic in mind. However, this may have to wait three years as she is likely to move with her fiance to Chile or possibly Europe again in 2007 for at least two years first. Natalie (Hocken) McLeod Since leaving Indonesia Natalie graduated from Notre Dame University as a primary school teacher. For the next 7 years she taught Indonesian in both public and catholic primary schools. Currently a mother of two and running a community three year old Kindergarten. She now lives back in Lesmurdie hills with husbant Stuart and children Liam and Lyndal. Semester 5 (August 1997)Marlee Macadam recently completed her Dip. Ed at Curtin University and is now teaching Indonesian at Perth College. Frances Barns worked at the Indonesia Section of AusAID in Canberra. She managed health, water supply and sanitation projects and contributed to policy development in these areas. She was responsible for projects focused on HIV/AIDS and STD prevention, and on developing community managed water supply systems in collaboration with the World Bank. She managed a project aimed at improving the provision of water supply and sanitation in southeast Sulawesi and Flores. Frances recently moved to East Timor with her husband to work at the Australian embassy in Dili. She wrote some advice for new ACICIS students. Sam Wiseman After working as the ACICIS administrative officer during 2000, Sam now spends her afternoons teaching English to children on the island of Ceningan (off Bali). And her mornings... Well, of course she has to do her lesson preparation - which she fits between swimming, snorkelling, scuba diving, sunbathing and sightseeing. What a life! Mirandi Riwoe has just had her second child and is enjoying motherhood. Fiona Collins is currently working for Red Cross in Sydney and is the Australian Project Coordinator for the 'OzIndo Project'. Semester 6 (February 1998)Lia Thorpe has finished her degree and, after working for ACICIS as promotions officer, is now working at the Cancer Support Association. She also wrote an article for the ACICIS website. Matthew Stephenson spent some time in East Timor helping the UN with the referendum and is currently completing Honours at UWA . Paul Murray is now working as a policy officer responsible for the Religious Worker visa at the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) in Canberra, a position for which he believes his ACICIS experience helped him obtain. "I hope that the programs offered by ACICIS have not suffered from fear brought about by the "war on terror", the Bali bombing, etc," he said. "Looking back upon my year in Indonesia and the turmoil both on, and off, campus I realise how lucky I was to experience (sometimes too closely) some of the most significant moments in Indonesia's recent history. I hope that in the future other students will also be able to experience Indonesia through your wonderful program." See Paul's Malang Report. Stephen Farmer has returned to South East Asia several times following his exciting and memorable experiences with ACICIS in Yogya. After completing his studies he worked as a lawyer in Sydney and Kuala Lumpur before heading to London to practise banking and finance law. Stephen now works for an international law firm in Brussels and looks forward to returning to Indonesia in September 2007 to brush up on his "basa-basi" before resettling in Sydney later in the year. Semester 7 (August 1998)Maree Peters is currently completing her Bachelor of Arts at the University of the Sunshine Coast and has recently had an article published in the July-August edition of the AMIDA Magazine, titled 'Re-Entry Culture Shock'. Maree is hoping to finish her studies and then obtain work as an Indonesian Presidential Advisor. Pamela Smith returned from Yogya to complete her BA/BEd at University of Queensland and in January 2000 began teaching Indonesian at Tully State High School in North Queensland. She is currently teaching year 8s and 9s and trying to lift the profile of Indonesian at the school. She is looking at returning to Indonesia with some students for a study trip. Paul Edmiston completed a Bachelor of Asian Studies at Murdoch University and now runs a successful eco-tourism business iNSEARCH Travel with his wife Nicola, also a graduate of Murdoch University. The idea for the business came out of their travels and Paul's field study that was part of his year in Indonesia with ACICIS. The field study made it possible for Paul to work through his ideas and come up with the model for their first Eco-Trek called "Java's Enchanting East", which was granted funding through the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme (NEIS). Since beginning their business, Paul and Nicola have taken many people from all over Australia, New Zealand, Canada, UK, France, Hong Kong on tours to Indonesia. Semester 8 (February 1999)Alex Owens has recently finished her Honours in Indonesian Studies at Flinders University, and is currently at ANU doing the Graduate Law Program. At the end of 2000, Alex participated in the Australian Indonesia Youth Exchange Program (AIYEP). Oliver Jones (photo) In 2001, Oliver graduated with a Bachelor of Laws with first class Honours and the University Medal in Law and Bachelor of Arts in International Studies (UTS). During 2001 he worked as the Associate to a Judge of the Federal Court, Leslie Katz, formerly Solicitor-General for NSW and Associate Lecturer (part time), Faculty of Law, UTS. From the beginning of 2002 he started working as a constitutional lawyer at the Office of the Chief General Counsel, Henry Burmester QC, at the Australian Government Solicitor, in Canberra. Oliver was recently awarded a British Chevening Scholarship by the British Council. He will use the scholarship to study for a Bachelor of Civil Law at Oxford University, focussing on international law, from September 2004. "I still have happy memories of my time in Indonesia and a strong sense of carrying the gains of that experience to all my current work," Oliver said recently. See his Malang report and an interesting article he wrote for the ACICIS website. Drew Layton completed his honours year in Asian Studies at Flinders University in Adelaide, and accepted a position in Canberra at the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. Sunny Sanderson (photo) studied at UGM in in the Forestry Department. After ACICIS she volunteered as a translator for an orangutan research project in Sabah, Malaysia. She then managed the Gunung Palung Orangutan Project in West Kalimantan, before doing her Research Masters on hybrid gibbons in Central Borneo. Sunny is now doing her PhD on the impacts of oil palm development on rural livelihoods in Sarawak, Malaysia. Catherine Mills After having researched her Honours topic while in Yogya with ACICIS, she completed her thesis about Y. B. Mangunwijaya in 2000 through Curtin University and obtained first class. Since then, back in Perth, she has done some Indonesian language tutoring, contributed an article to issue 68 of Inside Indonesia, worked as a research assistant to a senior lecturer in Indonesian at UWA, been an assistant lecturer in French at UWA, done some voluntary work for refugees, joined a group of Indonesian conversation and read as much Indonesian literature as she possibly could. Last year she returned to Yogya to study with ACICIS again. Semester 9 (August 1999)Sally Asbanu Since returning to Australia in 2000 Sally has completed Honours at Flinders University in Indonesian language, and achieved first class! She wrote her thesis in Indonesian about the influence of traditional culture and society on development projects in West Timor. Sally says "I don't know whether I could have achieved such a result without my ACICIS experience". She is currently doing volunteer work tutoring new migrants in English, and interpreting at STTARS - Survivors of Torture and Trauma Assistance and Rehabilitation Service for an Ambonese refugee who doesn't want to talk with an interpreter from Indonesia. See Sally's Malang report. Jason Brown lives in Jakarta and works for LSM internasional yang bernama Save the Children UK. He's their Communications Officer and spends quite a bit of time in the field helping with assessments. "The ACICIS year is definitely one aspect of my education which impressed my current employers," he said. Helen Sainsbury (photo) used to work for ACICIS and is now living in Darwin and working for the Indonesian Consulate. Sam Wolnyiec attended (and enjoyed immensely) the ACICIS program, before graduating from Curtin University in 2000. After graduation he worked with a cotton merchant in Sydney, investigating entry strategy into Indonesia. In 2001 he returned to Perth and entered the stockbroking industry. He has recently become a co-founder and director of a new stockbroking firm in Perth. Sam often spends time trying to find reasons to return to Indonesia. Semester 10 (February 2000)Heather Stewart-Johnson After finishing her degree Heather tutored first year Indonesian Language at Murdoch University and established her own private language school. Heather is an experienced music teacher with expertise in the Kodaly method of music teaching, and whilst studying with ACICIS set up a pilot project trialing the Kodaly method in several Indonesian schools. As a result of this work she was invited to return to Indonesia to give training seminars in schools in Flores and Kupang. She taught in an Indonesian primary school in Jakarta for two years before moving in mid-2003 to Global Indo-Asia primary school in Batam. Heather has been teaching there for the last 5 years; the school is in the process of becoming an accredited International Baccalaureate Organization School. While there she has set out to get as much varied experience as possible which has seen her working in the classroom and hand in glove with Indonesian teachers, as the deputy principal of the high school as well as the principal of the Early Childhood Centre for 2 and 1/2 years. Now she is ready for another year of observation and touching base with her roots. She will be doing a mix of teaching music as well as some admin and staff development of English. Heather says she is stuck on Indonesia and has imported her husband in order to extend her time up there. She has also been made the current Australian Consulate Warden. Natali Pride When Natali came back from Indonesia she started her Honours degree in Indonesian and History at UNSW and was lucky enough to have David Reeve as her supervisor. She graduated from UNSW with a BA (Asian Studies), with first class honours. Since then she has worked in Canberra and Melbourne, where she was an active member of the Australian East Timor Association and the East Timor Women's Association, and completed a Master of Arts (Strategy and Policy). Natali is now living in Sydney and working in an international role. Riyong Kim is currently working in East Timor. She graduated from UNSW with a double degree in environmental science and Indonesian studies, and first-class honours in both degrees (again with Pak David!). Ri got a job as a community development volunteer with AusAid in East Timor and by all accounts is really enjoying the challenge. Kim George has a job teaching Indonesian in an Adelaide primary school, years 1-7. She teaches a total of 10 different classes, which is fairly demanding but the wonderful thing is she "enjoys it". Adelen Mathewman is working with the UNTAET Serious Crimes Unit as a translator in East Timor. Merryn Rider Since returning from Indonesia in early 2001, Merryn Rider has worked as a migration consultant. Merryn completed a traineeship with a large independent migration consultancy, Hitchcock & Associates, and undertook a Certificate in Immigration Law through UNSW before gaining the professional registration to practice as a migration agent. After 3 years with Hitchcock & Associates, Merryn moved to Deloitte to manage their immigration practice in Sydney for 2½ years. She has recently left Deloitte to become the Manager of Ernst & Young’s Business Immigration Services division in Melbourne. Merryn handles immigration programs for global clients as well as individual’s immigration cases. Cairan Harman After returning from Indonesian in 2000, Ciaran continued studying at UWA in Environmental Engineering and Asian Studies. In 2003 he moved to Melbourne to wrap up a few straggler units in Middle Eastern History and Fluvial Geomorphology, and take up casual work with the environmental engineering group EarthTech and with the Co-operative Research Center for Catchment Hydrology. He is now a certified river nerd. Read his email home and also read his articles in Inside Indonesia. Angie Bexley After working as a tranlsator with TEMPO magazine, a project manager with Komnas Perempuan in Jakarta and an Indonesian interpreter in East Timor during the UN withdrawal, Angie is now half way through her PhD in the Department of Anthropology, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at ANU. Her topic (in twenty words or less) looks at Indonesia-East Timor relations through the lives of the younger generation of East Timorese both in East Timor and Indonesia. She hopes to some day return to live in the hills of Kaliurang and work on artistic and cultural exchange programs between the two nations. Luke Arnold Since completing ACICIS, Luke has been involved in numerous Indonesia-related activities. He has worked on an Australian-Indonesian student-run magazine called Rantau, participated in the Australia-Indonesia Youth Exchange Program (AIYEP), conducted research for the Asian Law Centre at the University of Melbourne, published articles on Indonesian labour law, translated for an NGO in East Timor and interpreted for Indonesian Supreme Court judges. For much of his time between 2003 and early 2006, Luke was employed as a Consultant to the International Labour Organization in Indonesia and Timor Leste. This involved working closely with various government agencies and civil society organisations on projects relating to human rights in the workplace, the latest of which involved the protection of Indonesian housemaids. Luke went on to work at the Melbourne office of Minter Ellison Lawyers and is currently on a Commonwealth Scholarship, taking a Master of Laws at the University of London (School of Oriental and African Studies). Luke maintains an active interest in Australia's engagement with Asia. Dylan Walsh In June 2001, the opportunity arose for Dylan to work with the United Nations in East Timor as an Electoral Officer, conducting the 2001 Elections. He found himself based in the mountainous district of Ermera, assigned with the task of running a polling centre in the small village of Ducurai. Dylan found working with the elections in East Timor a deeply rewarding experience. Dylan stayed in East Timor and gained a position with the International Organisation for Migration implementing community based development projects in Ermera and Alieu Districts. He was responsible for a program assisting the demobilisation of former FALINTIL guerrilla soldiers by rebuilding local infrastructure. He oversaw the construction of small bridges, water systems, schools, the rehabilitation of a community park and a vocational centre for women. Although he has now returned from East Timor, his experiences there have shaped his future ambitions, as he is now focused on a career in International Development or related fields. See Dylan's Malang report. Jennifer Donohoe returned to Australia after her ACICIS year to complete her Honours in Asian Studies at the Australian National University. This included a stint in Makassar as a volunteer for the South Sulawesi branch of the Indonesian Consumers' Association, and field work on Islamic politics in decentralised Indonesia for her Honours thesis. After graduation she worked as a volunteer for Peace Brigades International in Jakarta, Aceh and Flores, advocating for non-violence and facilitating conflict resolution workshops. Since 2003, she has worked as a consultant for the World Bank's Poverty Team. She lives in Jakarta with her husband, Refi. Also read her articles in Inside Indonesia. Kiran Hutchinson Since her fabulous and memorable time studying in Yogya with ACICIS, Kiran's been involved in various aspects of community development. As a team member of the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA), Australia, she's worked with local communities in Indonesia, Timor Leste and India, conducting strategic planning and training workshops using participatory planning processes (Technology of Participation, ToP). Most recently, Kiran had the opportunity to work in Timor Leste co-facilitating strategic planning workshops for the second East Timorese Women's National Congress in Timor, aimed at addressing issues of language and literacy, and highlighting the importance of Timorese women's increased participation and representation at government levels. Kiran's ACICIS experience was invaluable and Indonesia is now officially her second home. She always looks forward to a visit to Yogya to hang out with old friends and jalan-jalan. Semester 11 (August 2000)Jacqui Baker Since graduating in 2002, Jacqui worked at the Asia Foundation in Jakarta in the Islam and Civil Society Program where she managed programs with Islamic NGOs promoting democracy, human rights, religious pluralism and gender. She believes that it was through her Malang project on Laskar Jihad that the Asia Foundation became interested in employing her for this position. Jacqui was an inaugural recipient of a Sir John Monash Scholarship in December 2003, which gave her $150,000 to study anywhere in the world. She is currently doing a PhD in Government at the London School of Economics, studying Indonesian police reform. From July 2006 to September 2007 she will be undertaking fieldwork in Medan and Jakarta. Semester 12 (February 2001)Michael Frood is living on the beautiful island of Bali, based in Kuta, and has a fabulous job as the editor of the surfing magazine Surf Time. Alexandra Crosby Since ACICIS, Alexandra has worked on various community cultural projects, as an artist, designer, curator, and general trouble maker. In 2003, she lived in South Jakarta for three months, working on a collaborative project called ‘Beyond the Factory Walls’. The project brought together independent media makers from Sydney with factory workers from South Jakarta and resulted in multimedia theatre performance as well as four short documentaries made by factory workers about their lives. In 2005 and 2007, she co-coordinated "The Gang Festival", a collaborative creative exchange between artist collectives in Indonesia and Australia. As a 2006 Australian Youth Ambassador for Development, Alexandra worked in the Yogyakarta-based organisation PPPG Kesenian as a visual arts and craft officer. She is currently completing her PhD at UTS, exploring the visual culture of environment activists in Java. Semester 13 (August 2001)James Sheppard Upon completion of an amazing semester of studies in Yogya, James worked as a research assistant at the University of Western Australia on the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in Indonesia's Democratic Transition and grass roots politics. Between 2003-2006 James worked as a public sector management specialist with the World Bank in Indonesia. He worked closely with the Ministry of Finance, Bappenas and the Budget Committee of the DPR. Immediately after the 2005 tsunami he was also posted in Banda Aceh as the international focal point for public administration. In 2006 James resumed his studies taking a double Masters in Public Policy at the National University Singapore and Masters in Public Administration at the London School of Economics which he hopes to complete in mid-2008. He is currently working on a research project looking at the institutional changes in Bappenas since 1966/67 at NUS and as a consultant for the World Bank. Greta Cunningham After her ACICIS semester, Greta finished off her BA Honours (Indonesian/Asian Studies) at the University of Melbourne. She then worked in Public Programs at Asialink based at the university for a few years before taking a job on the TravelSmart Project with the Victorian Department of Infrastructure. She has recently moved to Canberra and is now undertaking the graduate program at the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs with Semester 14 ACICIS girls Charlotte King and Jaqueline Dobell. She is desperately hoping she can go back to Indonesia sometime soon. Adelaide Worcester Before joining ACICIS, Adelaide participated in AIYEP 1998-99 to Central Kalimantan and spent a couple of years working on Rantau magazine in Melbourne. She was a student of Professor Herb Feith at the University of Melbourne. After spending two life-changing ACICIS semesters in Yogyakarta (2001-02), Adelaide moved to Jakarta to work at the Australian Embassy as an economic policy and research officer. In 2004 she returned to Australia to become a policy officer at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Adelaide and her partner Panuntun Nugraha, a professional musician from Yogyakarta, were married in Bungendore, NSW, in March 2005. They are now living in Bali, where Adelaide is the Vice Consul at the Australian Consulate-General Bali. Fran Mules (photo) After returning from Indonesia in 2001, Fran joined the Victorian Office of Multicultural Affairs as a policy adviser. In 2006 she completed a Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing at RMIT. A sucker for punishment (or maybe just a course junkie) she is now undertaking a Graduate Diploma in Information Design with Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology. She currently works as a communications officer with the Center for Community Development Studies in Kunming, China, as part of the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development program. Fran’s abiding ambition is to pursue a career as a development worker in the Asia-Pacific region. Semester 14 (February 2002)Jennifer Robinson (Cartoon and photo) was the 500th ACICIS student. She wants to get involved in human rights work and international relations either through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade or international organisations like the UN, Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International. According to Jennifer, being fluent in another language, particularly Indonesian, given the current state of Australian-Indonesian relations, is extremely important for her ambitions. She is currently at Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar, studying international human rights. David Armstrong (photo) After another year in Indonesia with ACICIS, David is back at the secretariat in Perth, working as the main administrative officer again. While in Indonesia, he continued to work on and update his collection of Indonesian images on www.foto-foto.com. See David's story on his visit to Blitar and also some images of Indonesia and photos of Indonesian murals. Erin McMahon After working at The Border Watch, a local newsaper in Mount Gambier, South Australia (about half way between Adelaide and Melbourne), Erin travelled to Perth to take over as administrative officer at ACICIS from David Armstrong. Finishing up in mid-2007, he hopes to do some travelling around South East Asia - mainly to Indonesia actually. Now he's volunteering in Jakarta through the AYAD program, working as a media and communications officer at the International Organization for Migration, promoting their programs assisting refugees, internally displaced people, and victims of trafficking. Read the story he wrote about his time in Yogya in 2002. Jacqueline Dobell completed an Arts/Asian Studies degrees at the ANU in December 2004, then began with the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) graduate program in January 2005. She says the ACICIS network is everywhere she goes, with three ex-ACICIS students starting in the same DIMIA grad program: Greta Cunningham, Charlotte King and herself. Racheal Kuczma, another ANU/ACICIS student whom she met during her time in Indonesia, is still one of her closest friends and they often talk about the fantastic times they had over in Yogya and Malang. "I still feel that my time in Indonesia was one of the most amazing and exciting experiences of my life. My love of Indonesia will travel with me forever," she said. Charlotte King completed her BA, Diploma of Modern Languages and Graduate Diploma of Education at the University of Melbourne. She studied in both Yogyakarta and Malang with the ACICIS program. In 2004 she returned to Indonesia on a short-term trip to work in refugee camps in Manado (North Sulawesi) and Halmahera (Malaku Islands). In 2005, she moved from Melbourne to Canberra to commence a graduate position with the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA), and enjoys catching up with the ex-ACICIS network in Canberra. (Jacqui Dobell, Racheal Kuczma, Ulla Keech-Marx, Petra Mahy and Greta Cunningham to name just a few!) She would like to return to Indonesia at some time in the future to teach English in Eastern Indonesia. Read her Malang report on the 1996 Situbondo incident. Sarah Molan Since graduating from the University of Queensland, Sarah moved to Swan Hill, Victoria, in 2004 and has since been teaching Indonesian and been manager of LOTE at Swan Hill College. Mark Wise is now working as cabin crew for Emirates Airlines, based in Dubai, and loving it. He's hoping soon he'll be able to get some flights to Jakarta (complete with a three-day layover!) Josephine Corry After Yogya, Josie became a pramugari for Virgin Blue Airlines. She then moved to Virgin Atlantic and is now currently loving work as the Airport Coordinator at International in Sydney - although Virgin Atlantic doesn't fly to Indo so she hasn't been back as yet. Mayra Walsh is now working in Dili, Timor-Leste, with the Timorese Government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. She often returns to Indonesia and still keeps in touch with many friends from Yogya and Malang. See her Malang report and read about her experience at an East Javanese pesantren. Ulla Keech-Marx Since her ACICIS year in 2002, Ulla has returned to Indonesia several times to travel and to volunteer with various community development organisations and NGOs in Eastern Indonesia and Java. She completed her B Asian Studies (Indonesian) and achieved First Class Honours in October 2006, with a thesis looking at the strategies employed by Islamic women’s organisations to promote reproductive health in Indonesia. Ulla is currently working on the Indonesia Program at the Australian Agency for International Development. From June 2008 she will be posted to Kupang as the Australian government representative for development in Eastern Indonesia. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to return to NTT for a few years! See Ulla's Malang report. Semester 15 (August 2002)Joel Backwell After studying with ACICIS from 2002 to 2003, Joel worked with Indonesian NGO INSIST, in 2003, and also with Jakarta law firm Soemadipradja & Taher at the beginning of this year. He currently works for Freehills, a law firm in Melbourne, with whom Soemadipradja is an associate office. Brooke Steele After going home very disapponted with her time cut short due to the bombing, Brooke finished off her double degree at Curtin - a Bachelor of Education (Secondary) and Bachelor of Arts (Asian Studies). Since then she has returned several times for short and medium length stays in Bali and Yogya. She especially loves going back to Yayasan Sayap Ibu, an orphanage that she spent a fair bit of time at during her semester in Yogya with ACICIS. Nowadays she is in her element: she gets to speak Indonesian every day at work while teaching bahasa Indonesia to 700 students across two primary schools - hard work but also very rewarding! Semester 17 (August 2003)Deanne Whitfield (Photo with Nicholas Saputra) After working as a translator/editor for an NGO in Jakarta called RAHIMA through Australian Volunteers International (AVI), Deanne is now a copy editor at The Jakarta Post and occasionally writes the odd article too. Despite also being the only female MuayThai trainer in Jakarta, she's decided thrown in the towel and hang up the boxing gloves... and switch to ballroom dancing! Now she's learning to be an elegant sashaying lady on the dancefloor (which surprisingly, still involves a lot of blood, sweat and tears!). Deanne keeps in contact with ACICIS and often goes to Yogya to catch up with her street kid pals, ACICIS students and pretty much just to keep up with what's going on in and around her favourite town in Jawa. She still hopes to do a project of some sort with street children/underprivileged youth in central Java in the future. See Deanne's photos from Indonesia. Claire Harding (photo) completed a year with ACICIS at UGM in 2003 and then went back in 2004/05 on a Darmasiswa Scholarship to study at UNY. Claire holds a First Class Honours degree (2006) from The University of Western Australia. Her thesis explores the change in attitude, ideas and behaviours towards sex and sexuality that has been occurring among a significant proportion of the Indonesian youth population, in the face of globalisation and modernisation. She considers herself extremely fortunate to have landed A/Prof. Lyn Parker as her supervisor, who is still trying to convince Claire to do a PhD! In 2007/08 Claire worked as a translator/editor for an NGO in Yogyakarta called The Institute of Islamic and Social Studies (LKiS) through Australian Volunteers International (AVI). She is now back in Perth working as the ACICIS Secretariat Development Officer and loving every minute of it! See some of Claire's photos from Indonesia here. Tracy Wright Webster After completing her degree at Murdoch University, Tracy has started her PhD at the University of Western Australia, under the supervision of Dr Lyn Parker. They are working on the topic of "Ambivalent Adolescents in Indonesia" and Tracy will be doing fieldwork in Yogya in 2007. Siaan Mathews (photo) After ACICIS Siaan worked at the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, commenced a PhD in Malaysia-Australia relationships and won an Endeavour Award to research in Malaysia for 12 months. She also found the time to meet and marry an Indonesian from West Java and learn Sundanese! Siaan is currently in her final year of a PhD at ANU. Semester 18 (February 2004)Sam Beckman graduated last year from the ANU with a Bachelor of Asian Studies/Bachelor of Science. He now has three jobs: at an outdoor gear store, an organic fruit and veg place, and two days a week at the Canberra Environment and Sustainability Resource Centre. Sam's recently been getting into West African drumming with lessons from a guy from Senegal, and will also be going along to a gamelan group starting in May. Canberra life is good for Sam. Janelle Marburg Although she would dearly love to be working in Indonesia, Janelle is currently working in Canberra for international development consulting firm Hassall and Associates International. The firm is primarily contracted by AusAID to manage projects in Asia and Janelle is managing a training project in Indonesia, occasionally getting the opportunity to travel to Jakarta. See an article about Janelle in ANU's Asian Studies Bhinneka magazine, read her Malang report or see her photos from ACICIS. Wayne Palmer After ACICS I lived in Yogya and Solo to study Javanese language at Wisma Bahasa where I also learned to read Hanacaraka. I studied Javanese dance (gagahan) with Mas Samsari at STSI, Solo and studied Old Javanese prose with Kartika Setiawati, one of Tom Hunter's contemporaries. I left Yogya in December, 2006, to take a position as client advisor for the Domestic Migrant Workers Programme in Hong Kong where I also translate official correspondence of the south east Asian Amnesty International Group for their World Campaign against the abuse of domestic workers in Indonesia.. Next Year, I plan to start Honors under the supervision of Dr. Michele Ford at the University of Sydney, the topic will be something to do with the impact of Indonesian aspal (asli tapi palsu) passports in Hong Kong. Clare Harvey (photo) studied at UGM and UMM for the duration of 2004. After ACICIS in 2005 she worked at a local urban community development NGO in Yogya for a year. This included hanging out in poor riverside communities and trying to understand the needs and interests of communities in these areas and establishing informal education centres (sanggar) in the communities. In 2007 Clare completed an honours thesis on Muslim Intellectualism in Indonesia using the Liberal Islam Network as a case study. She is currently working at The Asia Foundation in Jakarta on Islam and development programs. Semester 19 (August 2004)Zahra Matthews moved down to Canberra from Sydney in 2007 to take up a graduate position with FaCSIA (Dept of Families, Community Services & Indigenous Affairs - bit of a mouthful!). She's really loving it as working with social issues is both challenging and extremely interesting. Since doing ACICIS she has been back to Jogja and Indonesia several times, and still has great friends there. She really misses Indonesia and thinks Jogja will always be her second home... David Osborne At the moment David is working at the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID) in Jakartawith wife Kath Taplin, who works at the Australian Embassy there, and daughter Yasmin. While Jakarta is in some ways an easier place to live for them - in terms of getting foods, medicines and services - they still miss Yogya. "Yogya is such a memorable place; we were there on the weekend and really loved it," David said. Read Kath's article on their family adventure with ACICIS. Semester 20 (February 2005)Aidan Hoy After his semester in Indonesia, Aidan finished his degree with honours in politics and governance. He has since gone on to participate in the 25th anniversary of the AIYEP exchange program, which saw him spend two months in Kalimantan Selatan learning Indonesian dance and song, and work as an international observer during the last round of presidential elections in Timor Leste. He’s now on the lookout for a desk job in Canberra. Elena Williams After her year in Yogya on ACICIS, Elena Williams returned to finish her BA Communications and International Studies at UTS, and then went on to complete Honours in Indonesian Studies at The University of Sydney. She conducted research and interviews with Indonesian unionists for Oxfam Australia's 2006 'Offside!' report on sportswear production in Asia, presented a paper at the 2007 Indonesia Council Open Conference based on her Honours fieldwork with Indonesian women unionists, and participated in the 26th AIYEP program in the summer of 07/08 in Lombok, NTB. She is now working as a Research Assistant in the Indonesian Studies Department at The University of Sydney on a project examining labour migration in Asia with Dr. Michele Ford. Claire Hadley During her semester at UGM Claire Hadley managed to, among other things, play for UGM in a National Student Hockey competition (LIHOMA). She has just completed an Honours project in Anatomy and Human Biology and now hopes to go into scientific research and a PhD, with the opportunity to collaborate with her Indonesian colleagues. Claire still plays hockey. Semester 20 (February 2006)Adelle Neary (photo - in front of St Basils Cathedral, Moscow) did a semester at INCULS with 1 immersion subject. Whilst there she also did an internship at Baker & McKenzie in Jakarta. After her ACICIS semester she worked as Ministerial Liaison Officer in the office of a South Australian government Minister for 12 months. Adelle has since moved to London and is now working as the Central and Eastern Europena Knowhow Coordinator for a london city law firm. As a training and practice support lawyer, she travels to the firms seven offices in - Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Poland. (A far cry from Indo!). Adelle believes that her ACICIS experience helped her to develop initative and independence, as well as leading her to develop different strategies to overcome cultural and language barriers. Willy Kornoff (photo) studied first at UGM in Inculs. He spent his second semester at the Centre for Religious and Cross Cultural Studies (UGM's graduate program for S2 students in comparative religion). After returning to Australia, Willy completed his degree, and is now in the process of undertaking Honours in Asian Studies, studying the role of Pesantren in Indonesian Communities (a stream of study that he began at CRCS). He currently has tentative plans to begin a career in education in Indonesia. Semester 24 (February 2007)Jessica Lea Dunn (photo) studied at UGM and Institut Seni Indonesia (ISI) in Yogyakarta in 2007. After ACICIS she won a travelling scholarship to broaden her career experience overseas. She is currently finishing her degree in Industrial Design and is hoping to use her scholarship money to organise a design internship with XS Project (a not-for-profit) in Jakarta. Allison Casey (photo) studied at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) in 2007. She wrote a research report on Indonesia-Australia relations. Allison is now studying for her PhD on energy security in Southeast Asia. She also tutors for the School of Government at the University of Tasmania.
Resident DirectorsDr Paul Stange (Photo - RD 1995-1996) has now retired from lecturing at Murdoch University and is currently enjoying an active retirement. A/Prof David Reeve (Photo - RD 1997-1999) is back at the University of New South Wales, in the Department of Chinese and Indonesian, and writing a biography of Ong Hock Ham. He is currently filling in as ACICIS Consortium Director while David Hill is on long service leave. Gerry and Helene van Klinken (Photo - RDs 2000-2002) After spending time in East Timor, Gerry and Helene are now living in Holland. Gerry works at Leiden University and is still the supervising editor of Inside Indonesia. Dr Joost Cote (Photo - RD 2002-2003) has returned to teaching at Deakin University. Dr Lea Jellinek and Mr Ed Kiefer (Photo - RDs 2003-2004) have returned to NSW. They will keep on returning to Yogyakarta in the future and continue to monitor and supervise the progress of the Sukunan Village Project. Dr Tom Hunter (Photo - RD 2004-2005) has returned to Bali with his family and is pursuing his research interests in Old Javanese and Old Balinese language. |
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