Study in Australia
Feb 8th, 2008, in News, by PatungIndonesian students in Australia often have a bad time.
Friendless
A study by Monash and Melbourne Universities claims that Asian students studying abroad at Australian universities suffer very high levels of isolation and loneliness.
200 students from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, China, and India were surveyed with 67% of female and 62% of male respondents saying they often felt totally lost in Australia and found it difficult to make friends with local, Australian students.
The Singaporeans were the most lonely, with 100% saying they felt “in a very strange place” and “lost in a jungle”, or similar sentiments, followed by Malaysians, Indonesians and Chinese. australian
Cash Cows
The same study also seemed to dispel the myth of Asian students all driving around in expensive cars and living the high life, claiming that:
…many overseas students cannot afford to eat, 60% are paid less than the legal minimum wage, and they are among those most vulnerable to exploitation……because of their lack of English skills and ignorance of workplace rights.
The authors of the study slammed universities for treating foreign students like “cash cows”. culturematters
About a third of foreign students were said to have less than half the money they needed to cover basic living costs. abc
89 Comments on “Study in Australia”
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Achmad Sudarsono says:
Hi Oigal,
I think we should stick to the topic and avoid hijacking Patung’s threads to level personal vendettas,
best,
Achmad.
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spew-it-all says:
I agree with Janma. Many Aussies like their beer but also remember that quite large number of Aussies prefer to have wine.
More frequently people make generalisation in this forum. I don’t know why.
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ausdag says:
There once was a man from Honshu
whose Limericks ended at line two. -
Aluang Anak Bayang says:
Re,
Janma Says:
February 12th, 2008 at 10:50 am
An Aussie without a ‘stubbie’ is considered an oxymoron. Or simply a moron.Many australians like to drink, it’s true, but not all australians are beer swilling morons”¦. I for one am not! And I know many many other Australians who are not…..
Oi mbak Janma, since when you are considered ‘Aussie’ by white Ozzies; or deemed equal by white Ozzies; or maybe you think you are one of their kind. The white trashes downunder had issues with Olive, Brown and Yellow men. Simply by marrying to an Ozzie won’t do the trick. You are not in Canada or America, sister.
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After watching the 42th opening of the Parliament in Canberra on SBS, I think it is proper for Oz bules such as ausdag, Oigal, etc to pen little note of ‘sorry’ to Blackies sufferred in the hand of their convicts ancestors on IM. Indonesia is so close to Australia and we, Javanese feel the grief of our neighbouring Blackies.
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Deng Xiao Phing says:
Owe udah bilang : if you easily got homesick then don’t study in Aussie, back in your nearest hometown there are plenty of Madrasah & IAIN, those with hefty of Indon gov’t subsidy where you can enjoy the school in bahasa, why would you go to overseas for study with them then complaint of isolation, homesick, etc? Complaining too much that Aussie angmoh like drinking, mingle around in Taverns is not our culture while difficult to get our delicious ‘lontong sayur’? So childish and asking too much. I do not understand this forum’ participants mainly have square personal view.
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Odinius says:
Okay…I will address the various points I think need addressing here:
Racist Australians: sure some are. But there are racists everywhere. I’ve met a lot of racist Indonesians, racist Americans, racist Europeans, racist Singaporeans, Japanese, etc.
Students: knowing lots of international students from time spent studying in 4 countries, it’s obvious to me that a lot of international students really don’t make much attempt to befriend students who aren’t other international students from their country. This is not culturally specific: it was my experience even observing American students in the UK…in the UK! Same language, a significant amount of shared culture, history, etc. The moral of this story is, you only take advantage of a host culture by dipping your feet into it and trying to make friends. It’s easier to just stick to “your own” and eat hamburgers/es teler. If that’s how you are, when you feel like a stranger in a strange land, it’s your own fault.
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naga says:
The main reason that Asians, especially Indonesian and Singaporeans, feel ‘lonely’ and ‘isolated’ is because they no longer have the massive social support systems they rely on at home, i.e. MAIDs and parents doting on them; once they find they have to do all the world’s sh*t work themselves and are actually responsible for themselves, they are lost and vulnerable. This will make them grow up very quickly.
Going to Australia is the best education they will ever get, they are children of the elite anyway, so how hard could it be?
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dingdong says:
Good point naga! I remember seeing an interview with Indonesian students studying in Sydney and Melbourne. Asked what was the most difficult thing about being here they replied that they had to do their own washing, cooking, shopping etc. as of course there was no pembantu to do all of this. My heart just went out to them, not! Don’t know about growing up quickly tho’ as a lot of them just get catered Indonesian meals, or live on Indomie. One had never even made their own bed ’til they left Indonesia. Students from Sth America, Turkey, etc tend to fit in much better as they are usually (due to financial circumstances) forced to get a p/t job and they are not so afraid of making mistakes when they speak, so their progress in English is invariably much faster, even thought they still predominantly hang out with their own language group!
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Oigal says:
we, Javanese feel the grief of our neighbouring Blackies
thats great..along with the grief of the papuans, orang tim tim, orang aceh…
BTW..Blackies??? -
Oigal,
They are Indonesia’s internal affairs and none of your concern. The solidarity of the brown man for the black man, however, (I’m not saying they are equal), transcends ideology and national boundaries.
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More poetry:
There was a “man” at the Stump,
Moral outrage he did trump,
When Reality called, he was quite appalled,
And simply told it to go jump. -
@Naga & Dingdong: we fall again to international students stereotype: driving posh cars, spending cash their parents send, only survive by having Indomie or take-aways.
Half of Indonesian students I know weren’t like that, especially postgrad students. They were with their families, they were there by scholarships yet they still had to work at Coles etc. to be able to have some more pocket money to go to Blue Mountains or other short holiday trips. The spouses usually were having more difficulties because of language barrier, so they tended to hang out with other Indonesian spouses.
The rest of Indonesian students I know, even though come from rich families, still did casual works.
Perhaps those students you both referred to were undergrad or high school students. But I lived with many undergrad students as my roommates, and yes, in bad days they screamed, wanting to go home because their assignments were too many and they had me nagging them, reminding them it’s their turn for hoovering the apartment and the bills were due. But hey, they’ve survived!
@Odinius: Americans are like that. Hold on, British are like that too. If you’re in Jakarta you’d find out that American and British expats tend to hang out with their own fellows. So it’s not just students.
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Not only Americans or Birtish like to hang out with their own fellows, most expats who lives in Jakarta tend to hang out with their own fellows.
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Re
Oigal Says:
February 13th, 2008 at 7:28 am
we, Javanese feel the grief of our neighbouring Blackiesthats great..along with the grief of the papuans, orang tim tim, orang aceh”¦
BTW..Blackies???We did not chain Papuans, forcibly remove their childs and sent them away to be playtoys like what Oz convicts did. Take a small step and express your sorrow on IM isn’t that hard, the rest will follow.
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TheWrathOfGrapes says:
We did not chain Papuans, forcibly remove their childs and sent them away to be playtoys like what Oz convicts did.
Indeed you didn’t. You only kill them.
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@Anita:
The only reason I’m talking about students is because the topic is about students, but yes it’s true of any expats. Thought I made it clear I was saying this is a common problem. That’s why I wrote:
This is not culturally specific: it was my experience even observing American students in the UK”¦in the UK! Same language, a significant amount of shared culture, history, etc. The moral of this story is, you only take advantage of a host culture by dipping your feet into it and trying to make friends. It’s easier to just stick to “your own” and eat hamburgers/es teler. If that’s how you are, when you feel like a stranger in a strange land, it’s your own fault.
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Cukurungan says:
thats great..along with the grief of the papuans, orang tim tim, orang aceh”¦
BTW..Blackies???Do not blame us on Orang Tim-Tim grief because they already taken care by Oz although the OZ could only afford to feed them with “sisa makanan” of the OZ army.
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We did not chain Papuans, forcibly remove their childs and sent them away to be playtoys
Might be time to do a little research on Papua and Tim Tim, might save you from making such silly statements.
P.S. Assmad Tim Tim is not an Indonesian intenral affair..You’ve been away with fairies way too long..time to come home
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“we fall again to international students stereotype: driving posh cars, spending cash their parents send, only survive by having Indomie or take-aways. ”
uhhh, where in my post did i say that or even allude to that?
I said the massive ‘social support systems’; even, lower to middle class Asians have maids to do all their crap work for them. They live at home until their late 20s, early 30s and still get doted on, that is my point; very clear….
It is independence and responsibility that is what their fear most..
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@ Oigal,
if only you could snap out of your drunken stupor, Blackies are still being persecuted as we speak.
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Janma says:
Oi mbak Janma, since when you are considered ‘Aussie’ by white Ozzies; or deemed equal by white Ozzies; or maybe you think you are one of their kind. The white trashes downunder had issues with Olive, Brown and Yellow men. Simply by marrying to an Ozzie won’t do the trick. You are not in Canada or America, sister.
????
Last time I looked I was an Aussie mate….. My great great grandmother had the dubious distinction of being the first woman to be whipped in the Round House in Fremantle…. Plus, I’m not married to an Aussie. When I was a kid my parents friends were Chinese, Turkish, Greek and Italian. I remember my mother mentioning that it was not like that with most, but she made it clear racisim was the wrong way.and the convicts weren’t the ones killing the aboriginals… it was mostly the keepers and the descendants of the keepers of the convicts. Where I lived in New South Wales, the entire tribe of Aboriginals living in the Tweed Valley were wiped out by the governor and his weekend house guests, all nose in the air anglophile upperclass wanna be’s! Just plain old murderers… they used to ride out and hunt them down and shoot them. The convicts were out cutting trees down for the very same men.
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Sputjam says:
It is cheaper to hire australian lecturers to work in Indonesia, than to pay hefty school fees to australian universities for a handful of Indonesian.
A budget of USD20k/ per month will enable Indonesia to obtain a skilful but older or pensioned lecturer from anywhere in the world, who will then pass his knowledge to several hundred Indonesian and maybe assist in conducting useful research, particularly in tropical biology/volcanology/producing electricity by sea currents/waves or placing electricity turbines in sea water heated by volcanic activity.
America subsidies its scientist by the trillions every year. Maybe 98% of those scientific ideas did not reach the market place due to many faults. It is about time indonesian government starts investing in its human capital. Otherwise, scientific minds who studied overseas may end up selling insurance back home. -
Otherwise, scientific minds who studied overseas may end up selling insurance back home.
Or they don’t return home. At all.
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Mbak Janma,
When I was a kid my parents friends were Chinese, Turkish, Greek and Italian.
You said it all. No wonder you are ignorant of Ozzie racism!
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Janma – is this killing documented ? Or I mean, are you pretty sure it really happened ?
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dewaratugedeanom says:
Janma said
all nose in the air anglophile upperclass wanna be’s! Just plain old murderers”¦ they used to ride out and hunt them down and shoot them. The convicts were out cutting trees down for the very same men.
‘Down under’ must have been quite a zoo in those days. And this crap probably has offspring too.
Well, Kevin Rudd finally said ‘sorry’, though it remains a shame that it took (not him but his predecessors) so long. -
Janma – is this killing documented ? Or I mean, are you pretty sure it really happened ?
I think it is documented …. but I don’t know where…. everyone in my town knew that story and the descendants of that man still live there and are still in politics! Will check out if they have any documentation on that….. but murder of aboriginals was rife in those days…. no doubt about it. One of their favorite words was ‘posse’.
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Janma,
Your credability is suffering…One of their favorite words was ‘posse’.
That word in fact is American and never gained any currency in Oz until well after the arrival of the TV Western. Perhaps the word you are looking for is “Push” which was the word used around NSW at that time to describe any number of gangs, mobs and groups. However you cna be fairly certain the word “Possie” was not used.
I think it is documented “¦. but I don’t know where You would think that some thing like that would be pretty well documented in one form or another. Perhaps its like the masacre in Tasmania that was authorised by the Tasmanian Governor at the time (of course, it was later revealed that the said Tasmanian Governor was had not even left England at the time but hey it must be true it was oral history)
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Oigal, just use “intelligence” – “residual” is redundant. – Also, just use “pity” words like considerable clutter your sentences. Also, quick syntax check before you post — “it’s” & “it is” mean the same thing,” – Achmad.