Recap: Successful 3rd Indonesian Studies Day 2026 at the IAAW
Almost 100 guests attended our multifaceted academic and cultural program around Indonesia.
The Institute for Asian and African Studies (IAAW) at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin organized its 3rd Indonesian Studies Day on Thursday, January 15, 2026.
Besides cultural performances and expert lectures, the program featured students enrolled in the Institute's Indonesian language courses, who gave presentations on their 2025 excursion to Indonesia.
Cultural program with singing, dancing, and culinary delights
The Indonesian Studies Day commenced with renowned singer Claudia Santoso, who rendered her own interpretation of the song Indonesia Pusaka. Subsequently, the audience enjoyed the traditional dance Tari Piriang Badarai, featuring acrobatic movements, dance figures, and breathtaking plate juggling, choreographed and performed by Ankh A. Palmer. HU student Mutiara Tinellung and dance partner Linda Smitz kicked off the third theme block with their performance of the Balinese dance Tari Belibis.
During the breaks, nearly 100 guests sampled Bolu Pandan, cheesecake, and a variety of Indonesian finger foods contributed by the Indonesian Embassy in Berlin.
Indonesia excursion from a student perspective
In the morning's main block, the student participants in the excursion to Indonesia in fall 2025 summarized their on-site experiences and insights against the backdrop of the guiding themes, sustainability and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
The excursion, funded by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at HU and Professor Dr. Claudia Derichs, took place from September 11 to 25, 2025. The group visited Jakarta, Semarang, Yogyakarta, and Pontianak. The excursion focused on the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which cover topics such as green campuses, plastic reduction, recycling, environmental protection and nature conservation, health, renewable energies, and reforestation.
The students delivered their presentations in Indonesian, with German or English translation.
Esie Hanstein, lecturer of Indonesian at the IAAW, highlighted the student presentations as a new format for the Indonesian Studies Day event series: "The students not only reported on the excursion, but also reflected on it critically and engaged in discussion with the audience." Their successful presentations clearly demonstrated the trip's academic value for the participants.
The 3rd Indonesian Studies Day impressively showcased how to combine academic teaching, language practice, and sustainable development – and what role students can confidently take on in this process.
Interested? Click here for the students' detailed excursion reports! (in German)
National development projects and local activism
In the afternoon session, Venansius Haryanto and Ignasius Jaques Juru (doctoral students in the Department of Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Bonn) presented their doctoral projects. Both address the consequences of geothermal and tourism development on the Indonesian island of Flores.
Haryanto and Juru both grew up on Flores and, in addition to their academic roles, see themselves as local activists who oppose the environmentally destructive effects of the aggressive geothermal and tourism policies on the island. They consider the Jakarta central government's branding of Flores as the 'new Bali' and a 'geothermal island' unsustainable. The narrative of a 'green economy' suggests development projects that promise a positive impact. In reality, such projects gradually restrict not only the habitat of the indigenous population but also that of the native flora and fauna. Haryanto and Juru thus offered a rare insight into local forms of resistance in Indonesia and encouraged a differentiated reflection on the concepts of sustainability and development.
A documentary film about the situation on Flores is available on YouTube: Barang Panas ("Hot Stuff").
Similarly, the protest song Tana Mbate de, available on YouTube, uses powerful images to underscore the close connection that activism and music can form.
A recent article by the Stiftung Asienhaus offers further information on geothermal projects in Indonesia in general and on Flores in specific – Indonesien: Geothermie um jeden Preis (in German).
Conclusion
All participants, among them representatives from the Indonesian Embassy in Berlin, the UNESCO Committee in Berlin, the German-Indonesian Association, the NGO Watch Indonesia, and the German-Indonesian Society of South Westphalia, considered the event a great success.
The event also attracted an echo in Indonesian media and press:
https://milenianews.com/pendidikan/mahasiswa-universitas-humboldt-berlin-gelar-indonesia-studies-day
Report and contact details
Esie Hanstein, Lecturer Bahasa Indonesia, IAAW
esie.hanstein(at)hu-berlin.de