Key Words Key Words

HRD Collaboration through Scientific and Cultural DiplomacyA Review on India’s HRD Cooperation with Indonesia

Dr. Arup Barman, Reader Deptt. Of Busines Administration, Assam University, Silchar-788011 Email: [email protected]

Abstract This paper reviews the HRD Collaboration through Scientific and Cultural Diplomacy between India and Indonesia. As the case base review the paper attempts to highlight the on cross national and comparative HRD aspects in the context of the role of India in the development of Indonesia human resources. In addition, the paper explored on the HRD activities engaged in cross national context. The paper finally postulates that academic and scientific collaboration between India and Indonesia would work as the centre-stage of HR diplomacy.

Key Words HRD Diplomacy, science and technology, MoUs, Institutional MoUs, Climatology

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India-Indonesia Relations India and Indonesia have shared two millennia of close cultural and commercial contacts. During our respective struggles for independence, the national leaderships of India and Indonesia led by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and President Sukarno collaborated closely in supporting the cause of Asian and African independence and later after the two countries became independent, the two leaders together laid the foundation of the Afro-Asian and Non-Aligned Movements at the Bandung Conference in 1955. Reaffirming the political commitment of both countries for upgrading bilateral relations in order to achieve sustained progress and prosperity for the two countries in the rapidly evolving and dynamic regional and global political and economic situation both may continue to acknowledge that Indonesia and India are now natural partners as two developing democratic countries in the region, committed to multiculturalism, pluralism and diversity. Both countries expressed in January 2011 through theirs voices of leader that they have responsibility for, and are capable of, responding to global and regional challenges, and they must play an active role in the promotion of democracy, peace and stability in Asia Pacific region and the world at large.

Defense Cooperation between India and Indonesia continued with regular defence exchanges including exchange of high level visits, ship visits, officers studying in Staff Colleges in either country and joint coordinated patrols in the mouth of the Malacca Straits. The first meeting of the Joint Defence Cooperation Committee (at the Defence Secretary level) under the Defence Cooperation Agreement was held in Jakarta in June, 2007. The second meeting of the JDCC was held in New Delhi on 17-18 June, 2010. Apart from the exchange of visits, ship visits and training cooperation, a beginning has been made in defence sales with Indonesia. INS Kesari participated at the ARF Disaster relief Exercise (Direx) held at Manado from 14-18 March 2011. It has been agreed to have a biennial Defence Ministers’ Meeting during the State visit of President Yudhoyono to India in January 2011.

Economic and Trade Relations 2

Indonesia became the third largest trading partner of India within ASEAN with bilateral trade of US$ 10 billion in 2008 and in 2009-2010 it became the second largest trading partner out ASEAN-10 countries. In the year 2009-2010 the bilateral trade was US$ 11.72 billion. A delegation from Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) comprising of eight companies dealing in traditional medicines visited Indonesia in November 2010. Indonesia has been supportive of India’s ‘Look East Policy’ and is currently the ASEAN Coordinator for India’s Dialogue Partnership with the ASEAN. Indonesia was also a strong advocate of India’s participation in the East Asia Summit. As an importer, India remains a major buyer of palm oil and natural resources like coal from Indonesia. India organized a ‘Made in India’ at Jakarta in August 2009. The third joint meeting to explore commerce and trade between India and Indonesia identified new fields of bilateral co-operation ranging from special economic zones and alternative energy sources to legal assistance, biotechnology, space related applications, tele-education and tele-health1. India and Indonesia have concluded a study on a bilateral Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with Indonesia and an announcement on the commencement of CECA negotiations was made during the recent visit of President Yudhoyono to India. India has substantial investments in Indonesia in the textiles, steel, automotive, banking and resources sectors. Foreign investment from India in Indonesia dates back to the 1970s. In recent years there has been a new wave of investment focusing on the mining, the automotive and banking sectors. Major Indian companies operating in Indonesia include the Aditya Birla group which has a viscose fibre plant and downstream units, Essar which has a cold-rolled steel mill near Jakarta and Jindal Stainless Steel in Surabaya. There are two Indian motor-cycle manufacturers – Bajaj and TVS - in Indonesia. The State Bank of India and the Bank of India have branches in a number of Indonesian cities. Tatas own 30% of the two largest coal mines in Indonesia. 40 Indian companies are currently mining or exploring coal blocks in Indonesia. Gujarat State Petroleum and Essar have won an exploration license for gas on-shore in Sumatra. Balmer Lawrie signed a joint venture agreement for manufacturing grease and lubricants in Indonesia. In 2009, NALCO also signed a joint venture agreement to establish an aluminium smelter and a 1250 MW power plant at a cost of US$ 4 billion in South Sumatra. Godrej has

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recently acquired, PT. Megasari, an Indonesian FMCG company. One Indonesian company, the Salim Group has invested in real estate and infrastructure projects in India. In the January 2011, India-Indonesia bilateral commercial and economic relation has had reached commanding height with many major business deals signed during the visit of President Yudhoyono. There were 17 MoUs/Agreements signed during the visit including the Extradition Treaty, Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, Cultural Exchange Programme and MoU on Cooperation in the Education sector. Major Deals and MOUs signed in Jan 2011 1. MoU between Regional Government of Central Kalimantan and International Coal Ventures Ltd to set up a mineral processing facility/steel plant for $ 3.5 bn 2. Agreement between National Fertilizers Ltd. And PT Pupuk Sriwidjaja (PUSRI) for off take of fertilizers from Indonesia for $ 165 MN 3. MoU between Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd and PT Eastern Infrastructure International for coalbased power plant in Indonesia for $ 500 mn field of Heavy Minerals for $ 1 bn 4. Head of Agreement between Adani Group, PT Bukit Asam and Regional Government of South Sumatera to set up railway for transport of coal to the nearest port for $ 1.65 bn 5. MoU between Regional Government of South Sumatera and Reliance Coal Resource Ltd for coal assets/rail line and port project for $ 1.5 bn 6. MoU between Regional Government of Jambi and Reliance Coal Resource Ltd for coal assets/rail line and port project for $ 1.5 bn 7. MoU between the regional Government of Jambi and Archean Energy and Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. For integrated transportation infrastructure development and establishment of coal terminal for $ 300 mn 8. MoU between PT Adani Global and Kendal Regency, Central Java and PT. Mega Urip Pesona to construct a coal-fired power plant for $ 3 bn 9. MoU between PT Angkasa Pura I and GVK Construction for airport project at Yogjakarta for $500 mn 10. MoU between PT Pembangunan Bali Mandiri and GVK for construction of airport in Buleleng, Bali for $1 bn 11. Framework Agreement between Pipavava Shipyard, PT PAL Indonesia and SKIL Infrastructure Ltd for fast patrol boats, corvettes, light frigates, etc. for $ 1 bn 12. MoU between PT Surya Kepanjen and SEW Trident Global for development of toll road on BOT basis for $ 100-200 mn 13. MoU between PT Walden Global Services and Secure Matrix India for Informational Technology Security Transfer for $ 5 mn 14. MoU between PT Multi Polar Technology (Lippo Group) and HCL Technologies on cooperation to work in IT services sector. 15. MoU between Investment Coordinating Board of Indonesia and Tata Power on Capacity Building 16. MoU between Ministry of Industry of Indonesia and TRIMEX Sands to cooperate in the

including exchange of high level visits, ship visits, officers studying in Staff Colleges in both countries and joint coordinated patrols.

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Areas of Strategic Partnership between India and Indonesia In the contemporary period, relations between the two countries have been elevated to a Strategic Partnership during the State visit of President Yudhoyono to India in 2005. Till the year 2010, both countries were contended for the steady growth of political, security, economic, science and technology and cultural exchanges between the two countries. Both of them noted the development of active cooperation through numerous frameworks that governing defense, science and technology, space cooperation, agricultural science, culture, tourism, and in the areas of youth affairs & sports. The countries acknowledged the cooperation in education, media, air services, energy resources including oil, gas, coal, and renewable energy, prevention of smuggling, prevention of illegal trade in narcotics, disaster management, cooperation in the area of small and medium enterprises, meteorology, climatology and geophysics including climate change, health, marine and fisheries2. They reiterated their common desire for accelerating the implementation of cooperation in these areas and monitoring such cooperation through the mechanism of Action Plan on Implementing the New Strategic Partnership drawn up during the Indonesia-India Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) in June 2007.

India’s “look east” policy and Indonesia’s desire to develop stronger ties with its large democratic neighborhood ‘provides a unique opportunity to enhance a structured long term cooperation between these two countries in a number of high priority areas and in the context of Indonesia’s development plan. India’s comprehensive achievements in the fields of information technology, higher education, pharmaceuticals and medicine, e-governance, anti-corruption as well as the effective public-private partnerships in infrastructure investment, all generate a high level of interest in Indonesia’3. On the other hand, the large Indonesian market and its enormous resource base, ability to navigate two major economic crises in a single decade, strong record on poverty alleviation, management of social conflict and resilient GDP growth continue to attract new Indian investment into Indonesia. Thus, India-Indonesian relation provides a positive hope for mutual and shared development partnership bilaterally.

HRD Collaboration through Scientific Cooperation 5

It is undeniable that Indonesia has been one of the prominent beneficiaries of India’s technical cooperation programmes meant for fellow developing countries. Indonesia is one among the ITEC partner countries were provided training in India. Under the ITEC training is provided in as many as 200 courses in 42 empanelled-Institutes4. The trainings were offered in varied subjects, such as parliamentary studies, government accounts and finance, auditing, crime records, standardization, computers, advanced computing, telecom technology and management, management, labour issues, entrepreneurship development, micro, small and medium business development, rural development, English-language proficiency, mass communication, statistics, bank management, technical teachers training and research, educational planning and management, rural electrification, tool design, scientific instruments, production management, remote sensing, pharmaceuticals education & research, railways signaling, textile research and renewable energy sources.

Around 1000 Indonesian experts as well as officials received training in India under India Technical and Economic cooperation (ITEC) till 20055. India continued to extend training and educational scholarships to Indonesia. A total of 147 ITEC training and scholarship slots were allotted to Indonesia under ITEC, Colombo Plan and GCSS schemes 2005-2006 and during the year 2006-07 each year6. Another delegation of 30 members from the Indonesian Police School of Administration and Leadership visited India in November 2006. Senior Indian Armed Forces officers underwent training in the Indonesian Staff College. In 2005 India opened a $750,000 Vocational Training Centre in Aceh followed by another one more recently. During 2006-07,

six Indonesian officers underwent training in India7. Under the ITEC scheme with an aim to develop partnership through Projects Cooperation in Indonesia, a bilateral agreement was signed with Government of Indonesia to set up a second Vocational Training Centre in the Construction Sector in Aceh in June 20078. In the year 2007, 6 numbers of defence officers from India are undergoing training in Indonesia and 5 numbers of Indonesian Armed Forces officers were also sent for training at various Indian institutions such as Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington, Army War college, Mhow and Armed Forces Technical College, Bangalore, during the year9.

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During the year 2008-09, Indonesia was utilized 75 training slots under ITEC, 38 training slots under TCS of Colombo Plan, 25 GCSS scholarships slots and two Hindi one-year course scholarships. The Mission celebrated ITEC Day on 14 November, 2008 in which 200 ITEC alumni participated10. During the year, Indonesia was offered 75 training slots under ITEC, 38 training slots under Technical Cooperation Scheme of Colombo Plan11. The experts from India and the officials of Indonesia have had been received training and scholarship under ITEC programmes and the Colombo Plan. During the year 2009-2010, Indonesia was offered 75 training slots under ITEC, 35 training slots under Technical Cooperation Scheme(TCS) of

Country

199293

199596

Table-1 South East Asian Students in India 1999- 2001- 2001- 2002- 2004- 200500 01 02 03 05 06 68 96 62 58 51 83

200607 89

200708 77

Indonesia 17 33 Source: www.aiu.org Colombo Plan, 20 General Cultural Scholarship Scheme (GCSS) slots and two Hindi one-year

course scholarships12. Other remarkable activities under ITEC program in the year 2009-2010 was the organization of study tour. On the request of Indonesian Government, one expert in the field of water management from IIT, Roorkee visited Indonesia13 where were covered under the study tour under ITEC. During the year 2010-2011, India offered 125 slots under ITEC scheme and Colombo Plan slots to Indonesia every year and this assistance is greatly appreciated and valued in this country. India in the past established a vocational training centre in Jakarta and have now established another Centre in Aceh14. The ITEC program has been contributed to the development of skills and competency of civilians as well as defence personnel of Indonesia.

India-Indonesian HRDC through Academic Cooperation The educational globe understands the India’s potential as the educational hub of Asia. India has been helping Indonesia for its comparative advantage in the field of higher education. Answering questions from the editors of Jakarta Post Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s during his visit to Indonesia in April 2005 for the commemoration of the Bandung Conference - declared that India intended to stay engaged by sharing experiences – “gained from our own development process — with nations in Asia”. To quote Singh: “Human resource development holds the key to 7

employment and wealth creation, particularly in this age of globalisation. This has been our strategy and we have laid particular emphasis on training and skills development as we globalise. India has extended technical assistance valued at about $1 billion. India stands ready to do more.” India offered more than 1100 scholarships to Indonesian students to study at Indian universities. But there is greater potential for India-Indonesia cooperation in education, which will be of benefit to both the countries1. Indonesian ambassador to India Lt Gen (ret) Andi M Ghalib stated that visit to ITS here on May, 2011, said the higher education cooperation covers engineering, as India is superior in information technology (IT), and that a total of 109 Indonesian students are currently studying in India15. Employability being a major concern for the Indonesian educated youth. The main focus of Indonesia –Indian academic cooperation and sending student is because of the quality of education that India caters and also besides education this can develop some long standing relationships with each other as both need something or the other from each other16.

Institutional MoUs The November 10 numbers of Institute of Technology (TS) in Surabaya established cooperation with an education institute in India17. The Pondicherry Central University on 11th January, 2011 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Syiah Kuala University in Indonesia to promote educational and research cooperation between the two universities. As per the MoU, the universities would exchange research materials and publications, organise joint academic activities and research programs and exchange students, faculty members, staff and research scholars. Terming the MoU a “prelude” for a better future, Rector of Syiah Kuala University, Darni M. Daud (Indonesia) expressed that the cooperation with Asian universities such as the

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It will be worthwhile to quote a letter that appeared in the Jakarta Post, a leading Indonesian English daily on 21 April 2006: “if India reaches out, especially in the field of education, it will benefit the common people here. India has one of the best and cheapest education systems in the world. Presently Microsoft, Intel, etc., are some of the companies managed by the Indians. If India offered scholarships to deserving Indonesian students, maybe just 25 seats in the areas of medicine, engineering, hotel management, tourism, IT, nursing, etc., it would be a real continuation of cooperation between the two countries. So many Indonesian women leave the country to earn money as maids. If Indian nursing schools opened up branches in Indonesia or offered Indonesian women scholarships to study in India, local women could earn higher salaries as trained nurses in developing countries could, where the aging population is increasing. Indonesian people have great compassion, and very clean habits. The Indonesian women could prove to be excellent nurses with much higher earning potential than as housemaids. I take this opportunity to draw the attention of the honourable ambassador of India to these suggestions. I am sure it would go a long way to further cementing the relations between the two great countries.” Jakarta Post, 21 April 2006, accessed on 7 May 2006

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Pondicherry University was more economical that those in the United States and Europe. To promote people to people contacts, it is time that Indian and Indonesia universities establish academic programmes involving exchange of teachers, and joint research projects of common interest. There is also an urgent need for regular Track-II dialogue on both bilateral and regional issues between the think tanks of the two countries. One major factor standing in the way of improved relations between the two countries is the lack of knowledge of each other’s society, politics, economy and strategic imperatives. Regular dialogues between civil societies, religious groups, academics and intelligence communities of the two countries will remove misperceptions and ignorance about each other and help foster empathy in each other’s concerns and stakes. One of the important reasons for the Asian economic crisis of the late ‘90s was that while there had been a shift in the production process, there was no commensurate development in higher education in most Asian NICs to keep pace with such shift. India has a lead in information technology and our IITs and IIMs have a very high reputation in those countries. Many Indonesians have expressed a desire not only to come and study in those institutions, but also to have these institutions to set up campuses in Indonesia. There are Indonesian businessmen of Indian origin who would only be too glad to raise the money for these institutions. What they want is the brand name and some experienced back up faculty from India. Till that is done, India should open the doors of our premier institutions, like the IITs, IIMs, Delhi School of Economics and universities like JNU by reserving a few seats exclusively for them. The dividend from such a policy will be enormous, as the products of these institutions would eventually emerge as critical elites in decision-making in Indonesian government and corporate life, and India will surely strike a familiar chord for them. Under the I-Tech programme, India has trained a number of Indonesian engineers and technicians at the Roorkee Engineering College. Then there are others who have done their higher studies, including PhDs in Indian universities and have high regard for the Indian educational system. The Indian embassy and other the cultural and commercial centres in Indonesia need to keep track of the people who have been beneficiaries of Indian education and training, cultivate them so that they could form the critical mass and constituency to speak for India in Indonesia.

HRD Collaboration through Cultural Cooperation 9

India- Indonesia has a long history of cultural links. As mark of cultural cooperation, a Cultural Agreement was signed between the Governments of India and Indonesia in the year 195518. They stressed the importance of cultural exchanges in building strong people-to-people ties which would reinforce ties in all areas. They agreed on a number of new initiatives including the exchange of cultural festivals. India allotted 20 slots for scholarship under the general cultural scheme19. As per provisions of the Cultural Agreement, Cultural Exchange Programmes (CEP) are signed between the two countries. CEP for the period 2011-2014 was signed in January 2011 during the visit of the Indonesian President to India. They expressed that both countries have active cultural exchanges. With a view to enhancing people-to-people links, both leaders agreed to enhance and strengthen cooperation in the cultural sector as means to promote extensive people-to-people contacts by committing to implement cultural exchange programme for 20112014.

Future of India-Indonesian HRDC The vision for the India-Indonesia New Strategic Partnership over the coming decade, January 25, 201120 expressed in Joint Statement two countries.

Indonesia has been realizing the

importance of education on human resource, economic and social development in both countries, therefore committed to strengthen it through the signing of Memorandum of Understanding on Education which covers all level of education21. At political, diplomatic level the two leaders stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation in the areas of science and technology. The agreed areas of cooperation between India and Indonesia are in the field of biotechnology, marine, agriculture, information and communication technology, health and medicine, energy, disaster management, aeronautic and space technology. Both countries agreed to establish a cooperation between Indonesia and India in the fields of meteorology, climatology, including climate variability and change, geophysics and Early Warning of Coastal Hazards as well as related issues through the science and technology development and application and efficient management in creating disaster risk management community effectively and in a timely manner22. Indonesia has potential for using biotechnology in various sectors. It is likely that in the coming decade it will achieve a breakthrough in this as more GM plants are approved and the investments in infrastructure and capacity building begin to yield results23. But to gain maximum

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or biotechnology Indonesia will have to develop and apply a strategic plan for biotechnology sector.

India-Indonesia HRD Collaboration & Activity Matrix Through the technology, scientific, economic cooperation India has been collaborating with Indonesia by adopting many cross national HRD activities (Table-2). Based on the logical interpretation on literature on India-Indonesian cooperation through bilateral projects, it is found that India-Indonesia human resource development and collaboration occupies more diversities of area. In case of academic collaboration for Indonesia’s HRD, Indonesia is more hopeful for future collaboration. India as a partner country for cross national HRD there are very less evidences found in the context re4cieving the exchange of support for the Indian academics. Observing the MoUs among India-Indonesian academic institutions there has not been much progress but both countries are hopeful for inking MoUs in future. The recent joint ministerial joint statement in January 2011 generates a lot of hope for HRD collaboration in through the new and emerging areas. Table-2 Cross National HRD Activity Matrix (India-Indonesia) Faculty Development

Student Exchange

Joint Research

Signing of MOUs

Establishment of Institutions

Granting/Acceptance

Joint Degree

Scholarships/fellowsh ips

Training Slot allocation

Programs & Projects

Deputation of Experts to Ministries

Cross Border HRD Activities

Recipients Skills and Capacity Developed

Civilian ITEC Program √

√

√

√

√

√

x

x

x

x

x

Indonesian Govt. Officials, Education

x

(Information technology, Computer Applications) Defence personnel

Exceptions: Seminar and Conference, Visit

1.

2.

ICTCooperation

X

Defence

√

√ √

x x

x x

√ x

√ x

x x

Parliamentary studies, government accounts and finance, auditing, crime records, standardization, computers, advanced computing, telecom technology and management, management, labour issues, entrepreneurship development, micro, small and medium business development, rural development, Englishlanguage proficiency, mass communication, statistics, bank management, technical teachers training and research, educational planning and management, rural electrification, tool design, scientific instruments, production management, remote sensing, pharmaceuticals education & research, railways signaling, textile research and renewable energy sources.

x

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3.

Capacity Building

Academic Cooperation Cultural Cooperation

X

√

x

x

√

√

x

x

x

Establishment of Faculty of Vocational Training institutes

X

√

√

√

x

√

√

√

√

Students, Faculty, Researcher

x √ √ √ √ √ √ √ x Exception: Exchange of cultural troupe; seminar and conferences

Cultural Personalities, Students, Cultural Personalities

Conclusion The study on India-Indonesian human resource development collaboration with the help of available literature has tentatively could establish that the prospect of collaboration through the HRD diplomacy is more for the near future. In this case academic cooperation would take the centre stage of collaboration. The reason behind is that Indonesia is eying toward the academic cooperation for India’s potential of knowledge and HRD hub. Henceforth the quality of institutions in India would become a major to act an instrument for HRD diplomacy, peace and shared prosperity.

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References and Endnotes 1

Ibid, PP-20

2

Joint Statement: Vision for the India-Indonesia New Strategic Partnership over the coming decade; January 25, 2011; http://indianembassyjakarta.com/Joint%20Statement.pdf 3 4

http://strategic-asia.com/india/index.html Technical Co-operation;available at http://indianembassyjakarta.com/technical.html ; browsed on 19thJan 2011

5

Professor Baladas Ghoshal (2011), Indonesia in India’s Look East Policy Distinguished Fellow, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies; IDSA, ISSUE Brief, January 20, 2011;

6

Annual Report, 2006-2007, Ministry of External Affairs, PP. 24

7

Annual Report, 2006-2007, Ministry of External Affairs, pp. 22-23 Annual Report, 2007-08, Ministry of External Affairs

8

9

Ibid, PP-23

10

Ibid

12

11

12

Ibid Annual Report 2009 – 2010, Ministry of External Affairs, 20

13

Technical & Economic Cooperation and Development Partnership; Annual Report 2009 – 2010, Ministry of External Affairs, PP. 142-144

14

India Indonesian Realtion; avaibale at http://meaindia.nic.in/mystart.php?id=50044478 browsed on 21st April, 2011 15 Jimmy Hitipeuw | Kamis, 19 May 2011; http://english.kompas.com/read/2011/05/19/08300267/Number.of.Indonesian.Students.Studying.in.India 16

Indonesia Signs MoU with India; http://www.digitallearning.in/interview/interview-details.asp?interviewid=803

17Jimmy Hitipeuw | Kamis, 19 May 2011; http://english.kompas.com/read/2011/05/19/08300267/Number.of.Indonesian.Students.Studying.in.India 18

India-Indonesia Relations, available at http://indianembassyjakarta.com/birelation.html; browsed on 29th march, 2011

19

General Cultural Scheme, available at http://www.iccrindia.net/gereralscheme.html; browsed on 29th March 2010.

20

Joint Statement: Vision for the India-Indonesia New Strategic Partnership over the coming decade; January, 25, 2011; available at http://indianembassyjakarta.com/Joint%20Statement.pdf 21



Sachin Chaturvedi; Krishna Ravi Srinivas (Survey on Biotechnology Capacity in Asia-Pacific: Opportunities for National Initiatives and Regional Cooperation; Research and Information system for developing Countries, India

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