The University of Melbourne has been conducting the Faculty of Arts Indonesia Initiative since 2014 as a platform to further enhance teaching and research relationships with colleagues in Indonesia. Every year, the organization funds three to four Indonesian scholars to visit the University of Melbourne and present their research. This year’s Faculty of Arts Indonesia Initiative invited three UI scholars, Dr Manneke Budiman, Dr Evi Fitriani, and Dr. Budi Hernawan. Dr. Manneke Budiman and Dr. Evi were scheduled to visit on July and August. While Dr. Budi Hernawan will attend on October.
Dr. Manneke Budiman is a senior lecturer and Vice-Dean for Academic, Research, and Student Affairs in the Faculty of Humanities, University of Indonesia. He researches language and literature, especially issues of identity and contemporary cultural politics in Indonesia. On Thursday, July 28, 2016 at Asia Institute Seminar Room 321, Sidney Myer Asia Centre (Building 158), The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Dr. Manneke gave a public seminar entitled “Between Islamic Popular Culture and the Korean Wave: Cosmopolitan identity formation amongst Indonesian youth”. This seminar mainly discussed the influence of K-Pop and Islamic popular culture amongst Indonesian youth.
On the other hand, Dr Evi Fitriani who is the head of the International Relations Department, Faculty of Social and Political Science at the University of Indonesia, gave a public lecture on “Jokowi’s Foreign Policy and Australia-Indonesia Relations”. the public lecture that took place on August 22, 2016, at The Yasuko Hiraoka Myer Room, Sidney Myer Asia Centre (Building 158), The University of Melbourne, Parkville, primarily talked about President Joko Widodo’s contrasting approach to foreign policy compared to his predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono stands to reshape Australia-Indonesia ties.
Dr. Budi Hernawan, an anthropologist and research fellow at the Abdurrahman Wahid Centre for Interfaith and Peace, Universitas Indonesia (UI) will be giving a public seminar on “Shrinking space of civil liberties in Indonesia”. Scheduled on Thursday, 20 October 2016, the seminar will talk about state violence and non-state violence that happen to Indonesian religious minorities, human rights defenders, indigenous peoples, LBGTI groups and political dissidents.