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Expression of Concern
The 8th Biennial conference of the Australian Society of Indonesian Language Educators (ASILE), held at Curtin University 3-5 July 2005, made the following statement of concern
1. Recognising the value of people-to-people contact between Australians and Indonesians, we express our concern at the decline in enrolments in, and government support for, Indonesian language programs around Australia. We therefore call apon the State, Territory and Commonwealth governments of Australia and the government of Indonesia to work together more closely to further promote the development of Indonesian language teaching programs in Australia.
2. We call upon the Australian Government to implement those recomendations contained in the May 2004 report of by the Commonwealth of Australia Parlimentary Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade that relate to teaching and learning of Indonesian language.
3. We call upon the Indonesian Government to consider providing appropriate incentives to Australian teachers of Indonesian that will further the study of Indonesian language amongst Australians.
4. We call upon the Australian government to reconsider the current Travel Advisories regarding Indonesia in order to create a more flexible system, one that is able to better respond to the varied educational needs of teachers and students.
5. We express our hope that more regular cross cultural activities will be supported by the governments of both Australia and Indonesia, for we believe that such activities can greatly improve mutual understanding and respect.
6. We call on both governments to refrain from actions which would inhibit the free flow of academic and educational exchange between our two countries.
For further Information contact:
Dr Ian Chalmers
Senior Lecturer, Indonesian studies Chair, 2005 ASILE Conference
Division of Humanities
Curtin University of Technology
PO Box U-1987, Perth WA 6185
Tel:(61)(08) 92662547