Canberra Field Visit convinced me that YMLTP 2011 is indeed a sort of gainful Training and a huge privilege that will become a very crucial stage of my academic/intellectual journey, as well as will continuously draw my good understanding on Australian Politics, Governmental System, Major Issues/Challenges, History, Cultures, etc, and all the while shaping my ideal notion and stances toward many of major issues facing the Muslim Community, Southeast Asia Region, Middle East Region, and hence the world.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Visit provided me a very large opportunity to comprehensively learn about the bureaucracy system, recruitment method, carrier/training stage, diplomatic experiences, and the equality of position distribution with gender-based within the DFAT, and hence to compare it with Indonesian MFA, as in 2008 and 2010 I have specifically noted my understanding on each of those segments on Indonesian MFA through the Internship I held in the Ministry’s Policies Examination and Development Unit (BPPK) and Directorate of Legal Affairs-Directorate General of Legal Affairs and International Treaties, Indonesian MFA, and the Political Function of Indonesian Embassy in Cairo.
Many big questions were critically addressed in the Dialogue, especially those are regarding the curiosities on Australian “controversial policies/stances” toward Southeast Asian nations, and Muslim communities in both Australia and the world.
While Federal Parliament Visit also provided me a valuable opportunity to closely observe the political/governmental scene of Australia. The Dialogue we held with some Politicians with different political background and concern, including also the Question Time we lively watched inside the House of Representative presenting the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, really enhanced my understanding on the current political/governmental flow and political/governmental compass in Australia, as well as particularly enhanced my understanding on several major issues faced by Australia from the perspectives of Commonwealth Government.
What really impressed me from the long forum we had with those Politicians is about the fact that most of those Politicians are non-Australian born, or migrant, or at least born from a non-Australian born or born from migrant parent, but yet they are still so passionate working in favor of the Australia, committed to their political agendas, showing their required capacities, etc, the facts that really contradict most of Indonesian politicians, who are mostly a pure Indonesian, but ironically have a lot of crucial problems in each term of intellectual/moral/social commitment disqualification, corrupt mentality, etc, whereby most of them are not really committed to serve the nation, having insignificance political agendas, and mostly working particularly in favor of their parties’ interest.
Then the last part of Canberra Field Visit that is worthy to note is the Dinner with the Ambassadors of Egypt, Libya, Palestine, Jordan, UEA, and Kuwait, and also an “Arab Spring” Lecture by Professor Robert Bowker, which has risen tons of our curiosities over the Arab Spring and recent conditions of Middle East politics. I really felt like coming home to my “second’ country, Egypt, by being around of leading Arab people the like of those Ambassadors and a person with advance Arab experiences the like of Professor Robert Bowker. As I also felt so "emotional" by engaging in serious dialogue over the Arab Spring topic, the position of my Almamater, Al-Azhar, toward the map of Egyptian Transition Phase, and also the DISEMPOWERED potency of my country to become an ideal model country for the newly democratized Middle Eastern, particularly in term of how Islam, democracy and modernity can go hand in hand.
To this extent, again I am really encouraged to highlight the issue of democracy as the most major issue facing the Muslim community today, as the ongoing Middle East unrest still relentlessly escalates the revolution syndrome all around the Middle Eastern countries.
What is really crucial to be underlined here is about the assessment of how significant the newly-democratized Middle Eastern countries have in fact accomplished their aimed Democracy values?
The “deadlock” democracy transition in both Egypt and Tunisia—which continue to rise the demonstrations as well as destabilize the national conditions, then also an endless unrest in Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, etc—which still has not even driving those countries to the gate of their liberty, are to some extent can be assessed as several of crisis conditions which then lead me to equalize them with the ongoing crisis conditions of my own country, Indonesia, that had previously done with its revolution since 1998, and yet still has not accomplished any of its significant changes toward its long democratization process.
Because briefly, it could be firmly perceived that for some “unprepared” Muslim countries, the like of Indonesia, Egypt and Tunisia, the ideal concept of democracy might appear as a shocking transition, which will continue to lead into many unstable national conditions.
Thus, many big questions remain unanswered, many question marks were raised and hence left a very big homework for all of us; the so-called potential Muslim Leaders.[]
