Sally Hill
Founder and Director
Sally works at the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department.
She holds Bachelors of Laws and International Relations and two diplomas of languages in Arabic and Indonesian. In 2013 Sally was awarded the Prime Minister’s Australia Asia Award for her first class research examining the effects of corruption on trade and aid in the Australia-Indonesia relationship.
Sally has worked as a solicitor, paralegal and seasonal clerk, at commercial law firms over the past five years, including at MinterEllison, Herbert Smith Freehills, Baker & McKenzie and Ashurst’s Melbourne and Jakarta offices.
During her most recent stay in Indonesia from 2013-2015 Sally worked as a consultant providing executive advice and training to staff at the Centre for World Trade Studies in Yogyakarta, as well as held the role of First Secretary to the Indonesian Ambassador to the WTO at the Ninth Ministerial Conference in Bali.
Prior to this Sally lived in Tunisia, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka where she interned at Colombo University’s Centre for the Study of Human Rights and won an Australia Arab Chamber of Commerce Language Award for her proficiency in Arabic.
Sally has spent 12 years traveling between Australia and Indonesia for work, study and pleasure and maintains technical proficiency in Indonesian/Malay, evidenced by her first place award at the International Malay Speaking Competition: Prime Minister’s Championship (PABM).
As a co-founding member of the Australia-Indonesia Youth Association (AIYA), Sally is passionate about strengthening the bilateral relationship through people-to-people links. Sally believes that trust and mutual understanding are essential to maintaining Australia’s place in the world and that communication (and foreign language skills) is key to achieving this.
Nurfitra Asa
Director
Asa currently works for the Australian Consortium for ‘In-Country’ Indonesian Studies as Jakarta Program Coordinator, managing ACICIS’ programs in Jakarta, Bandung and Bogor. He has also been actively involved in the Australia-Indonesia Youth Association – AIYA Victoria as the Creative Officer. As well as his interest in Australia-Indonesia relations, Asa is a passionate environmentalist. He graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Geoscience. Prior to joining ACICIS, Asa was involved in sustainable development research, with a particular focus on sustainable natural resource management in Kalimantan. Based in Jakarta, Asa is determined to strengthen Australia-Indonesia relations through building partnerships between Australian organisations and their Indonesian counterparts. Asa was an integral part of NAILA’s development in its inaugural year and looks forward to growing NAILA in its subsequent years.
Maighdlin Doyle
Communications Coordinator
Maighdlin is an Honours student at the College of Asia and the Pacific, the Australian National University. She has a double degree in International Relations and Asia-Pacific Studies, with majors in Indonesian Language and Indonesian Studies. In 2015, Maighdlin completed a semester-long exchange program at Parahyangan Catholic University in Bandung with the Australian Consortium for ‘In-Country’ Indonesian Studies (ACICIS). She has been actively involved with the Australia-Indonesia Youth Association (AIYA) for the past two years and is currently the ACT Chapter President. Maighdlin is passionate about promoting greater interconnectedness between the youth of Indonesia and Australia, specifically through the avenue of improving education and cultural fluency.
Heather Mofflin
Partnerships Coordinator
Heather Mofflin is in her final year of a Master of International Relations degree at the University of Melbourne. Her areas of specialisation are in international security, with a focus on the Asia Pacific region. Her interest in this region stemmed from studying in Vietnam during her Bachelor of Communications degree at RMIT University, and continued to grow after extensive travel throughout the region, culminating in a two-month development practicum in Jakarta this year. Heather hopes to share her passion for Indonesia with others, encouraging young Australians to build meaningful relationships with Indonesians to improve our bilateral relationship, and our understanding and appreciation of other cultures more generally.
Elizabeth Nugraha
Translations Coordinator
Ella is a recipient of the Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education Scholarship (LPDP) and is in her final semester of completing a Master’s in Development Studies at the University of Melbourne. She holds a Bachelor of Social and Political Sciences in International Relations from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Indonesia. In 2010 she was also awarded a full scholarship under the Lotus Undergraduate Exchange Program – Erasmus Mundus and spent one semester studying in Sciences Po. Paris.
Ella is very passionate about equal opportunity to education for children and currently holds an intern position with Save the Children Australia. She has previously worked at the Office of International Affairs in UGM as a Program Coordinator where she worked closely with universities in Australia and Europe. Having been raised in Australia and Indonesia, improvement of language education has always been an interest of hers and she has worked as an English teacher in Indonesia.
Athalia Irwansjah
Programs Coordinator
Athalia grew up in a bilingual environment with English and Indonesian. In this environment, she participated in a range of Indonesian cultural activities through school and the local Indonesian community. Athalia has completed a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Asian Studies (Korean) from the Australian National University. During this time, she took a year off to teach underprivileged students in rural South Korea via the Teach and Learn in Korea (TaLK) program. In 2012, she went on a student exchange at Yonsei University, Seoul, thanks to scholarships from the Australia-Korea Foundation and Yonsei University. In 2014, Athalia received a scholarship from the ANU’s Korea Institute and commenced her Master of Arts (Asia-Pacific Studies).
Whilst studying, Athalia has undertaken an internship at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and was a Content Coordinator for ANU’s Asia Pacific Week conference in 2015. Last year, she began volunteering at the National Library of Australia, assisting with the Indonesian election ephemera collection. She currently works at the Australian Taxation Office and assists with international visits, secondments and translation work from Bahasa Indonesia to English. Earlier this year, Athalia became an Asia Literacy Ambassador for the Asia Education Foundation and participated in the Indonesian showcase at the National Multicultural Festival. In her role at NAILA, Athalia hopes to further contribute to the Australia-Indonesia relationship, promoting the importance of Indonesian language and culture for Australians.
Michael Anderson
Engagement Officer
Michael is completing a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Indonesian and History at the University of Melbourne.
Michael’s experience thus far with Indonesia has been quite diverse. He was a recipient of the 2013 Indonesian Independence Day Scholarship, a finalist in the 2013 and 2014 VILTA oral competitions, and took part in a two-week intensive language course in Yogyakarta in January 2014. Michael assisted in hosting the visit of an Indonesian Air Force Major to the Puckapunyal Army Base and is an active member of the Melbourne University Indonesian Students’ Language Association (ISLA).
Passionate about Indonesian studies and fostering and promoting the Australia-Indonesia relationship at all levels of society, Michael’s principal areas of interest are modern Indonesian history and contemporary religious practice and belief in the archipelago. He hopes to be able to advance young Australians’ understanding of Indonesia through his work with NAILA and AIYA.
Ellie Wallis
Competitions Officer
Ellie is a young entrepreneur and student of Asia-Pacific Studies and Law at the Australian National University. Majoring in Indonesian studies and language, in 2014 Ellie was awarded the ANU Ethel Tory Scholarship and was selected by the Indonesian government to represent Australia at the Open Governance Partnership Asia-Pacific Regional Conference in Bali.
After spending a year working and travelling in remote Indonesia, Ellie developed a passion for sustainable tourism which led to her develop the Nusa Penida Tourist Information Centre as well as her own business, Penida Tours.
Ellie firmly believes that obtaining proficiency in Indonesian is essential to conducting business and building lasting relationships with our closest neighbours.
David Sandbach
Grants Officer
David is currently a Graduate with the Department of Defence. He has completed a Juris Doctor at Monash University and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) at the University of Melbourne. After studying Indonesian in high school, Indonesian history and politics is an area David has wanted to learn more about. For his history honors thesis David investigated how Australian soldiers remembered their experiences of the Indonesian-Malaysian Confrontation and how this compared with the public memory of the conflict. He travelled to Indonesia and Malaysia to find primary sources presenting the Indonesian and Malaysian viewpoint.
Promoting the Australia-Indonesia friendship is an area of particular interest for David. He hopes that his participation in NAILA will assist in fostering greater interest in Indonesian language and culture.
Hafidh Arifianto
Finance Officer
Hafidh is a recipient of Australian Award Scholarship and currently studying a Master of Management (Accounting and Finance) at University of Melbourne. He holds a bachelor degree in accounting from Universitas Gadjah Mada. He has eight years experience working in auditing including three years at as a Senior Associate in Assurances at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and five years working for SKK Migas a state-owned legal entity which controls upstream oil and gas activities and manages contractors operating in Indonesia such as Chevron and ExxonMobil. .
Hafidh believes that a healthy relationship between two neighbouring countries, Australia and Indonesia, is key to regional stability. The relationship can be developed through people-to-people links. He hopes to contribute to building a greater understanding by participating in NAILA.
Stephen Sebastian Tedja
Finance Assistant
Stephen is currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Finance and Accounting and is also taking a Diploma of Language in French.
Being Chinese Indonesian, Stephen has experienced juggling two cultures growing up. He is deeply passionate about different cultures and language learning. He is then an avid believer in equal rights for people of all kinds.
Stephen hopes to foster deeper understanding between people of different cultures, particularly, but not exclusively, between Australians and Indonesians. He hopes to achieve this by involving himself in both NAILA and AIYA. Aside from his involvements in Indonesia-related organisations, he is also a committee member for AFIS (Australian Federation for International Students), a Victoria-based organisation designed to enrich international students’ experience.
Ella Kelly
Logistics Officer
Ella is currently completing a double degree in Arts / Law majoring in Indonesian langauge at the Australian National University. Her interest in Indonesia began during her high school years and further developed in 2014 as a result of her participation in an intensive Indonesian language course taught in Salatiga. Since then Ella has conducted anthropological field work in Rote and participated in the Australia-Indonesia Youth Exchange Program in West Kalimantan over the summer of 2015-16. Ella aspires to inspire young students to continue their language studies by sharing her personal experiences of learning Indonesian as well as explaining the unique opportunities that language studies present.
Eleanor Everist
University Sponsorship Officer
Eleanor has studied Indonesian since high school and through her tertiary studies. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from the University of Melbourne, which she completed in 2015. Eleanor explored cultural diplomacy and promotion of the ‘nation brand’ in her Honours thesis.
Promoting the importance of language study for strengthening people-to-people links and for personal development is of particular interest to Eleanor. She would love to see higher levels of engagement of Australian students in Indonesian language study, at both school and tertiary levels. As a recipient of a Walter Mangold Scholarship in 2014-15 she has spoken to school and university groups about the many benefits of language study.
Eleanor currently works at RMIT University and previously held a role with Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Jesse Mentha
University Engagement Officer
Jesse is a recent graduate of a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from La Trobe University, minoring in Indonesian language studies. His interest in Indonesia matured throughout his degree, and now frequently travels for study and leisure.
Jesse has a strong interest in working towards driving social change and transforming the habitual conversation surrounding how Australians consider our relationship with Indonesia. Jesse is passionate about breaking down the common misconceptions by encouraging more Australians to understand and appreciate our cultural diversity.
Maggie Yang
Translator
Maggie Yang currently works as a translator at the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reforms in Jakarta. She graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Politics and International Studies and minoring in Korean Language. She has completed a research internship at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta, examining Indonesia’s contribution in global peace-building efforts, and has participated in several Model United Nations Conferences including in Australia and New York.
Keen to contribute to international affairs, Maggie believes that language (communication and dialogue) is key to sustaining strong and healthy relationships, be it people-to-people links or intergovernmental relationships.
Sunny Reken
Translator
Sunny has just started a Master of Translating and Interpreting degree at RMIT, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science & International Relations, and Asian Studies from the University of Western Australia. Having grown up bilingual in Indonesia, and moving to Perth at age 14, Sunny was greatly disappointed when she faced several barriers to maintain her Indonesian studies once in Australia. She studied Indonesian through distance education in high school, and at university spent a semester in Yogyakarta through ACICIS. She later moved to Melbourne to pursue further studies in Indonesian. Sunny hopes that through her involvement with NAILA she can contribute to the Australia-Indonesia relationship through encouraging Indonesian language studies in Australia.
Jevelin Nathamia Wendiady
Translator
Jevelin is an awardee of the Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education Scholarship (LPDP) and in her first year of a Master in Applied Linguistics at the University of Melbourne. She holds a Bachelor of Education in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from Atma Jaya Catholic University.
After completing her bachelor’s degree, she gained her experience in teaching Indonesian language for foreigners at Language Center, Atma Jaya Catholic University. She taught Indonesian language to foreign diplomats, exchange students, ACICIS participants, international companies and foreign media outlets. Before moving to Melbourne, she worked in Development Policy and Disaster Management in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Embassy, Jakarta and involved in several programs related to Indonesia Australia bilateral relationship.
Her passion is teaching Indonesian language for foreigners and the Indonesia-Australia bilateral relationship. She believes language is a soft power to strengthen people-to-people links.
Jonathan Soerjoko
Translator
Jonathan is in his penultimate year of a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Arts double degree at the University of Sydney. Jonathan has a broad range of interests in his studies, with majors in Accounting, Indonesian Studies and Philosophy. Although originally from Jakarta, his active interest in Indonesia only began during his time at university where he first became involved with AIYA.
Recently he undertook the 2016 Jakarta Business Professional Practicum by ACICIS and this experience gave him a useful perspective into the realities of the Australia-Indonesia relationship, particularly from the perspective of business. Jonathan believes that Australia’s Indonesia ‘capabilities’ need to be improved, namely on the level of education and leadership within the realms of government and business. Jonathan aims to work in Indonesia for his early career and hopes to establish further roots within the country with more exchange experiences.
All of Jonathan’s experiences have led to his interest in NAILA. Through NAILA Jonathan wishes to promote study of the language and region, on top of developing his own personal proficiency.
Ayu Risma
Translator
Ayu teaches traditional and contemporary dance at ‘CHANTIQA’ Art Institution in Mataram, Lombok. This year, she is completing a bachelor degree at the English Department of Mataram University, while research assisting for an American PhD student. In 2015, she was the 3rd runner-up for the China-Indonesia Youth Exchange Program. She is currently working as a Ballet Dance instructor in ‘Tunas Daud,’ a Christian Kindergarten school in Mataram.
Ayu’s academic background in English language teaching has led to the establishment of the first bilingual art institution in the region. At the institution Ayu aims to design a more effective language-learning environment by combining language, culture and art.
Michael York
Indonesian Engagement Officer & Translator
Michael is a post-graduate student at the Australian National University and since 2013 has spent over three years, living, working and studying in Indonesia. He holds a Bachelor degree in politics and security sciences from Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia, and a Master’s degree in politics and international relations from Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta. In 2015, Michael was awarded an Endeavor scholarship from the Australian Government and worked for an Indonesian political organisation on human rights, security and democratic development issues. Michael has a passion for Indonesian language and culture, has experience in language translation through the Himpunan Penerjemah Indonesia (Association of Indonesian Translators) based in Jakarta. Michael believes fervently in the importance of Indonesia in Australia and acknowledges the significant role of language, culture and youth exchange in building a bilateral relationship which will enable the two counties to reach their potential in providing economic, social and cultural benefits for the future. Michael has been involved in many Indonesian initiatives and enjoys every opportunity to engage across the breath of this diverse, vibrant, dynamic and developing relationship.