They may learn Bahasa Indonesia

Public servants and students in PNG may soon be required to learn Bahasa Indonesia.

There is a new interest in the Indonesian languages as the direct result of Indonesian border crossings.

At one crossing on April 27, at Wutung Village, 450 yards east of the extreme northern end of the border between Indonesian and Aus tralian territory, the man on the spot—Assistant District Officer Tony Try, 28, from Sydney—spoke a little Malay . . . but not enough to prevent three shots being fired at him by Indonesian soldiers.

Extra police and District Admin istration officers rushed to Wutung and nearby border patrol posts realised that the first priority was to be able to speak Indonesian, in case there were more crossings.

Four policemen, including two native officers, are now at the RAAF language laboratory at Point Cook, Victoria, for a crash course in Bahasa Indonesia.

District Administration staff may also be offered the same course— the first since 1962, when Australia realised the Dutch were about to leave West New Guinea and that the

Indonesian language might be useful along the border.

The early courses in 1962 soon petered out.

Now, the University of Papua-New Guinea’s Professor in Political Studies, Professor C. D. Rowley, wants Indonesian-language classes at the university, if he can raise the money.

An Australian expert on Indonesian politics, Professor Herbert Feith from Monash University, Melbourne, has been called in to advise.

It’s a powerful combination— Professor Rowley, a long-time ex pert on Papua-New Guinea and former Principal of the Australian School of Pacific Administration in Sydney, and Professor Feith, author of the authoritative book. The Decline of Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia.

The Papua-New Guinea Admin istration’s attitude towards the use of Bahasa Indonesia had not been clear—until Indone s i a n s began illegally crossing the border on April 27, firing rifles.