CAUSINDY starts this Saturday. Join in!

CAUSINDY 2015 is just around the corner! This year, the conference isn’t just happening in Darwin: we’ll be sharing tweets, updates and photos throughout the event.

Join us right here on the CAUSINDY website, where we’ll be publishing a live blog with all the highlights from this year’s panel sessions.

On Twitter, we’ll be sharing updates on #causindy along with our delegates and speakers — and don’t forget to check out our Instagram account, where a different delegate will be sharing their perspective on the conference every day.

We’ll be sharing photo highlights on the CAUSINDY Facebook page, too. Don’t miss it.

Asia Options partners with CAUSINDY

AO_Logo_RGB-transparent-blackCAUSINDY is very happy to announce that Asia Options have joined the conference as a supporter this year.

Asia Options is the guide for Australians interested in exploring educational, professional and leadership opportunities in the Asian region.

Their comprehensive website is an online community of students, professionals and adventure seekers, with the collective goal of empowering and enabling more Australians to access and pursue opportunities in the Asian region.

Asia Options currently targets Indonesia, as well as China, Japan, South Korea and India.

We thank Asia Options for partnering with CAUSINDY and look forward to working together to give young leaders from both Indonesia and Australia the opportunity explore more about the Australian-Indonesian relationship.

Announcing this year’s UNSW delegate

UNSW is delighted to announce that its delegate for CAUSINDY 2015 is Agung Wasono. Agung will be representing UNSW at the conference in his capacity as a current student of the University.

Agung (@agungwasono) was born in Magelang, a small city in Central Java, Indonesia. His bachelor’s degree was in law. He obtained his master’s degree in Planning and Public Policy at Universitas Indonesia in Jakarta and now he is taking combined masters degree in Public Policy and Governance and Development Studies at UNSW.

Agung is the founder and the Executive Director of LANSKAP Indonesia (Institute for Economics Politics and Public Policy Analysis). The aim of this organisation is to conduct research and to provide assistance on the improvement of public policy in Indonesia especially at the local level of policy making. He also serves as a Program Manager of Democratic and State Governance Unit at Kemitraan (Indonesia-based NGO on governance reform).

During his work at Kemitraan, he has managed several programs/projects such as: budget transparency, electoral reform, political party reform, women’s representation in politics, Millennium Development Goals, and the Preparation of the Post-2015 Development Goals. He was also the National Coordinator for the monitoring of 2014 General Elections.

Live events in Sydney, Melbourne and Jakarta

It’s your chance to take part in CAUSINDY 2015! For the first time, we’re opening this year’s conference up to live audiences in three cities.

Register for the event →

Going Back to the Beginning is all about the links between indigenous Australia and Indonesia, bringing together three experts to present — and answer questions — on the origins of the bilateral relationship.

AIYA chapters will be showing the panel live from Darwin in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane from 3pm on Saturday, the 19th of September.

Join in →

Audiences will be able to share questions and comments with the delegates and panel on #causindy.

Speakers

Paul Thomas — Coordinator of Indonesian Studies, Monash University

saya4Paul Thomas is Coordinator of Indonesian Studies and lecturer in Translation Studies in the School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University, Victoria. His initial interest in Indonesia began as a participant on the Australian Indonesian Youth Exchange Program (AIYEP) after which he majored in Indonesian and Italian in his undergraduate degree. Upon graduating, Paul moved to Southeast Asia teaching in Bandung, Indonesia and Singapore where he also worked as a freelance translator.

On returning to Australia, he took up tertiary teaching positions in South Australia and then Victoria while completing a Masters in Applied Linguistics at the University of Melbourne. Paul’s PhD was in the field of translation history and explored the history of communication between Australia and the Indonesian archipelago from the pre-European period through to the Cold War.

Paul is currently researching the history of the English language press in Indonesia and is completing an edited volume on the history of the Indonesian-Malay language in Australia entitled Talking North: History, Literacy and Policy in Australia’s First Asian Language due for publication later this year.

Dr Steven Farram — Lecturer in North Australian and Regional Studies (History) at Charles Darwin University
steven-farram

Dr Steven Farram is Lecturer in North Australian and Regional Studies (History) at Charles Darwin University in Darwin. His research interests include the history of northern Australia and Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia and Timor-Leste. He has published extensively in these areas and is also a regular contributor of book and exhibition reviews to various journals. Steven is an active member of the history community through organisations such as the Professional Historians Association (NT) and the Historical Society of the Northern Territory. He is a regular participant at international and local conferences and has been coordinator of the Annual History Colloquium held in Darwin for several years.

Julia Martínez — Associate Professor of History at University of Wollongong

Julia Martinez photo 2015Julia Martínez is an Associate Professor of History and Australian Research Council Future Fellow at University of Wollongong, NSW. Her interests include Australian and Asian history and in particular the connections between Darwin, Broome, north Queensland and Asia. She publishes on Indigenous and Asian labour history and on Chinese diaspora in Australia and Southeast Asia.

Her ARC-funded projects include a history on the migration and ‘traffic’ in women in Australia and Southeast Asia and a study of colonial domestic service with Claire Lowrie, Victoria Haskins, & Frances Steel. In 2013 she co-edited with Professor Adrian Vickers a special edition of the SOAS journal Indonesia and the Malay World on histories of overseas Indonesians. Her book, with Adrian Vickers, is The Pearl Frontier: Indonesian labor and Indigenous encounters in Australia’s Northern Trading Network (University of Hawai’i Press, 2015).

PPIA partners with CAUSINDY

Logo-WebsiteCAUSINDY is delighted to announce that Perhimpunan Pelajar Indonesia Australia (PPIA) – the Indonesian Students Association, Australia – along with PPIA Northern Territory, have joined the conference as a Supporter this year.

PPIA, one of the biggest Indonesian students associations in the world, was established in Canberra in 1981. It supports Indonesian students in Australia by offering a platform to expand their skills and improve their competencies while staying true to their Indonesian identity.

PPIA Northern Territory, the official branch of the Indonesian Students Association in NT, aims to build strong relationships between Indonesian youths in the region, as well as to promote Indonesian culture and tradition through its events and programs.

We thank PPIA National and PPIA NT for partnering with CAUSINDY and look forward to working together to give young leaders from both Indonesia and Australia the opportunity to shape the future of the Australian-Indonesian relationship.

Current and former ministers join CAUSINDY

The CAUSINDY team is excited to announce two very special speakers: former Indonesian Vice Minister for Finance Mr Mahendra Siregar, and current the current Northern Territory Minister for Asia Engagement and Trade the Hon. Peter Styles MLA.

Mr Mahendra will be joining CAUSINDY as the keynote speaker at the Gala Dinner. Mr Mahendra currently serves on the boards of a number of companies and organisations, including the Australia Indonesia Centre and as the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners for PT Semen Indonesia, one of the country’s largest companies.

Mr Mahendra was Indonesian Vice Minister of Trade from 2009 until 2011, and later held the positions of Vice Minister of Finance from 2011 to 2013, and Chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board, BKPM, from 2013 to 2014.

Minister Styles will host a private lunch for the delegates at Northern Territory’s Parliament House. Mr Styles is the Minister for Asian Engagement and Trade, Business and Multicultural Affairs, amongst other portfolios.

Before entering parliament in 2008, he was an officer in the Northern Territory Police Force, where his work with youth in schools and in the community focussed on helping young people to achieve their full potential.

Mr Mahendra and Minister Styles join a diverse and experienced roster of speakers, which includes senior representatives from business, government, and academia.

Charles Darwin University joins CAUSINDY 2015

CAUSINDY is delighted to announce that for the second year in a row, Charles Darwin University (CDU), a dual sector tertiary education provider, will be joining CAUSINDY as Sponsor.

CDU delivers both Higher Education (HE) and Vocational Education and Training (VET) programs, as well as undertaking research, to uphold its mandate to provide the human capital that underpins the public good and future prosperity of the Northern Territory. This mandate extends to providing a community resource to support the professional and personal aspirations of the population, providing part of the foundation underpinning the development of this part of Australia, and supporting endeavours to address complex problems facing the region.

CDU has also established itself as a sustainable tertiary education provider that is strengthened by mutually beneficial partnerships and recognised nationally and internationally for its high quality, flexible local and distance education, world-class research and focus on indigenous achievement.

We thank CDU for their support and look forward to working closely in Darwin, including a number of sessions being held on campus at CDU, in a couple of months time.

UTS:INSEARCH supports CAUSINDY 2015

CAUSINDY is pleased to announce UTS:INSEARCH has returned as a sponsor for CAUSINDY 2015.

UTS:INSEARCH is the premium pathway provider to the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). It offers Academic English courses, a pre-university UTS Foundation Studies program (on behalf of UTS), and higher education programs in business, communication, design, architecture, engineering, IT and science. After completing a UTS:INSEARCH diploma, students can then fast track into the second year of a bachelor degree at UTS – depending on the course chose.
This year, the Managing Director of UTS:INSEARCH, Alex Murphy and UTS:INSEARCH Program Manager, Janet Gibson will be facilitating a workshop as part of the official CAUSINDY program.   

UTS:INSEARCH has long standing ties with Indonesia and the Asia-Pacific Region. Most recently, UTS:INSEARCH partnered with Kompas Gramedia Group to establish a series of English language centres. Today, UTS:INSEARCH – GRAMEDIA English Centres offers the world-leading UTS:INSEARCH Academic English to students all over Jakarta.  

UTS:INSEARCH was a major sponsor of CAUSINDY in 2014. 

Introducing this year’s Australia Awards delegates

Australia Awards are excited to announce their delegates for CAUSINDY 2015, each of which will be representing Australia Awards at the Conference in their capacity as current Australia Awards recipients or alumni of the program.

Christian Donny Putranto

Christian Donny Putranto (@cdonnyp) is a Master of Laws student at the Melbourne Law School as an Australia Awards Scholar, with a focus on human rights law. Born and bred in Jakarta, Donny’s attraction and passion towards human rights law have led to a number of unique experiences. After completing a Bachelor of Laws at Atma Jaya Catholic University, he worked for a national NGO advocating children’s rights.

In 2011, he was recruited by the International Committee of the Red Cross regional delegation in Jakarta to manage and carry out human rights and humanitarian laws training for the Indonesian police and armed forces across the country. Between 2013 and 2015, Donny worked at the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Jakarta adjudicating asylum claims from asylum-seekers in Indonesia. Donny also has a keen interest in literature, with Doyle, Orwell, Kafka, and Camus amongst his favourite authors and Sherlock his all-time favourite character.

Dicky Khaerul Wallad

D.K. Wallad graduated with a Master of International Relations from the University of Melbourne in July 2015. In 2011-2013, he worked as External Relations Officer at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta where he was responsible for facilitating the organisation’s external relations and projects with partners such as Australia, India, Russia, and the United Nations. In Canberra, September 2011, he was one of the ASEAN Secretariat’s delegates in the 24th ASEAN-Australia Forum, an annual meeting between Permanent Representatives of ASEAN and Ambassador of Australia to ASEAN which aims at reviewing and advancing ASEAN-Australia cooperation.

As an Indonesian who lived in Melbourne during increased tensions between Indonesia and Australia (2013-2015), D.K. Wallad was exposed to various issues and views on Indonesia-Australia relationship, including the perspectives of local Australians and the Indonesian diaspora in Melbourne. He was awarded the Australia Awards Scholarship from the Government of Australia and the Melbourne Global Scholars Award from the University of Melbourne.

Marlisa Soepeno

Marlisa is a Foreign Service Officer with the Political, Social and Security Division in the Office of the Minister at Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She is also the interpreter to the President of Indonesia and the First Lady. Previously, she was a foreign policy analyst on Indonesia’s emerging markets, covering Latin American countries, and an Intern at the Indonesian Embassy in Paris, France.

Marlisa holds a Bachelor degree in Economics from Hasanuddin University, Makassar. She obtained a double Master’s degree in Public Policy and Diplomacy from the Australian National University. During her time in Canberra, she was active in various activities on efforts to strengthen Australia – Indonesia relations, among others: her participation at the Canberra Multicultural Festival; her involvement in various visits of Indonesia’s high officials to Canberra, as well as her work as interpreter to Australia – Indonesia Partnership for Decentralization (AIPD) study visits to states and territories in Australia where she met and interviewed Indigenous Australians in Tiwi Island, Darwin.

Her previous field experience in development work has transformed Marlisa into a person with continuous passion to contribute back to the community. In her capacity as an Australian Awards Alumni, she joined the Alumni Reference Group of Poverty Reduction, Disadvantaged Area and Post-Conflict Regions cluster and contribute her ideas as well as collaborate with other alumni in this field. She is also the Founder of Makassar Interpreter Training (MINT) Initiative, a program funded by Alumni Grant Scheme aimed at enhancing the capacity and improving the livelihood of local-based interpreters in the Eastern Part of Indonesia.

Australia Indonesia Institute supports CAUSINDY 2015

CAUSINDY is pleased to be working with the the Australia-Indonesia Institute (AII) in the delivery of this years conference.

AII has been a long standing partner of the Australia Indonesia Youth Association, and through that, will be supporting CAUSINDY this year.

AII provides a focus for the collection, exchange and dissemination of information in relation to the ways in which relations between Australia and Indonesia could be encouraged, strengthened and developed.

Established in 1989, the AII works within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to make recommendations about the broadening of Australia’s knowledge and experience of Indonesia through cultural, sports, and exchange programs in both countries.

We thank AII for their continued support of AIYA.