Ross Taylor is a former WA Government Commissioner to Indonesia and has held numerous senior industry positions, including National Vice-President & WA State Chair of the Australia-Indonesia Business Council, with Wesfarmers Ltd and Phosphate Resources Limited. He also operated his own business in Medan, Sumatra for three years.
Ross is involved in philanthropy and cancer-charity work throughout the region and is one of Australia’s leading commentators on Indonesia-Australia relations writing ‘Opinion’ articles for The Australian, The West Australian and The Jakarta Post newspapers & The Diplomat based in Washington DC, and also for the Lowy Institute on a regular basis. & commentates on SkyNews, and ABC Radio programs.
Ross is also the author of three published books. In 2013 Ross was appointed by the Governor-General of Australia as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant services to Australia-Indonesia relations and to the (philanthropic) community. Ross was also selected, in July 2013, by the Indonesian Government as Australia’s “Presidential Friend of Indonesia – 2013.”
Indah Hixson is an experienced Indonesian language teacher and has been teaching both in Private and government schools around Perth metro area since 2004. Indah holds Bachelor of Asian Studies and Bachelor of Education from Murdoch University. Indah started her teaching career at Malang State University and Merdeka University in East Java as an Indonesian tutor for International students.
Being a very passionate teacher, Indah always looks for new and better resources to use in order to engage students in their learning. Indah is particularly interested in expanding her knowledge of the use of gestures and signs to enhance students’ language acquisition. She has completed an action research on “Connecting Body and Mind” and built resources which have been shared through workshops for other Indonesian teachers in Western Australia. In 2020 Indah has also actively involved with the State-wide Service WA in creating digital resources for Year 7,8 and ATAR online learning for Indonesian.
As a native speaker Indah sees herself in the classroom as a living representation of Indonesian culture, and she believes that it is her duty to promote and sustain the positive existence of Indonesian language as a subject in Australian schools. Indah is also currently in charge of the Education Sector in Arek Jatim WA, a community of East Javanese who live in WA, with the goal of optimising the Sister State relationship that has been in place since 1990, particularly in the education sector.
Robbie Gaspar was the first Australian footballer to play professionally in Indonesia. He played in Indonesia for almost eight years, including playing for Indonesia’s most prestigious football club, Persib Bandung. Robbie is fluent in Indonesian and is currently completing a post-grad in International Relations at UWA. He is working for the Professional Footballers’ Australia as a Player Development Manager for Perth Glory Football Club when not studying.
During his time in Indonesia, Robbie became an executive committee member of the Players Association in 2011, where he remained in the role until 2014. In late 2014, Robbie was awarded Life Membership of the Professional Footballers Australia for his outstanding contribution in supporting professional football players across Southeast Asia, especially throughout Indonesia.
In 2016, Robbie completed the ACICIS or The Australian Consortium for the “In-Country” Indonesian Studies Business Professional Practicum at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. He worked in the Advocacy and Outreach section, where he developed and assisted with implementing the 2016 Sports Diplomacy Strategy for the Embassy. Also, in 2016 Robbie attended CAUSINDY https://www.causindy.org in Bali, Indonesia, as a delegate and was invited back again in 2019 on the CAUSINDY board’s recommendation due to his significant contribution to the Australia-Indonesia relations and CAUSINDY.
In 2017 Robbie was the recipient of the Australia Indonesia Award for the Sports Category, one of only two people in Western Australia to receive an Australian Indonesia Award. Over the last 3-4 years, Robbie has been attending schools, talking about his experiences in Indonesia and the benefits of learning Indonesian.
Dan has had a long association with Indonesia and is passionate about improving relations between the two countries. He has over 20 years’ experience in education, consulting and international trade and spent 8 years living and working in Indonesia. He is a graduate of the ACICIS in-country program, was a co-founder of English colleges and testing centres based out of Yogyakarta and spent time in-country working on agricultural projects in Sumatra and Java as part of the Australia Indonesia Working Group on Agriculture & Food Cooperation (WGAFC).
He is was a previous vice-chair of the Australia-Indonesia Business Council in Perth and held senior positions with Navitas working in offshore and local markets including Indonesia, followed by owning his own businesses in business improvement, consulting and corporate education.
Currently he is a Director of Essemy, which supplies services into the private sector, government and government enterprise in people and organisational development.
Special Advisor: Barry Cowley
(Email: info@indonesia-institute.org.au)
PO Box 405
Subiaco 6904
Western Australia
Level 24
Allendale Square
77 St Georges Tce Perth
Western Australia 6000
1300 793 144
info@indonesia-institute.org.au
