When it comes to overcoming the great Australian indifference to Indonesia, we’ve been doing it wrong.
Joel Blackwell makes a capacious case of why we need to engage with our neighbour and how it has not happened. And it won’t if we leave it to government “to supercharge Indonesian language learning.” Supply-side attempts in the 1990s and in 2009 didn’t and “the positive impacts of the investment will diminish over time.”
What we need, he argues are multiple efforts targeting five equally-important objectives:
- National leadership: “a coordinated, cross-sectoral response through cabinet level prioritisation and the establishment of enduring institutions;”
- Public awareness: “use multiple channels to increase awareness of modern Indonesia among all Australians;”
- “Incentivise and support businesses to explore opportunities and succeed in Indonesia;”
- “Fix the way we teach and learn about Indonesia across our education system;” and
- “Fix the way we teach and learn about Indonesia across our education system.”
We need, he says “system-level buy-in … to shift the dial.”