Scholar, activist, teacher

by Francis Loh

Herb Feith, 71, a leading Indonesianist, was killed in a traffic accident that occurred while he was on his way home from Monash University, Melbourne, on 14 November 2001. While crossing the railway lines, Herb was knocked down by a train.

Herb�s major works included The Decline of Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia (1962), which was based on his Cornell University PhD dissertation, and Indonesian Political Thinking 1945-1965 (1970) which he co-edited with Lance Castles. He served in Monash University for over 30 years and for a while held the post of professor of politics, which he subsequently vacated to devote more time to research and writing. His students, many now distinguished Indonesianists, included Harold Crouch (who previously taught in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia), Ulf Sundhaussen, Krishna Sen, David Bourchier, Jim Schiller, Richard Tanter, the late Rex Mortimer, Ichlasul Amal and Dewi Anwar Fortuna.

When he retired, a major conference was held in Monash in 1992, bringing together Herb�s colleagues, friends and former students � a Who�s Who of Indonesianists - from all over the world. The book Democracy in Indonesia in the 1950s and 1990s (1994) edited by David Bourchier and John Legge is a tribute to this outstanding scholar.

But Herb was always more than a scholar. He was the first Australian volunteer in Indonesia in 1951 and played an instrumental role in developing the Volunteer Graduate Scheme which sent Australian volunteers to Indonesia. A fore-runner to the US Peace Corps programme, this programme lives on today as the Australian Volunteers International which sends thousands of Australians to work in developing countries. In the 1990s, Herb and his wife Betty returned as volunteers to Indonesia after their retirment; for almost 10 years Herb served as Visiting Professor of Politics in Gadjah Mada University in Jogjakarta.

His love for Indonesia did not prevent him from criticizing Suharto�s New Order. Based on his study of contemporary Indonesia, he developed the notion of the repressive-developmentalist regime, which influenced the way many young Indonesiansists and Indonesians viewed the New Order. Herb was also very concerned with the New Order�s treatment of East Timor and West Papua, and thought deeply on how to solve the conflicts there. Indeed, in his latter years, Herb developed a passion for peace studies and was active in the peace movement. It was due to people like Herb that the peace movement in Australia took a rather different turn from its counterparts in the United States or Britain, for instance. For in Australia peace issues clearly went beyond concern over nuclear proliferation and strategic affairs. With the Asia-Pacific region as backyard, Australia�s peace movement, influenced by people like Herb, was directly related to the questions of development and democratization of developing countries as well.

It was in this connection that Aliran first developed close ties with Herb. We were honoured by his presence in a seminar The Arms Race which we held in Penang in July 1983. His address to us is contained in the book which we subsequently published. Following that seminar, Herb continued to correspond with us and whenever he dropped by to visit his Penang relatives � his daughter Annie having married a Butterworth boy � he would oblige us with a talk, or at least drop by the office to share his latest thoughts.

It was my privilege to interact closely with Herb for some four years in the late 1980s when I took up a lecturer�s position in politics in Monash University. I learnt a great deal from him about Indonesian politics and about peace. It was during this time too that I discovered what an inspiring teacher he also was.

As I was scheduled to inherit the course Rich World Poor World, an introduction to the politics of development, which Herb had taught for more than a decade, I thought that I should sit in for a few classes and pick up some tips on how to teach the course the following year. In fact, I was so enthralled with how he taught the course that I ended up following his course the entire semester.

In trying to communicate better with his students, Herb evolved a particular style of teaching based on Freirean pedagogic principles, among others. Hence he sought to relate teaching-learning to the outside world on the one hand, and to break down the �banking� notion of education (wherein the teacher �deposited� knowledge into the minds of his/her students) on the other.

For his large classes, Herb would always prepare one to two sheets of notes on a particular topic. Students picked up these notes as they walked in. For the next 10 minutes, they would read. Herb would then entertain questions. All were encouraged to ask. On other days, Herb would show a movie, or invite a speaker. Again, there would be questions. Before the session ended, Herb allowed students to make announcements about upcoming events, a talk, a film, a demonstration, etc. There was much learning to be gained from outside of the classroom.

His tutorials were broken down into smaller groups that he called �cells�. These cells were required to meet separately outside of the formal lectures and tutorials. Herb would attend these cell meetings occasionally. Herb was turning the normal teaching-learning process upside down. Learning was to be conducted through questioning; knowledge was to be sought through co-operative rather than individual effort; and there was much to learn outside the ivory towers of academia. To assess the students, he did not simply consider their contribution to the research report, for many the end product of learning. He stressed, equally, the process of learning. Accordingly, apart from awarding marks for the final essay, he invited the students to assess themselves as well as others in their cells based on one's contribution to the group. He organized his Peace Studies course very much the same way and in both cases motivated the students to think about international development and peace affairs, and to do something about them.There was some magic to all this as Herb engaged his students.

Likewise, when he supervised his graduate students � and I was privileged to co-supervise several with him � he read and listened intently to what they had to say. He would then pose his questions. Questions, and more questions, it appeared lay at the core of his teaching and learning method.

Not only did Herb influence the Indonesianists therefore, he touched young volunteers, undergraduate and graduate students, the peace movement, and much beyond. I will treasure not only having learnt so much from him while I was in Monash, but also the times we went jogging on the beach in Batu Feringghi, looking for vegetarian food all over Penang, and the picture of Herb catching a mid-day snooze in my office.

Aliran extends its deepest condolences to Betty, his wife, and their three children � David, Annie and Robbie, and several grandchildren. We thank them for having shared this wonderful person with us.

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