Indonesia Council Digest - March 2025
Happy March, everyone! I would particularly like to extend a warm Ramadan Kareem to those observing the holy month. If you’re not observing Ramadan but are keen to learn more about it, you may be interested to read this article for Honi Soit (the University of Sydney’s weekly student newspaper), "Upon the Ninth Crescent Moon", which captures the essence of celebrating Ramadan.
We read with concern the news that the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) in Leiden, founded 1993, is at risk of losing its core operational funding. Many Indonesia Council members, including on our Executive Committee, have first-hand - and overwhelmingly positive - experience of IIAS’ work and programs. Recognising the important contribution IIAS makes to advancing knowledge of Asia and supporting world class research and education institutions, Indonesia Council has submitted a letter in support of the continuation of IIAS. Submissions closed 18 March 2025, and we will be keenly awaiting updates from the Netherlands.
As always, we appreciate your support and involvement in the Indonesia Council community. If you have any exciting projects, publications, or events to share, please send us an email at iclistdata [at] gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
Natali
What’s happening
Join our very own Lis Kramer who will be moderating an event with Max Lane at UNSW on “Elite and Civil Society Relations in Prabowo Era Indonesia: From Social to Political Opposition?”
When: Thursday, April 10, 2025, 14:00-15:30
Where: Online and in-person (UNSW Sydney)
How to register: To register your attendance (particularly in person for logistics purposes), fill in the registration form.
Colleagues in Melbourne also had the opportunity to hear from Max earlier this week, when he was hosted by the Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne.
Meanwhile, those of you based in Hong Kong may be interested in this book talk on Majapahit by Herald van der Linde, author of Majapahit and the Making of Indonesia and Southeast Asia.The event will be held on Friday, 25 April from 18:30 at Gallery BNI, 16 Harcourt Rd, Hong Kong. Details and registration here.
And don’t forget about the regular weekly conversation gathering organised by the University of New England, Nongkrong, held every Wednesday – a great way to polish up our Indonesian skills and to meet other people interested in Indonesia. These chats are open to the public and are welcoming of all levels – such a great initiative! And it’s online so no excuses!
Student opportunities
Two great opportunities for Masters and PhD students this month.
Maritime Archaeology Opportunity for Indonesian Postgraduate Students
Attention Indonesian Postgraduate Students! 🚨 Dreaming of a career in Maritime Archaeology? 🌊⚓ Dive into the Master of Maritime Archaeology at Flinders University, an LPDP-approved program that could be your gateway to an exciting future! 🎓✨
Fully funded opportunity: The LPDP scholarship covers your studies—don't miss this chance!
Deadline: 5 May 2025
More info: LPDP Scholarships
Application details: Click here
PhD Position in Child Language Socialisation
A PhD candidate is sought for the Documenting Languages and Ethnobiological Knowledge (DocuLEK) project, funded jointly by the French and German research agencies (ANR-DFG). This interdisciplinary project will be headed by an international team of researchers. The successful candidate will carry out an in-depth study of children’s socialization into the ethnobiological knowledge of the Yali language spoken in West Papua, Indonesia.
Position includes: Full-time PhD scholarship (€2,540 gross per month for 36 months), fieldwork expenses, and travel expenses for conference attendance.
Commencement Date: September 1, 2025
Applications: Apply through the CNRS job portal by 31 May 2025
Questions? Contact asi [at] uni-koeln.de and sonja.riesberg [at] cnrs.fr
Other cool stuff
AA Short Course on Sustainable Finance in Indonesia
Late last year, 24 Indonesian executives and mid-level managers were hosted by UTS’ Institute for Sustainable Futures for an Australian Awards short course on Sustainable Finance in Indonesia. The course focused on transforming challenges into opportunities and was a great way to develop meaningful networks around sustainable finance between Australia and Indonesia.
Indonesia's Green Industrial Policy
This article for Lowy Institute on the future of Indonesia’s green industrial policy caught my attention, in which authors Robert Walker and Dr Hilman Palaon consider the gap between the Indonesian government’s ambition (and its world-leading nickel supply) and the industrial policy needed to realise it.
Meanwhile, several Australian scholars took part in the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration conference, hosted by RDI-UREF and the Faculty of Cultural Studies, UGM in Yogyakarta in January 2025. Australian institutions represented included UNSW, UTS, University of Sydney, Monash University, and the University of Melbourne. It provided a great opportunity for many Indonesian academics, civil society organisations, and speakers with lived experience of forced migration living in Indonesia to participate.
Call for papers
3rd Spiced Islam International Conference
CFP closing 30 April for the 3rd Spiced Islam International Conference: "Material Culture and Commodities in the Indian Ocean World, 7th–13th Centuries", 20-23 August at the Museum Fansuri, Situs Bongal, Tapanuli, North Sumatra. This hybrid conference provides a transdisciplinary platform for historians, archaeologists, philologists, epigraphists, and numismatists whose research explores early Islamic material culture in the Middle East and its connections to the eastern Indian Ocean between the 7th and 13th centuries. It's organised by the Sultanate Institute, in collaboration with the Master’s Program in Islamic History and Culture at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta, the Edinburgh Centre for Global History at the University of Edinburgh, and the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN). Interested participants are invited to submit a 500-word abstract, accompanied by a 150-word biography, to mahmood.kooria [at] ed.ac.uk and j.burhanudin [at] uinjkt.ac.id
Key Dates
Abstract Submission Deadline: 30 April 2025
Announcement of Selected Abstracts: 30 May 2025
Press Release: 10 July 2025
Conference Dates: 20-23 August 2025
Submission of Revised Papers: 30 November 2025
For further information, please visit sultanateinstitute.com or email info [at] sultanateinstitute.com
The 8th Conference on Human Rights
The 8th Conference on Human Rights, convened by Airlangga, Jember and Sydney, will be held in Surabaya from 12-13 August. This year, the focus is on protecting human rights in Asia amid energy transition, technological disruption and democratic regression. The conference is in-person only and includes sessions in Bahasa Indonesia. While the call for papers has now closed, you can register as a non-presenter by the end of July 2025.
Publications and Podcasts
In April 1955, delegates from 29 Asian and African countries and colonies gathered in Bandung, Indonesia, for the Asian-African Conference. What message were these 29 delegations seeking to transmit to their domestic and global audience? Why was a conference of postcolonial states and anticolonial movements perceived as so important in international politics by its contemporaries, and why has it had such lasting effects? In recognition of the 70th anniversary of this influential conference, LeftWord Books has published the English translation of Wildan Sena Utama's Vision for the Future: An Intellectual History of the 1955 Bandung Conference (originally from Marjin Kiri). Also in the works is a dossier on The Spirit of Bandung, designed to complement the book.
Don’t miss the recent Talking Indonesia podcast featuring Jane Ahlstrand in conversation with host Lis Kramer about the climate crisis, gendered expectations and burdens, stereotypes of poor women in rice fields, and the concept of malu (feeling ashamed/shy/uncomfortable).
Our Digital Engagement Editor, Billy Aditijanto, is keeping up the great work with his Perantau Podcast, which focuses on cross-cultural experiences, diaspora insights, Indonesian culture abroad, and the global Indonesian community. A new episode has just dropped on Spotify and Youtube, featuring Billy in conversation with John Cheong-Holdaway and Gamelan DanAnda, a Melbourne-based Gamelan ensemble.
Meanwhile, our other Digital Engagement Editor Victoria Winata recently published this terrific essay for Inside Indonesia, “Beyond Cultural Awareness”. In it, she highlights the importance of non-natives, especially white people, acknowledging their power when studying another culture. As she says, cultural awareness is just the beginning of a deeper process of decolonisation that requires the questioning of implicit biases and the recognition that colonial legacies persist both physically and abstractly.
Also of interest was the ABC’s recent Global Roaming podcast, Is Trump’s America still our friend? Amid talk of American isolationism and the future of the American-Australian alliance, analyst Hugh White (Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at ANU) emphasised the importance of Indonesia to Australia in this new geo-strategic environment. As Hugh said, “If we look 50 years ahead from now, the country which is going to be most important to us, the country with whom we will have to put most work into managing our relationship, will be Indonesia, because that will be the great power next door.”
Finally, don’t miss these Indonesia-related articles from the Australian Journal of Asian Law, volume 25 no 2, 2025, all of which can be downloaded for free:
Tim Mann, ‘Activists on Trial: The Weaponisation of Online Defamation Provisions in Indonesia’
Aristo Pangaribuan, ‘Navigating an Authoritarian Landscape: Criminal Procedure and Defence Lawyers in Indonesia’
Kate Thresher, ‘The Role of Majelis Ulama Indonesia in Blasphemy Trials in East Java’
IC Member Opportunities
Applications close tomorrow, 21 March, for our inaugural IC postgraduate bursary. If your abstract has been accepted for ICOC 2025 and you are a postgraduate student, please send an email titled “Application for IC Bursary” to the Indonesia Council Grants and Prizes Officer, Monika.Winarnita [at] unimelb.edu.au by 21 March 2025. The email must include:
proof of abstract acceptance
a copy of your abstract, and
conference registration.
Note that you have to be a member of the Indonesia Council to be eligible for consideration (check here for full eligibility).
A reminder that all IC Postgraduate members, especially but not only those attending ICOC 2025, are invited to join us for a Public Speaking Workshop on 29 May from 12.30pm (delivered online). Hosted by Natali Pearson (President), Elly Kent (Secretary) and Tamara Megaw (PG Representative), this workshop will focus on tips and tricks for an effective and exciting conference presentation. To register your interest please email us at iclistdata [at] gmail.com. Note that you have to be a member of the Indonesia Council to be eligible to participate in this workshop; join here.