The Indonesian Business, Law and Society (IBLS) program is one of ACICIS’ semester programs in Yogyakarta. Students on the IBLS have the opportunity to study at Indonesia’s oldest private university, Universitas Islam Indonesia. As a part of the IBLS program, students have the option to undertake a professional placement (internship) at leading Indonesian institutions and NGO’s in the fields of business, economics, law, politics and society, and media.

Our Semester 43 (August 2016) cohort comprised of nine students and seven of those students undertook the professional placement option. James Ritchie (University of Tasmania), Natalie Stuart (University of Technology Sydney), Angela Godewatte (the University of Melbourne), Lisa Van Toor and Brenton Wilson (Murdoch University), Simran Kaur (University of Sydney), and Ashleigh McFarland (Griffith University) were placed at five organisations across Yogyakarta.

James Ritchie undertook his professional placement in the economic and business sector, completing 8 weeks at Bank Syariah Mandiri (BSM), a bank operating based on the sharia principles. As an intern he had a great opportunity to learn and work side by side with banking staff from almost all areas in BSM such as customer service, marketing, loan administration, gold pawning, operational division, control division, observe debt collecting, and visiting smaller branches. James assisted the staff with translating customer service documents and sharing his knowledge of English banking phrases. James found his internship at BSM was one of his greatest experiences on the IBLS program and an experience that would not be possible in Australia. The professional placement allowed James to gain an understanding of syariah principals and Islamic and Javanese culture in the working environment.

This semester there were also two students interning in a media organisation. Natalie Stuart from University of Technology Sydney was placed at EngageMedia (EM), a non-profit ‘video for change’ organisation that focuses on creating social change through the distribution of human rights and environmental videos, media and technology capacity building, research, network development and digital rights advocacy. At EM, Natalie learned about digital privacy and security, environmental issues, minority and migrant issues in Myanmar, Indonesia, and Malaysia, and addressing technical matters, such as how to utilise subtitling platform called “Amara” , and video editing.  She also assisted the staff in preparing events and in managing the office database. Natalie also assisted with video transcription and subtitling, blog posting, and in creating relationship with video editors in Australia. Interning at EM was a highly beneficial experience that facilitated the development of Natalie’s skills as a journalist.

Simran Kaur was placed with Televisi of Republic Indonesia (TVRI), a state-owned, public broadcasting television network and the oldest television industry in Indonesia. At TVRI, she was placed with the news production division for one month.
Ashleigh McFarland ( Griffith University) interned at SATUNAMA, a non-profit organization that focuses on community empowerment, governance and political awareness on the basis of rights, respects, and resilience. Ashleigh was placed under Politic, Democracy, and Village division and sometimes she also helped the network and media division. The project that she helped was called Politik Cerdas Beintegrasi (PCB), which is in conjunction with the Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK). This project aims to strengthen political actors through targeting young people from nine provinces in Indonesia – Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau, Banten, Jakarta, South Kalimantan, East Java, South Sulawesi and West Papua. Ashleigh assisted the Staff in making a video from previously collected documentation. Ashleigh also worked on document translation and website maintenance.

Ashleigh McFarland interned at SATUNAMA, a non-profit organization that focuses on community empowerment, governance and political awareness on the basis of rights, respects, and resilience. Ashleigh was placed under Politic, Democracy, and Village division and sometimes she also helped the network and media division. The project that she helped was called Politik Cerdas Beintegrasi (PCB), which is in conjunction with the Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK). This project aims to strengthen political actors through targeting young people from nine provinces in Indonesia – Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau, Banten, Jakarta, South Kalimantan, East Java, South Sulawesi and West Papua. Ashleigh assisted the Staff in making a video from previously collected documentation. Ashleigh also worked on document translation and website maintenance.

In the legal sector, Lisa Van Toor, Angela Godewatte, and Brenton Wilson  were placed at legal aid and law consultation University Islam Indonesia ( LKBH UII). LKBH is a legal aid organisation that facilitates the provision of assistance to people otherwise unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system, and also in providing legal education for society.

Generally, at LKBH each intern has similar projects and duties, however they each focus on difference cases and areas of law. These general duties included attending court with senior lawyers, panel discussion, legal consultations, discussing Indonesian law on a local radio station, legal research, and preparing summaries and reports of staff activities. They were tasked with a research project focusing on their their opinion on a certain case addressed in Australian or international law and then comparatively analysing this against a case addressed by Indonesian law. Their findings and research was presented to fellow colleague at LKBH.

All three students found that this placement provided a great opportunity to learn about Indonesian law, its court system, the role of lawyer and how to to address particular legal issues in the Indonesian legal framework.

Well done to all of our IBLS Semester 43 students! We are all very proud of you and thank you for a fantastic semester. Congratulations and we wish you the best of luck in your future endeavours!