Michael Kramer
This month we are featuring (the refreshingly and deliberately provocative) Michael Kramer!
From now on, we will only be featuring paid-up / subscribed members of IC so if you want to be featured, please sign up as a member 😊
Tell us about yourself!
I am a retired chemical engineer from Sydney dedicated to travelling the world before my body wears out.
Where does your interest in Indonesia stem from?
In 1978 I was sent by my company , an American multinational, to work in a small factory outside Medan. There I met my wife. I returned for further assignments in Indonesia, later based in Jakarta. All told I lived and worked in Indonesia for 10 years spread across the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s. Since then I have been returning two or three times a year, because I enjoy it so much!
What is the nature of your engagement with Indonesia – are you an academic, a professional, an alumni?
I now describe myself as an amateur historian with a particular interest in some events where there is an Australian/Indonesian connection. I have organised plaques for a number of such locations. At present I am having the Sparrow Force monument, outside Kupang, rehabilitated with a grant from the DVA. I am a member of the Nusa Tenggara Association and join their donor trips to Timor and Flores. The NTA does great work for the poor kampung dwellers in these locations.
How do you think organisations like Indonesia Council can improve Australia-Indonesia relations?
Such organisations need to be more active outside the academic sphere. They need to reach the average Australian and those running our country. They should become “go to” people for the Australian media when issues related to the relationship arise. The number of media “hits” should become a measure of success.
What are some of the challenges and opportunities in the Indonesia-Australia relationship?
These stem from the fundamental differences in our two societies. Australians pride themselves on their individuality whereas Indonesians find their greatest happiness as members of a group. Australian society is egalitarian whereas Indonesian society is hierarchical. Our politicians, because of their limited backgrounds, are unable to engage properly with Indonesia and Asia as a whole. Albo’s recent Jakarta visit was a joke that served only to trivialise the relationship. We need some “Indonesia champions” in Parliament. Our ABC does not maintain a pool of reporters who speak Indonesian. DFAT is not much better. The Reverse Colombo plan offers some hope, but Indonesian language ability needs to be made mandatory for many more Indonesia facing government positions. Visa requirements for Indonesians need to be relaxed. Indonesia needs to be treated as a friendly country, not as a threat, which, unfortunately, our fortress -like embassy in Jakarta, signifies.
Tell us about your favourite Indonesian food experience.
Watching a dog trot into a dog (B satu) restaurant in Seribu Dolok, North Sumatra
Do you speak Indonesian and where did you start learning it?
My company had the wisdom to send me on a short summer course at the ANU before I first went to Medan. Our teacher was Yohanni Johns. But learning a language is a life long pursuit, so apart from visits to Indonesia I try to join the excellent weekly Nongkrong Yuk Zoom sessions organised by the Indonesian teachers at UNE.
What’s your favourite Indonesian food and why?
I’m a santan fan, and still remember the warung lunches of soto Medan.
What’s your favourite Indonesian music/song/writer?
I enjoy most traditional Indonesian music especially kroncong. Evening, in a Timor kampung earlier this year, the seductive strains of Meriam Belina’s “Untuk Sebuah Nama” drifted across the kampung. We were able to find the source and were welcomed in for a karaoke session complete with sopi from a bottle including a deer foetus. My “party piece” remains “Singkong dan Keju”.
What’s your favourite Indonesian idiom?
I like the word “lumayan”. It strikes a chord and is similar to the Australian “not too bad”.
[Last month’s PAY IT FORWARD question]:
What is one Indonesian tradition or cultural value you think the world could learn from? and why?
I am not sure that this is unique to Indonesia, but I have never been to an Indonesian event without taking food home. The arisan is also important in social bonding.
And don’t forget to suggest a pay it forward question for next month 😊 :
What is the worst place you have visited in Indonesia? And why?