Yogyakarta, July 22nd 2021─The Faculty of Social and Political Sciences of UGM together with the University of Melbourne held a collaborative conference entitled Australia-Indonesia in Conversation: Managing COVID-19 and ‘Post’-Pandemic Challenges on Wednesday (21/07) and Thursday ( 22/07) via the Zoom Meeting platform. This event was held as a form of longstanding friendship and cooperation between Indonesia and Australia, and in particular between FISIPOL UGM and the Faculty of Arts of University of Melbourne. This event brought various discussion topics which were divided into four panels which were attended by various panelists and there was a question and answer session at the end of each panel discussion. The conference was opened with a speech delivered by the Dean of FISIPOL UGM, Dr. Wawan Mas’udi, S.IP., M.A., and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts of University of Melbourne, Professor Russell Goulbourne.
In the first panel, the discussion was opened by the Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Australia, Mohammad Syarif Alatas. The discussion focused on the history of bilateral relations between Indonesia-Australia and the various collaborations carried out by the two countries in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the world. Mohammad explained that the Indonesia-Australia cooperation relationship is not only bilateral, but also regional (ASEAN-Australia), and multilateral, which is currently still focused on handling COVID-19. Furthermore, in the second panel, the discussion was opened by Professor Michael Wesley, who explained the context of the economic relationship between Indonesia and Australia. According to him, relations between the two countries that have existed for decades are now increasingly distant due to Australia’s foreign policy which for the past five years has had different interests with Indonesia and ASEAN.
On the third panel presenting Prof. Ova Emilia from FKKMK UGM who focused on discussing public health in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prof. Emilia explained the various factors that caused the high number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia, including the lack of public literacy, the large population, and the wide geographical coverage of Indonesia. The last panel featured Shawana Andrews, Associate Director of the Poche Center for Indigenous Health and Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Social Work at the University of Melbourne. Shawana discussed the impact of COVID-19 experienced by indigenous peoples in Australia which made it difficult for Indigenous Australians to get access to education and health because many of them live together in one house and this was very worrying when COVID-19 first hit Australia.
Departing from various panel discussions, the first Australia-Indonesia in Conversation conference brings hope to continue to strengthen collaboration and relations between the two countries, in general, and UGM – Melbourne University, in particular.