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The Australian-Indonesian Association of South Australia (AIASA) has announced that Indofest-Adelaide will be held in Victoria Square on Sunday 28 April 2019, with funding confirmed from the City of Adelaide and the South Australian Department of Human Services, Community Services Division.
This popular festival managed almost exclusively by volunteers ran for ten consecutive years until 2017, when it moved to its new location of Victoria Square attended by a record crowd of 10,000.
AIASA President, Ms Firda Firdaus, says the funding will help the Association to present this free family event to Adelaide audiences again after taking a break in 2018.
In March 2018, Indofest-Adelaide 2017 won the highly prestigious and competitive South Australian Governor’s Multicultural Awards for Cultural Diversity under the organization category (pictured). Receiving this award is a huge honour and recognition for the hard work and success of Indofest-Adelaide 2017.
“Bringing ideas to life in such a big festival run by the community in a voluntary capacity required much effort. Many challenges arose along the way. However, every problem that appeared was solved and every obstacle was overcome,” said Ms Firdaus.
“The contribution from members of the Indonesian community in Adelaide, and the hard work and collaborative endeavor of the large number of people sitting on the committee were the driving force and the stimulus of this outstanding result.”
I would like to announce that Indofest-Adelaide is going to be coming back bigger and better in April 2019!
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AIASA’s yearly Indofest Schools Program (ISP) began on 29 May and the group Pelangi Nusantara performed for St. Dominics Priory College for the lower and upper primary school as part of their Asian Week celebrations. The students were fantastic.
The remaining ISP visits will take place across term 3 and 4 of this year. This year’s coordinator is Mei Turnip.
If anyone is interested in getting involved as either a community group or school or if you require further information on this program, please contact indofest.isp@gmail.com
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Indofest 2017 won the Organisation category of the South Australian Governor’s Multicultural Awards announced on Tuesday 27 March 2018. by His Excellency the Governor of South Australia, Hieu Van Le.
Initiated and run by the Australian-Indonesian Association of South Australia, one of Adelaide’s most colourful and much-loved festivals celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2017 and the President of AIA-SA Ibu Firdaus was full of praise for the community.
“The AIA-SA wishes to congratulate the whole Indonesian community in Adelaide for their fantastic achievement, effort, support, and the semangat of Gotong Royong to share our mission! This award is very much YOUR AWARD and we all should feel very proud of it. Thank you all and keep up the good work. Indonesia maju bersama,” said Firda.
Check out the photos on Flicker!
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Indofest 2017 is an extra special event as we celebrate our 10th anniversary! Wanting to capture the essence of the local Adelaide Indonesian community, this year’s Indofest has a special Kampung Indonesia theme. The word kampung is an Indonesian word meaning village or community. Our local Indonesian kampungs have been working tirelessly together to put together a vibrant, innovative and exciting program making this year’s Indofest a true standout!
To highlight the spirit of the local Adelaide Indonesian community, Indofest 2017 has seven main elements that are all interconnected. These elements are:
- Kampung Indonesia
- Main stage entertainment
- Melanglang Indonesia Children’s Activity Trail
- Alun-Alun Village Square
- Food Stalls
- Cooking Demonstrations
- Pasar Indofest – Indofest Market
Follow the links to find out more about the exciting activities of each element.
The Adelaide Indonesian community looks forward to welcoming you to Indofest 2017 on Saturday 1st October and say a big ‘terima kasih’ for your ongoing support over the past 10 years!
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This year the Indonesian community is celebrating 10 years of Indofest with an exciting and unique Kampung Indonesia initiative. Along with traditional and contemporary music and dance, delicious food stalls, interactive workshops, cooking demonstrations, and retail stalls, the festival hub will come alive with an array of kampung pavilions representing different regions of Indonesia. The kampungs will be dotted around Victoria Square, allowing visitors to ‘explore’ the diversity of Indonesia and meet members of Adelaide’s local Indonesian community as they showcase what their kampungs have to offer through interactive workshops, sampling of regional cuisine, traditional games, handicrafts, costumes, textiles, local language, dance, music, visual art and more! This exciting event enables the Indonesian community to build upon a sense of ownership of Indofest-Adelaide to share the profile of Indonesia beyond Bali. Visitors to Indofest-Adelaide will experience a little of the diversity, beauty, and uniqueness, while reflecting on the richness that underpins the notion of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, the national Indonesian motto meaning ‘Unity in Diversity’.
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Bahasa Indonesia is currently taught in 83 South Australian government schools. This equates to over 14,000 students from Reception – Year 12 learning the language of Indonesia, Australia’s closest Asian neighbour.
By adopting the Australian Curriculum the Department for Education and Child Development (DECD) affirms that languages education is accessible to all Australian students. This has resulted in an annual increase in the number of students learning Indonesian language in South Australia and in 2018 there will again be an increase as more schools choose this language as their preferred, whole-school focused language program.
Language learning is an evolving and ongoing process which cannot happen in isolation from other parts of the curriculum. It is through the skill, dedication and expertise of over 125 Indonesian language teachers in South Australian government schools that Indonesian language learning is brought to life.
Students are able to continue linguistic development as they progress towards language proficiency while exploring the rich diversity of Indonesian culture. Through language education students increase their understanding of Indonesia as a country and the role its national language plays to a diversely language-rich nation.
Developing cultural awareness of Indonesia occurs when students are exposed to aspects of Indonesian performing, moving and visual arts, social issues, religion, cuisine, historical events, knowledge of government, tourism, finance, environment and the cultural diversity of contrasting ethnic groups.
DECD ensures there is a learning pathway for all students undertaking languages education, endeavouring to provide a continuum of learning from Reception to Year 12 and beyond. Should a school not be offering a student’s language of choice, such as Indonesian, alternative curriculum-choice options are available to all DECD students. This may include studying Indonesian through the School of Languages or in distance education mode with Open Access College.
In 2016, 25 of our most senior DECD students studied Indonesian language to Year 12 level, with 2 of these students achieving an A grade as part of their South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE).
Since 2013, 18 South Australian government schools have strengthened ties with Indonesia from the establishment of E-Languages Sister School Partnerships. These have been achieved by linking DECD schools with Indonesian schools and their communities. The aim of these partnerships is to establishing authentic digital interaction between the students in Indonesian language, while developing intra-cultural and inter-cultural understandings. These important partnerships are established with a view to sustaining long-term relationships between the two schools and focus on the innovative use of digital technology. Benefits to students include improved knowledge and first-hand experience of a culture different from their own. Teachers, in turn, are able to share pedagogy and curriculum, increase language proficiency, strengthen professional learning through the exchange of knowledge and ideas and expand educational horizons through global perspectives. In 2017 a further 8 schools will formalise E-Languages Sister School Partnerships with schools in West Java, Indonesia.
Indonesian language continues to thrive in South Australian schools through the creative and devoted guidance of our Indonesian language teachers. In 2017 DECD is again the proud sponsor of the Indofest in Schools Program.
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A big “terima kasih” (thank you) to Hon Zoe Bettison MP, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, for hosting a Parliamentary Reception to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Australian-Indonesian Association of South Australia (AIA-SA) on 21 August 2017. Presidents of AIA-SA, past and present (pictured), gathered for this special event and their leadership and inspiration was acknowledged. The Minister thanked AIA-SA’s hundreds of volunteers who continue to contribute to the development of understanding between Australians and Indonesians through their work both now and over the years, especially towards the development of the biggest and most enduring community festival in South Australia, Indofest, which celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2017. Congratulations to everyone who has assisted and supported the Australian-Indonesian Association of South Australia over the past 50 years.
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The back to the 80’s themed Indofest Music Night at the Estonian Cultural Centre on Saturday 22 July, 2017 was a huge success. Wigs, shiny jackets, big earrings and leg warmers were everywhere and people danced to 80’s pop and Indonesian dangdut music. Huge thanks to the talented musicians who performed live and Mas Arief and his team of helpers for a fantastic night of music, fun, food and fab fashion!
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The Australian Indonesian Association of South Australia (AIASA) was founded in 1967 by a group of Colombo Plan scholarship recipients from Indonesia who had made South Australia their home. The not-for-profit organisation was formed to promote better understanding, friendship and goodwill between the people of Australia and Indonesia, based on friendship and trust; contribute to peaceful relations between Australia and Indonesia; and to bring together and disseminate information to various groups of people in South Australia with an interest in Indonesia.
To meet the needs of the community and deliver on its objectives, the AIASA presents an array of activities and programs each year. From the earliest days, the maintays of the AIASA include Independence Day Celebrations, Cultural Performances, Family Day Picnics, Social Bush Walks, Conversation Classes and Sporting Competitions. Other programs emerged over time including the celebration of Hari Kartini, Fundraising Dinners and Seminars held in conjunction with other Indonesian Community Organisations in South Australia. By working in a “gotong royong” (mutually cooperative) fashion with various Indonesian community groups, the AIASA’s most successful achievement to date has been annual staging of Indofest-Adelaide, a festival that has been celebrating all things Indonesian.
Another important aspect embedded in the AIASA’s aims and objectives is a financial aid program which supports members of the Indonesian community both in Adelaide and abroad. Currently its dedicated charities include Yayasan Sayap Ibu, a long-established orphanage situated in Yogyakarta, and Yayasan Senyum, an organisation that facilitates the delivery of health care to people with craniofacial disabilities throughout Indonesia. The association also makes donations to assist people affected by disasters in Indonesia such as tsunami, floods and earthquakes in Indonesia.
By closely linking activities its aims, the Association has succeeded in connecting Indonesians who reside in South Australia, Australians who have an interest in Indonesia or have travelled to Indonesia, and for Australians in relationships with Indonesian people. Over time membership of the Association has increased due to a growing number of Indonesians now calling South Australia “home” together with more Australians travelling to Indonesia, as well as increased Indonesian language and culture programs being taught in schools.
The AIASA is always open to accepting new members and new ideas. If you would like to become involved with the AIASA and the Indonesian community in South Australia more information can be found here.
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Back in 1969 a group of Indonesian Colombo Plan scholarship recipients who had made Adelaide their permanent home, got together and came up with a great idea. This idea was to create an organisation that connected Indonesians living in Adelaide and Australians who had an interest in Indonesian culture. The result was the beginning of the Australian Indonesian Association of South Australia, which still boasts a healthy membership today and is the driving force behind South Australia’s biggest annual Indonesian festival, INDOfest.
One of the founding members of the association is Bapak Tomik Subagio, who has called Adelaide home for more than fifty years and is very well-known among the Adelaide Indonesian community. Born in Solo in 1933, Bapak Subagio first came to Australia in 1950 to study engineering at the University of Adelaide. After graduating in 1955 he returned home where he married his Australian wife Janet and worked for the Department of Basic Industries and Mining in Jakarta. However, in 1968 Subagio and Janet decide to return to Adelaide to look after Janet’s sister who had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
Back in Adelaide, Bapak Subagio gained employment as an engineer at the Department of Engineering and Water Supply where he worked for 24 years. Not quite ready for retirement, he then started working as an interpreter and translator which he still does today. This line of work enables him to remain in-the-know about the local Indonesian community. If you need your Indonesian drivers licence, birth certificate or wedding certificate translated, Bapak Subagio is the man to call! Even his bicycle was a form of payment for a 6000 word translation job. Appreciating the importance of a healthy work-life balance, free time is spent with friends, family and his beloved wife Janet. Preferring the simple things in life, he can often be seen riding his bicycle around the streets of Goodwood and Unley. Bapak Subagio also enjoys attending Indonesian social gatherings and other events that mark special Indonesian dates such as Indonesian Independence Day and Kartini Day, and of course, INDOfest.
Despite living most of his adult life in Australia, Bapak Subagio is proud of his Indonesian heritage and, in the absence of the Indonesian government recognising dual citizenship, has chosen to retain his Indonesian citizenship to this day.
If you happen to meet Bapak Subagio around Adelaide or at this year’s INDOfest, be sure to give him a warm hand shake and ask ‘apa kabar?’
