Indonesia Council Digest - December 2023
As we come to the end of 2023, I wanted to thank all of you for your contributions to Indonesia Council this year. Whether you attended or supported the Indonesia Council Open Conference in September, got in touch via email (iclistdata@gmail.com) to share news or introduce yourself, or simply read the newsletter each month, it has been a great delight for me to get to know more of you. Deputy President Jeremy Kingsley and I – and our new Treasurer (Spoiler alert! We have a Treasurer! We will introduce you to the newest member of the team in our next newsletter) – look forward to working with you all in the new year.
On that note – we will be pausing our regular newsletter over the (Australian) summer, returning in February. Between now and then, we will be circulating more detailed information about changes to our membership arrangements, so please keep an eye out for that as a separate email. Wishing you all a restful and restorative break over the new year.
Salam,
Natali
What's Happening
The Australia Indonesia Arts Forum and 16albermarle Project Space (Sydney’s very own art space dedicated to contemporary art from Southeast Asia) is running an Indonesian Art Study Tour to Java and Bali from 22 to 30 June 2024. This tour runs annually for members of the Australian visual arts community, with visits to museums, private collectors, art spaces and collectives, commercial galleries and artists’ studios, finishing at the opening of ArtJog in Yogyakarta. Participants are typically museum personnel, curators, event organisers, artists, higher education academics, gallerists and collectors. Download the EOI and information pack here.
Gardening Australia (which has long been my favourite way to spend a Friday night!), ran a special episode this month on Indonesia’s plants and gardens. This was the very first international episode for Gardening Australia, and what a treat it was. There were plant breeders and nurseries, there were carnivorous plants, and there were private gardens and botanical collections. Cheers to the GA team for showcasing the extraordinary biodiversity of Indonesia (and for getting Costa into some great batik shirts). If you missed it, you can catch up here or on iView.
Costa Georgiadis, Tammy Huynh, and local guest presenter Sean Salim explore Bogor Botanical Gardens
Costa Georgiadis, Tammy Huynh, and local guest presenter Sean Salim explore Bogor Botanical Gardens
Ice Cold: Murder, Coffee and Jessica Wongso, the 2023 true crime documentary about the Jessica Wongso / Mirna Salihin cyanide poisoning case, is out now on Netflix. I haven’t watched it yet (too busy looking at plants) but I’ve heard it is worth making time for, not least for the way it depicts contemporary Indonesian society. As Liam Prince has pointed out, ‘Depictions of Indonesia and Indonesians on Australian screens are few and far between. Although in service of grim subject matter, it’s a treat to have 90 minutes of relatively high-end cultural product showing a cross-section of Indonesians going about their personal and professional lives. Australian audiences could benefit from a whole lot more of this.’ If you’re keen to get some context on the case, you can listen to my podcast with Simon Butt, Professor of Indonesian Law, which we recorded a couple of years ago for SSEAC Stories. For a more academic perspective, read Simon’s article, Indonesia’s Criminal Justice System on Trial: The Jessica Wongso Case, published in New Criminal Law Review.
Publications
Speaking of Simon Butt… his new book is out! Judicial Dysfunction in Indonesia (Melbourne University Press) offers detailed analysis of highly controversial decisions by Indonesian courts, many of which have been of major political significance both domestically and internationally.
Still on the topic of law, Herlambang Wiratrawan and Eileen Hanrahan have published a new article in The Australian Journal of Asian Law that looks at the institutionalisation of racism in the Indonesian justice system. Focusing on two cases, both involving Papuans, they argue that in Indonesia, “a racialised political hierarchy enables Papuans to be stigmatised by state officials as unworthy of legal rights afforded to other citizens.”
Meanwhile, recruiting migrant fishers from Indonesia has been poorly regulated for a long time, meaning that they often end up being exploited on foreign distant water fishing fleets. Read more about the recruitment and contracting of migrant fishers from Indonesia in this new article by Wayne Palmer, Michele Ford and Benni Hasbiyalloh for Asian and Pacific Migration Journal.
KONEKSI Grants
The KONEKSI Australia-Indonesia Collaborative Research Grants: Digital Transformation Call for Proposals is now open. The theme is Digital Transformation particularly in relation to enhanced wellbeing in healthcare, sustainable food systems and blue economy, energy efficiencies and transition to renewables. To explore the available grants visit the KONEKSI grants page. The expressions of interest close on 22 January 2024.