This seminar is being held in conjunction with the pre-departure orientation (PDO) for Indonesians awarded Fulbright grants who are about to depart for the United States­—for MA or PhD programs, as senior scholars carrying out research projects, or as Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows. Also present for the PDO are Americans currently in Indonesia as Fulbright grantees, both senior scholars carrying out research or teaching at Indonesian universities and student researchers carrying out research. Finally, Indonesian and American alumni of the Fulbright program are invited, and the general public and the press are welcome. The seminar will be held at the Hotel Melia Purosani, Yogyakarta, on the afternoon of May 20 and the morning of May 21.

There will be six panels, four of them held concurrently, and two plenary panels.

Day 1

1. Land, Forests and Resource Sustainability
2. Science Education in Indonesia
3. Inter-religious Tolerance (plenary)

Day 2

1. Biodiversity and Human-Nature Interactions
2. History and Cultural Heritage
3. Knowledge Production and Research Practices in Indonesia (plenary)

The panel topics to be discussed, the panel heads, and the panel speakers are as follows:

1. Land, Forests and Resource Sustainability (Wed., 20 May, 13:00-15:00)

Issues related to environmental degradation, climate change, and preservation of tropical forests are among the most pressing on Indonesia’s agenda; the country must balance managing a developing economy and sustaining its natural resources. The speakers in this panel might address the market development-forest conservation dilemma, questions of land use and land conversion, carbon sequestration, etc.

Panel chair:

Dr. Ridwan Djamaluddin, Deputy Chairman for Natural Resources Development Technology, Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), and member of AMINEF Board of Managers

Speakers:

Dr. Agus Pratama Sari, Deputy for Planning and Funding, REDD+ Management Agency

Prof. Nancy Peluso, Professor of environmental studies, University of California, Berkeley, now a Fulbright Senior Scholar doing research on “Political Forests, Property and Labor Migration in Indonesia: Exploring the Connections”

Lisa Kelley, graduate student in environmental studies, UC Berkeley, now doing research in Southeast Sulawesi on “The Chocolate Fix: Biotechnologies and a Sustainable Cacao Supply”

2. Science Education in Indonesia (Wed., 20 May, 13:00-15:00)

There is a big push to improve science education at all levels of the educational system in Indonesia. This panel will focus on higher education and will try to examine such questions as: where are the relative weaknesses among particular fields — e.g., are mathematics and physics underrepresented as compared to biological sciences? Are the theoretical sciences amply represented and well taught, or is the emphasis on applied sciences? What are the needs for international cooperation in the teaching of science in Indonesian universities, or for collaborative scientific research? What are the constraints on such cooperation?

Panel chair:

Dr. Bana G. Kartasasmita, Senior Lecturer, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, and Chairman of AMINEF Board of Managers

Speakers:

Dr. Barry Jones, a professor of architectural engineering from California Polytechnic State University, now a Fulbright Senior Scholar teaching engineering at ITB

Dr. Hanny Hosiana Tumbelaka, an Indonesian Fulbright senior scholar from Universitas Kristen Petra, Surabaya, about to leave for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in Colorado to do a project on “Development of Control Algorithms for Power Converters Used in High Penetration Renewable Energy Resources”

Jaimie Adelson, a graduate student in medical sciences from Stanford, now a Fulbright student researcher affiliated with Universitas Airlangga, working on a project entitled “Neuroscience literacy in eastern Indonesian educational systems”

3. Inter-religious Tolerance (Wed., 20 May, 15:30-17:30)

With the sporadic bursts of inter-group conflict in Indonesia, often with a religious basis—e.g., protests against the construction of Christian churches, anti-Shi’a violence—the need for understanding across faiths continues to be essential in Indonesia, with its long history of tolerance between religions. Is intolerance on the rise or is it limited to tiny splinter groups bent on using intolerant actions for their own ends? What is the State’s attitude? How can communities monitor and prevent intolerance from spreading or turning into ugly communalism? What is the role of women in promoting tolerance for religious diversity?

Panel chair:

Dr. Azyumardi Azra, Fulbright alumnus and Professor and former Rector, Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta

Speakers:

Prof. Ahmad Syafii Maarif, Fulbright alumnus and now Lecturer, Universitas Negeri Yogayakarta; former chairman of Muhammadiyah; founder of Maarif Institute

Prof. Karma Lekshe Tsomo, a Tibetan monk and professor in religious studies, University of San Diego, now a Fulbright Senior Scholar affiliated with UGM carrying out research on “Buddhist Women of Indonesia: Multiple Subaltern Narratives”

Dr. Delmus Puneri Salim, an Indonesian Fulbright senior scholar from STAIN Manado, about to leave for Boston University to do a project on “Constructing Indicators for Religious Harmony in Indonesian Provinces”

Dr. Florian Pohl, associate professor of religion at Emory University, now a Fulbright Senior Scholar teaching at IAIN Wali Songo, Semarang, focusing on “The Role and Function of Comparative Religious Studies in Islamic Higher Education”

4. Biodiversity and Human-Nature Interactions (Thu., 21 May, 8:30-10:30)

The study of conservation of particular species relates intimately to the social, economic, and political spheres, although this is not always well understood or the connections followed through. How can scientific research in biology or ecology take into account the human dimension, the relationship of often poor or marginalized human communities to the rich natural environment on which they may depend for their livelihoods? How do such questions play out in Indonesia? Ecotourism, gazetting of settled land to create national parks, local cultural attitudes (for instance, to eating of primates)—these are all issues that relate to Indonesian policies that may affect both its natural biological resources and its people’s economic needs. What is the role of foreign researchers or foreign-local research collaborations in the search for appropriate policies and research agendas?

Panel chair:

Dr. Suraya Afiff, Director, Center for Anthropological Studies, University of Indonesia

Speakers:

Dr. Ricardo Tapilatu, as a Fulbright grantee did a PhD at University of Alabama on “Conservation of Western Pacific Leatherback Sea Turtles at Bird’s Head Peninsula”; now a lecturer/researcher at Universitas Negeri Papua, Manokwari

Dominique Bertrand, a graduate student in anthropology at SUNY Buffalo, now a Fulbright student researcher doing research on “The stress factor: Examining anthropogenic sources of stress in wild Macaque nigra”

Erin Poor, a graduate student in ecology from Virginia State University, now a Fulbright student researcher doing research on “Identifying fine scale habitat use and landscape connectivity of Sumatran tigers”

5. History and Cultural Heritage (Thu., 21 May, 8:30-10:30)

Cambridge historian Rachel Leow in a recent open letter to Malaysian historian Khoo Kay Kim, noted that “‘history’ lives at all times in the shadow of power.” Indonesia like other countries has struggled with the myth-making aspect of historiography as used for the purposes of shoring up power or legitimization; it has also struggled with what to remember and what to forget in its past. For Indonesia, history is also very important because it is history (especially the colonial experience and administration) that binds us together as the modern nation-state called “Indonesia” today. What to reclaim or preserve or use for representational ends in a group or a nation’s cultural heritage – whether Balinese melodies or modernist urban landscapes, among the current crop of American Fulbrighters – poses persistent questions. The panelists are asked to relate their research or scholarly interests to help address these questions.

Panel chair:

Dr. Baskara T. Wardaya, S.J., Fulbright alumnus, lecturer in history, Universitas Sanata Dharma, Yogyakarta

Speakers:

Dr. Hermawan Sulistyo, a Fulbright alumnus, professor/researcher in history and political science at the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (LIPI)

Ms. Lauren Yapp, a graduate student in anthropology at Stanford, now a Fulbright student researcher affiliated with ITB and doing a research project entitled “A Past of Possibility: The Rise of Urban Heritage Advocacy in Contemporary Indonesia”

Dr. Edward Herbst, Research Associate, Hunter College, City University of New York, is a Fulbright Senior Scholar carrying out research in Bali on “Rediscovery and Revival of Lost Tonalities in the Vocal and Instrumental Music of Bali”

6. Knowledge Production and Research Practices in Indonesia (Thu., 21 May, 11:00-13:00)

Improving the quality and relevance of research — by university-based individual scholars or teams; by research institutes or think tanks; by collaborative teams of foreign and local researchers; by civil society organizations or for-profit companies outside the academe— should be a matter of priority in any society, and Indonesia is no exception. The economy of knowledge production and consumption is complex: a multi-year project of the Kementerian PPN/Bappenas supported by Australian Aid has been looking at it in the “Knowledge Sector Initiative.” The questions for this AMINEF panel discussion might specifically address such as questions as: (1) What is the role of foreign researchers? Prof. Rosichon of the Bogor Zoology Museum (LIPI) has been quoted as saying that in addition to the need for greater government support for research and the need to increase the quality and quantity of Indonesian researchers, soon Indonesia will no longer need to rely on foreign researchers. He has also urged vigilance of foreign biologists – “jangan sampai terjadi pencurian biodiversitas yang kita miliki”.  How can collaboration between foreign and local researchers be most productive? Isn’t such collaboration an ongoing fact in the nature of globalized knowledge production, not something that at some point will no longer be needed? But, what about breaches of research protocols or appropriation of research samples for commercial or personal exploitation? What about institutional research collaboration? Inter-university MoUs are quite common, bypassing RISTEK or LIPI; is it realistic or desirable to have only one portal for research collaborations? Or does that mean bottlenecks? (2) Can research that touches on perhaps controversial or sensitive topics be encouraged? How to define what is controversial or sensitive? (3) How to encourage proper dissemination of research results to those who need it – whether the public, or policymakers, or academic communities? How to balance the need for professors to have peer-reviewed publications for career advancement and for the public or policy makers to have access to easy-to-digest information? How to encourage researchers and intellectuals to be active in the public arena?

Panel chair:

Prof. Dr. Dwikorita Karnawati, Fulbright alumna and Rector, Gadjah Mada University (UGM)

Speakers:

Dr. James Gannon, Professor of Microbiology, University of Montana and Fulbright Senior Scholar teaching at Universitas Mataram, Lombok

Dr. Kelli Swazey, Fulbright alumna and anthropologist and currently Lecturer, Center for Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies, UGM

Dr. Ir. Agus Sediadi, Msi, Head of Legal and Public Relations Bureau, Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education