This edition of
Indonesia Update
contains information on:

Ambassador’s Message

This month we mark the anniversary of the Nias Earthquake that claimed almost a thousand lives on 28 March 2005. Houses, bridges, schools and hospitals that had withstood the force of the December 26 earthquake and tsunami were levelled by the Nias earthquake.

I have just returned from Nias where we held a commemoration on Sunday 2 April for the nine Australian Defence Force (ADF) men and women who were killed in the Navy Sea King helicopter crash one year ago.

Families and friends of those whose lives were cut tragically short just one year ago attended the memorial. The nine Australian heroes died while making an outstanding humanitarian contribution by restoring basic services and medical assistance to Nias just days after the earthquake. While visiting Australia last year President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in a gesture much appreciated by the Australian people, awarded the Indonesian Humanitarian Service Medal posthumously to the victims of the crash.

The Australian government was represented at the commemoration in Nias by the Minister assisting the Minister for Defence, Mr Bruce Billson MP, the Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Russ Shalders and the Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Geoff Shepherd. During the visit Mr Billson expressed the gratitude of all Australians to the people of Tuindrau village in western Nias who had assisted the survivors of the crash, as well as presenting farming equipment to the people of Nias as an expression of thanks.

The high level of representation by the Indonesian government at the Nias commemoration reflected the depth of the Indonesian-Australian bilateral relationship. The commemoration was a reminder to both our countries of the common ties that bind us together as friends and neighbours.

While much remains to be done, Nias is now on the road to recovery. Australia is there - helping to rebuild local infrastructure like schools and roads and re-establish livelihoods.

Over $220 million has now been committed for tsunami relief and reconstruction by the Australian Government. Our efforts are helping restore essential health, education and local government services and our work in the community is assisting with reconstruction planning, re-establishing property boundaries and improving temporary housing.

Bill Farmer

Read the story in Indonesian

$30 million ANTARA program to cut poverty

On 9 March the Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Mr Bill Farmer, launched a $30 million program to reduce poverty in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).  The launch was marked by the opening of the ANTARA (Australia Nusa Tenggara Assistance for Regional Autonomy) program office in Kupang.

ANTARA is part of Australia’s long term commitment to improve regional and provincial governance, access to essential services, and increase incomes.

Launching the program, the Ambassador underlined the fact that Australia is already planning to deliver innovative and flexible activities in NTT and NTB over the next year.

Some activities being considered for funding and early implementation are:

• medical supply management – to improve efficiency and effectiveness of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies procurement and distribution.
• West Manggarai eco-tourism assistance – to increase visitor opportunities and improve the quality of small and medium enterprises and sustainable tourism services.
• specialised clinical and surgical services to NTT – to support local specialist skills development in providing specialist services in plastic and reconstructive surgery.
• food security – by sharing information and working on preventive measures. AusAID is also supporting the activities of the World Food Program in Kupang over the next two years.

ANTARA will commence in NTT and extend progressively into NTB. Given the scale of the development challenges in these provinces it is anticipated that a second phase of ANTARA will be required when the first phase ends in 2009. 

Contact:  john.maxwell@anu.edu.au.

Read the story in Indonesian

Roads contract awarded

AusAID and Bina Marga have awarded the first contract for the Australian-funded $328 million national road improvement program, which will repair and upgrade approximately 2,000 km of national roads and 4.5 km of bridges.

URS Asia Pacific, an integrated engineering and environmental services company, has been awarded a $8.7m contract for initial design engineering, environmental and social assessment planning.  Commencing in April, potential sites will be reviewed with final engineering design to follow.  Construction works are expected to start in 2007. 

Contact: gita.nasution@aiprd.or.id

Read the story in Indonesian

Progress on Partnership Loan Agreement

Significant progress was made by Australian and Indonesian officials when they met in Jakarta in March for a third round of negotiations on the draft Partnership Loan Agreement (PLA).  The PLA specifies the overarching principles, terms and conditions governing the $500m loans component of the AIPRD.

The loans are highly concessional - each loan will be free of interest, fees and charges and repayable over a period of forty years with an initial ten-year grace period.  It is currently expected that loan funds will be used to finance two major infrastructure programs in Indonesia – the Eastern Indonesia National Roads Improvement Program and the Basic Education Program – and subsidiary financing agreements will need to be negotiated for both of these programs.

Work has already commenced on the Project Financing Agreement for basic education, and a workshop was held in March to introduce a first draft of this document to Indonesian officials.

Contact: tim.eldridge@ausaid.gov.au

Read the story in Indonesian

Basic education tender

The Basic Education Program will assist the Indonesian Government implement its commitment to nine years of compulsory, universal basic education, in accordance with the national five-year plan for education, the RENSTRA.  Implementing agencies will be the Ministries of National Education (MONE) and Religious Affairs (MORA).

Language lesson, Ngada, Flores.

The program consists of $200 million in AIPRD loans and up to $100 million in grant funds, complemented by additional AusAID funds to support education quality, governance and policy reforms being led by the two Ministries.

The full program design will be finalized in April and drafting is underway on a project-level financing agreement.  Work has also commenced on program preparation, including a program manual being prepared by consultants in conjunction with MONE and MORA.

Tenders for a managing contractor closed on 13 March 2006 and the selection process is underway.  The managing contractor will provide technical support and advisory services.

Contact: grant.morrison@ausaid.gov.au

Read the story in Indonesian

Australian support for decentralisation

AusAID has recently become a board member of the Decentralisation Support Facility (DSF) in Jakarta. The DSF is a multi-donor effort to support Indonesian decentralization. Its existing partners include the ADB, Netherlands, UNDP, World Bank and Dfid.   The Director, Regional Development and Health, is AusAID’s representative on the DSF Board.

The DSF aims to help harmonise (in line with the Rome and Paris Declarations on Aid Effectiveness) donor support to decentralisation strategies, good governance and poverty reduction efforts of the Indonesian Government. 

The DSF’s current focus is on  providing a range of knowledge and research services; facilitating harmonisation around existing and new programs; and supporting emerging decentralisation in areas such as planning, budgeting and managing financial resources for decentralization, strengthening local government regulatory environment and promoting accountability through informed public participating in decision making. In terms of achieving these functions, the emphasis is on the DSF acting as a “facilitator” rather than acting as an “implementation agency”. 

Contact: debbie.bowman@aiprd.or.id

Read the story in Indonesian

Progress on public sector partnerships

The Government Partnerships Fund (GPF) has approved nine activities to build capacity in Indonesian public sector agencies and linkages with their Australian counterparts.  The activities include the areas of economic modeling and forecasting, public sector reform, supervision of non-bank financial institutions, audit, negotiating free trade agreements and monetary policy.

The GPF has also supported three scoping missions, one of which saw eight senior officials with central policy coordinating responsibilities from the Indonesian Cabinet Office, State Secretariat and President’s Office visit Canberra to examine Australia’s policy coordination processes. The visit, hosted by the Australian Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C), enabled participants to share different public sector practices within the Australian system with a view to developing cooperation in any reforms the Government of Indonesia may settle on.   PM&C and the three Indonesian agencies are examining possible areas of cooperation identified during the visit.  

Officials from the Indonesian Cabinet Office, State Secretariat and President’s Office visit the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in Canberra.  Photo: AUSPIC

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has also presented a workshop in the Indonesian Ministry of Trade in Jakarta with the aim of increasing understanding of the requirements for the negotiation and conclusion of a quality Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Some forty participants from a range of Indonesian agencies attended various sessions. Participant feedback confirmed the relevance of the workshop and elicited interest in follow-up capacity-building activities, such as negotiation techniques and FTA implementation.

Read the story in Indonesian

Foundation workshop – Governance Research Program

The Australian National University hosted a planning workshop for the Governance Research Program of the Australia Indonesia Centre for Government. 

The Governance Research Program is bringing Australian and Indonesian researchers together to better inform policy on governance and development, strengthen research in Indonesia and enhance relationships between our countries. 

The workshop discussed arrangements for the management of the program, selection of projects, stakeholder engagement and public dissemination of information.  AIPRD staff from Jakarta and Canberra will be consulting with Indonesian Government officials and other stakeholders on the design of this program.

Contact: Cameron.hillCBR@ausaid.gov.au

Read the story in Indonesian

AIPRD Secretariat update

In formally establishing the AIPRD, Australian Ministers agreed in February 2005 to the formation of a Secretariat responsible for coordination and preparation of policy recommendations for consideration by the Secretaries’ Committee and Australian Ministers represented on the Joint Commission.

In conjunction with Indonesian Government officials, the work of the Secretariat in 2005 successfully facilitated a coordinated whole-of-government approach on a range of strategic and policy issues associated with the establishment of the AIPRD, including governance, funding arrangements and priorities, the Partnership Framework, negotiation of a Partnership Loan Agreement, and the commitment of almost $950 million.

This work has been taken up by individual program units and managers within AusAID in line with AusAID’s established approaches to contracting, financial and aid quality and risk management.  The Deputy Director General of AusAID (Asia Division), Mr Murray Proctor, is now leading the Secretariat, with the support of Mrs Allison Sudradjat, Senior Representative for AIPRD in Jakarta.

Contact: Cameron.hillCBR@ausaid.gov.au

Read the story in Indonesian

Indonesia Australia Legal Development Facility

LDF focuses on the themes of access to justice, human rights, anti-corruption and transnational crime. Since its inception LDF has facilitated the visit of Religious Court officials to the Australian Federal Court; supported the development of a Legal Aid Handbook; supported an internship in Geneva with the International Service for Human Rights; and provided training in Jakarta and Australia for prosecutors and judges on trans-national crime issues, amongst a range of other activities.

The placement of advisers with LDF’s key partners such as the Supreme Court, Komnas HAM, the KPK, and the Kejaksaan will ensure LDF continues to identify and implement activities which address the needs of the institutions which are central to the Indonesian Government’s legal reform agenda.

Contact: Shayne.McKenna@dfat.gov.au; Nerida.Dalton@ausaid.gov.au

Read the story in Indonesian

New Partnership Framework brochure

A short version of the Partnership Framework has been published in bahasa Indonesia and will be distributed to Indonesian Government institutions, donor agencies, and other organisations with links to the Australian aid program.

The brochure contains information on AIPRD’s governance, objectives and guiding principles as well as major areas of cooperation.   More detailed information on the AIPRD and the existing Australian aid program is available in the full AIPRD Partnership Framework document released by Indonesian and Australian Ministers in Jakarta last December.

Copies of the brochure and the full Partnership Framework are available from Mia Salim telephone 3924322, extension 517.

Read the story in Indonesian

Scholarships send off

On 29 March 2006, the AusAID Senior Representative farewelled 88 Australian scholarship winners as they depart to commence their studies in Australia.  The 66 Australia Partnership Scholarship (APS) and 22 Australia Development Scholarship (ADS) recipients have completed their English language training.

Australia awards up to 300 scholarships to potential scholars each year through the ADS program. In early 2005, Australia agreed to provide an additional 600 scholarships to Indonesia through APS program over a two-year period as part of a $1 billion aid package announced after the Indian Ocean disaster.

The second round of APS is scheduled to open on 8 May – 7 July 2006. Meanwhile, applications for ADS are scheduled to open in 19 June – 8 September 2006. Australian scholarships give high priority to women and people in the eastern part of Indonesia. 

Contact: heny.azis@aiprd.or.id

Read the story in Indonesian

Update on Aceh

Australia’s contribution to the reconstruction of Aceh and North Sumatra is significant.  To date over $220 million has been committed to activities, particularly in the health, education and governance sectors.  In coming months Indonesia Update will feature our current projects in Aceh, beginning this month with education.

A major program to re-establish functioning education services in Aceh is providing much needed teacher support, renovating or rebuilding schools, implementing strategies for retaining children in the school system and improving education management.  A particular focus of our activities is the Islamic education sub-sector, which educates approximately 50 per cent of students, many of whom are some of the poorest in Aceh. 

Australia is heavily involved in rebuilding schools and school facilities. Major school reconstruction and rehabilitation works are now underway or are about to begin in seven schools, with three schools and a girl’s dormitory scheduled to be completed by August 2006. 

Pictures: A major program to re-establish functioning education services in Aceh is providing much needed teacher support, renovating or rebuilding schools, implementing strategies for retaining children in the school system and improving education management. 
Photo: Peter Davis

Revitalising Aceh’s universities is also an important part of Australia’s work.  This has included rebuilding and re-equipping libraries, providing housing support to lecturers and university staff, and general teacher support.  Most recently, construction has started on a new building to be used as a Micro Teaching Laboratory in the Education Faculty of Syiah Kuala University. This facility, which will be shared between both Education Faculties at IAIN and Syiah Kuala University, will be used to train and help improve the quality of graduate teachers. 

Other teacher training activities are also underway.  For example, a program to support the professional development of junior secondary school teachers across a number of schools has now commenced, with a particular focus on developing skills in core curriculum subjects such as Maths, Science and English.  

Australia is also working with UNICEF and the provincial level education office to upgrade the Education Management Information System. An effective information system is essential for providing information on a range of important education issues such as school attendance and retention rates, student performance, gender issues and teacher training needs, and will assist policy development and contribute to improving the management of education in Aceh.

A pilot project is also currently underway in Bireuen to conduct school mapping and work with communities to develop school improvement plans as a precursor to rebuilding schools and conducting a range of other activities to improve education in conflict-affected areas of Aceh.  The pilot program is part of Australia’s $10 million Community and Education Program in Aceh.

The overall budget to restore education services and infrastructure in Aceh is approximately AUD $33 million. 

Contact: virginia.sprague@ausaid.gov.au

Read the story in Indonesian

Published by