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Jamie Mackie: scholar, mentor and advocate
Chris Manning & John Maxwell
To cite this article: Chris Manning & John Maxwell (2011) Jamie Mackie: scholar, mentor and advocate, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 47:2, 183-193, DOI: 10.1080/00074918.2011.585946
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JAMIE MACKIE: SCHOLAR, MENTOR AND ADVOCATE
Chris Manning and John Maxwell*
Australian National University
With the passing of Jamie Mackie in April 2011, the intellectual and policy commu-nity in Australia lost a scholar, mentor and advocate who charted understandings of Indonesia, Southeast Asia and Australia’s relations with Asia for over half a cen-tury. Mackie provided effective leadership and quiet inspiration for the develop-ment of Indonesian and Asian studies in three of Australia’s top universities and throughout the nation. His intellectual contribution ranged across politics, inter-national relations and economics. He urged students, fellow scholars, policy mak-ers and the broader community to remember the historical basis of events in the region, strove to understand what ‘makes things tick’ in Indonesia and promoted racial tolerance in Australia. His style was low-key and personal, mentoring indi-viduals and bringing together groups of like-minded people. While not dodging
!"#$%&'()"**&+*,)-+)./*)0+1+2/''3)45("6"*("%)(-/()*+1*"7'+)/1!)*+1*"("8+)/5524/%-+*)
would enable Australia to live in greater harmony with its neighbours.
Indonesian studies in Australia recently lost a pioneer and leader with the passing 4#)9/6"+):/%;"+,).-4)!"+!)*&!!+1'3)"1)'/(+)<52"')/()-"*)-46+)"1)=46+2*,)>"%(42"/?) Jamie was remarkable for the breadth and scope of his interests, activities and "1@&+1%+)41)2+*+/2%-)/1!)*(&!+1(*,)/1!)#42)-"*)5&7'"%)*+28"%+)/1!)/!84%/%3?)A+) was best known for his work on Indonesia, but he also studied Southeast Asia and the broader region in which Australia is situated. At the time of his death he had just completed several essays on Indonesian Chinese business tycoons, a subject that had long fascinated him, and was planning several other projects. For nearly half a century, he brought a wealth of experience and historical understanding to the study of Indonesia and Asia, and to public debates about Australia’s relations with its neighbours.
In a long interview in 1998 about his career,1 Mackie spoke of his fascination
with Australia’s northern neighbours, kindled during wartime engagements, and
* The authors received comments from many colleagues and wish to thank them for their valuable contribution. They include Robert Cribb, Harold Crouch, Howard Dick, James
B4C,)A/')A"'',)D+(+2):%E/.'+3)/1!)F-++)G"/1)H"+?)I+*541*"7"'"(3)#42)(-+)$1/')8+2*"41)4#)
course rests with the authors. We have also drawn on several obituaries appearing in the media in Australia and Indonesia in May 2011 (see footnote 2), while at the same time seek-ing to avoid overlap with them.
1 This obituary draws on the transcript (and recording) of a 1998 interview with Jamie Mackie conducted by Ann Moyal and held in the Oral History Unit at the National Library of Australia in Canberra (Moyal 1998). Numbers in citations refer to pages of the transcript.
of a curiosity about what makes these countries tick that led him to his Asian jour-ney. It became much more. He sought to plug gaps in knowledge by raising big questions and addressing their policy implications: studying the political under-pinnings of decision making by Asian leaders; exploring solutions to searing and endemic poverty on Java; and working to improve Australia’s sometimes rocky relationship with Indonesia from the Menzies era in the 1950s and 1960s to the present day. He fostered teaching about Indonesia and of the Indonesian language in Australian schools and universities, brought together scholars from various aca-demic disciplines to share ideas, research and teaching experiences on Indonesia and Asia more broadly, and galvanised opposition to racism of all kinds, including the ‘White Australia’ policy in the 1950s and 1960s and the re-appearance of racist views in Australian public life in the 1990s. On all of these fronts, Jamie Mackie was both a scholar and a quiet but effective advocate, proposing, pushing through and following up on changes and reforms that made a difference.
LIFE AND CAREER
James Austin Copland Mackie was born on 27 September 1924 in Ceylon, where his family were tea-planters, but grew up on a struggling soldier settlement block "1)142(-+21)>"%(42"/?2 He was educated at a one-teacher rural school, and then as
a boarder at Geelong Grammar in the late 1930s, during the heyday of its charis-matic headmaster James Darling. There he was taught history by Manning Clark, who was to become a leading historian, and whom Mackie counted among his most inspiring teachers. After wartime service, Mackie entered Melbourne Uni-versity in 1947, excelling in R.M. Crawford’s famous School of History. A schol-arship at University College, Oxford, allowed him to develop and extend his interest in politics and economics by enrolling in its PPE (philosophy, politics and economics) degree program.
Mackie’s interest in Asia had its origins in his World War II navy experience in (-+)<*"/)D/%"$%)2+0"41,).-+2+)-+)./*)#/*%"1/(+!)73)0'"65*+*)4#)/)1+.)/1!)+C%"("10) world. As he later recalled, few Australians then had any knowledge or under-standing of those countries, peoples or cultures. This gap struck him as obvious and grave, and he devoted much of his life to bridging it.
<#(+2)-"*)2+(&21)#246)JC#42!)"1)KLMK,):/%;"+)./*)+/0+2)(4)$1!)/)./3)(4)5&2*&+) his growing interest in Southeast Asia by securing some kind of position in one of the countries in the region. He did this with the help of Herb Feith, a former fel-low student and later a close colleague and friend, who had been working in Indo-1+*"/)*"1%+)KLMK)&1!+2)<&*(2/'"/N*)>4'&1(++2)O2/!&/(+)=%-+6+?):/%;"+)*+%&2+!)/) two-year position at the National Planning Bureau in Jakarta under the auspices of the Colombo Plan. This appointment began in 1956 and coincided with a time of extraordinary turbulence in Indonesian politics – growing instability marked 73) 2+0"41/') 2+*"*(/1%+) /1!) $1/''3) 2+7+''"41) /0/"1*() (-+) %+1(2/') 048+216+1(P) (-+) 41*+()4#)2/5"!'3)2"*"10)"1@/("41)/1!)+%4146"%)*(/01/("41P)/1!)(-+)/7/1!416+1()4#)
2 For a more detailed account of Mackie’s life and career, we direct the reader to the bio-graphical essays in the festschrift volume that appeared after his formal retirement in 1989 (May and O’Malley 1989). Further details appear in recent tributes by friends and col-leagues (Basri 2011; Hill and Manning 2011a, 2011b; Jenkins 2011; Reid 2011; Thee 2011).
parliamentary democracy in 1957. (Using a much-quoted phrase from the Russian revolution, Mackie later described this as the period when ‘power slipped to the streets’ [Moyal 1998: 25].) His determined effort to make sense of these complex developments was helped by the enduring friendships he forged with Indonesians. These included the heads of the planning bureau (initially Djuanda and later Ali Q&!"/2R4SP)*46+)72"0-()34&10)+%4146"*(*).-4).+2+)'/(+2)(4)/((/"1)-"0-)4#$%+,)*&%-) as Widjojo Nitisastro, Mohammad Sadli and Emil Salim; and the mercurial inde-pendent intellectual, publisher and political strategist Soedjatmoko, whom Mackie described as ‘one of the most intelligent men I have ever met’ (Moyal 1998: 29).
After his return from Jakarta in 1958 and over the following decades, Mackie made a major contribution in three Australian universities to writing, teaching and research on Indonesia in particular and Southeast Asia in general. He was $2*() /554"1(+!) -+/!) 4#) /) 1+.) !+5/2(6+1() 4#) T1!41+*"/1) =(&!"+*) /() :+'74&21+) University, as part of a Commonwealth government initiative to develop the *(&!3) 4#) T1!41+*"/?) F-"*) !+5/2(6+1() 4##+2+!) 41+) 4#) (-+) $2*() U/2+/) *(&!"+*N) 524-grams in Australia, where students combined a study of the Indonesian language with courses on Indonesian politics, economics, history, society and culture. The study of contemporary Indonesia was to be at the heart of the program he devel-oped, but language facility was considered essential to a deeper understanding of
Indonesian politics and society.3
In 1968 Mackie was persuaded to move to Monash University and join forces with historian John Legge and political scientist Herb Feith in establishing the E+1(2+)4#)=4&(-+/*()<*"/1)=(&!"+*,)."(-):/%;"+)/*)"(*)$2*()!"2+%(42?)<'')(-2++)-/!) spent time at Cornell University in the United States and were impressed with the direction and quality of the work of its Modern Indonesia Project. The Monash initiative set out to emulate Cornell and to attract graduate students in the various disciplines that supported the work of the centre, especially history and politics, but also anthropology, language and literature. Among those who later became "1@&+1("/')*%-4'/2*)41)T1!41+*"/).+2+)A/24'!)E24&%-,)E-/2'+*)E455+',)I+C):42-timer, Ken Ward and later Bob Elson.
It was also a time of considerable excitement and intellectual debate, with war "1)>"+(1/6)/1!)(-+)+*(/7'"*-6+1()4#)/)1+.)048+216+1()"1)T1!41+*"/)#4''4."10) the collapse of Soekarno’s ‘Guided Democracy’. The killings and mass arrests that accompanied the destruction of the Indonesian Communist Party and the rise of the increasingly authoritarian Soeharto regime were the subject of intense debate. Mackie had developed a strong understanding of the economic morass of the Soekarno era and an appreciation of the work of the economic ‘technocrats’ who were guiding the reconstruction of the economy under Soeharto. He soon found himself under attack by some colleagues and students as a New Order apologist. This strained some old friendships, including with Herb Feith, one of
Mackie’s closest colleagues at Monash University.4 But as Mackie later explained
3 Mackie claimed no special talent as a linguist, but he grasped the importance of students
!+8+'45"10)524$%"+1%3)"1)T1!41+*"/1?)F4)(-/()+1!)-+)%4V/&(-42+!)41+)4#)<&*(2/'"/N*)+/2'" -est Indonesian language textbooks (Sarumpaet and Mackie 1966).
4 The friendship with Feith was tested even further after Indonesia’s annexation of East Timor in 1975, which Feith strongly opposed. Mackie agreed with then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s approach and accepted this fait accompli (though not the use of force) as the best solution from an Australian security perspective.
it ‘… (Herb) and I basically had pretty similar views on where Australia should place herself in relation to Indonesia, at least during the Soekarno period and in the early Soeharto years, although after about 1970 Herb became increasingly disillusioned with the Soeharto regime, whereas I tended … to overlook a lot of [its] political sins and give … credit for [its] economic successes. That was the dif-ference between us’ (Moyal 1998: 35).
In 1978, Jamie Mackie accepted an appointment to the foundation chair of the W+5/2(6+1()4#)D4'"("%/')/1!)=4%"/')E-/10+)"1)(-+)I+*+/2%-)=%-44')4#)D/%"$%)=(&!"+*) X'/(+2)(-+)I+*+/2%-)=%-44')4#)D/%"$%)/1!)<*"/1)=(&!"+*S)/()(-+)<&*(2/'"/1)Y/("41/') University (ANU) in Canberra. Besides Indonesia, both Papua New Guinea and the Philippines were central to the new department’s research agenda. Mackie himself took a keen interest in work on the Philippines, contributing to research in that area.
On Indonesia, he took the opportunity to embark on an innovative research pro-ject involving collaboration with both Australian and Indonesian counterparts. It examined the dynamics of rural social change in Java following longer-term and New Order economic developments such as the ‘green revolution’, the demise of the once thriving plantation sector, and demographic change. The project chose particular districts for intensive study. Although the planned book never eventu-ated, one important offshoot was an edited volume on the province of East Java (Dick, Fox and Mackie 1993). Mackie himself revived a long-standing interest in the political and economic dimensions of plantation agriculture.
While at the ANU, Mackie gave strong support to the Indonesia Project in the adjacent department of economics, a group he later joined in retirement from KLZL)&1("')[\\],).-+1)-+)648+!)7/%;)(4)>"%(42"/?)H"(-)4(-+2)<Y^)%4''+/0&+*,)-+) was instrumental in establishing the annual Indonesia Update conference series, which began in 1983. Now in its 29th year, the series has strong national and international standing. Beyond the ANU, Mackie promoted the growth of Asian studies throughout the country during this period, helping to establish the Asian Studies Association of Australia, which brought together scholars working on the various countries of the Asian region.
CONTRIBUTION TO SCHOLARSHIP ON INDONESIA
Jamie Mackie’s eclectic approach and range of interests, encompassing various academic disciplines, marked him out from other noted Indonesia scholars of his
time.5 Despite his initial training in history and a fundamental belief in the
impor-tance of the traditional disciplines, Mackie was attracted to questions about con-temporary Indonesia that impelled him to concentrate on politics and economics in particular – and to draw whatever he could from a distinctively inter-discipli-1/23)/5524/%-)(4)-"*)*%-4'/2*-"5?)<'(-4&0-)-"*)/%/!+6"%)4&(5&()./*)524'"$%,)-+) did not produce a seminal book on Indonesia, unlike John Legge and Herb Feith (both of whom he greatly admired for their scholarship), or devote himself to spe-cialising in one or a few key areas of research. Rather, his curiosity and belief in
M) I+@+%("10) -"*) 724/!) /1!) 2"%-) '"7+2/') +!&%/("41,) :/%;"+) /'*4) -/!) /1) /%("8+) /1!) '410V
standing interest in art – both western and non-western – and was generous in his encour-agement of younger scholars studying Southeast Asian art forms.
public engagement meant that he made contributions and sought understandings 41)/)724/!)#241(,)!+$1+!)5/2('3)73)-"*)"1"("/')"1(+2+*()"1)-"*(423)/1!)-"*)'/(+2)DD_) (2/"1"10)/()JC#42!?)H+)."'')#4%&*)-+2+)41)-"*)%41(2"7&("41*)"1)(-+)$+'!*)4#)54'"("%*)
and economics, which may be of most interest to BIES readers.
T1)(-+)$+'!)4#)54'"("%*,)5+2-/5*)-"*)6/R42)*%-4'/2'3)/%-"+8+6+1()./*)-"*)*(&!3) of konfrontasi (Mackie 1974), a masterly account of the dispute that erupted in 1963 between Indonesia and the former British colony of Malaya. Many in Aus-tralia and elsewhere regarded this episode as evidence of Indonesia’s ‘expansion-ism’, but Mackie pointed to the shallowness of this interpretation. Teasing out the strands of a complex story, he showed how elements of Indonesian domestic 54'"("%*)-/!)5'/3+!)*46+)5/2()"1)!+(+26"1"10)(-+)%4&2*+)4#)(-+)%41@"%(,)/1!)/748+) all how President Soekarno had used the dispute to consolidate his own political position, justifying his actions with colourful ideological formulations about the ‘New Emerging Forces’ that he believed were challenging the ‘Old Established Forces’ of neo-colonialism and imperialism. The rejection of arguments about Indonesian ‘expansionism’ was a theme that Mackie returned to on other occa-sions, for example, in his contribution to a collection of papers on the Indonesia – Papua New Guinea border (Mackie 1979b). However, the sorry East Timor saga 6/!+)(-/()54*"("41)642+)!"#$%&'()(4)/20&+?)
For some, Jamie Mackie held an ambiguous position within the study of mod-ern Indonesia. In political science circles he was always ready to ask searching questions about the applicability of the latest theoretical approaches, especially if he thought they lacked strong supporting evidence or smacked of faddishness. In a 1979 article (later reprinted in a Cornell monograph of collected papers on approaches to the interpretation of Indonesian politics), he pointed to what he saw as the shortcomings of class analysis and dependency theory for the Indo-nesian case (Mackie 1979a, 1982), despite the repressive nature and poor human rights record of the Soeharto regime. For Mackie, the economic and social reforms 4#) (-+) Y+.) J2!+2) 048+216+1() -/!) *"01"$%/1('3) "65248+!) (-+) .+'#/2+) 4#) 64*() Indonesians.
On the other hand, he was equally ready to remind any in the economics pro-fession who were preoccupied with growth rates and statistical data that they must not overlook the scale of the human tragedy that had unfolded from late 1965 as a direct result of the way the Soeharto regime had taken power. Further assessments of the New Order appeared over the years. One lengthy survey (writ-ten with Andrew McIntyre) included an account of the strengths and weaknesses of the Soeharto regime, raising questions about its repressive character and about problems that would arise in the absence of representative institutions (Mackie and McIntyre 1994).
A subject that attracted Mackie’s attention from the 1960s was the position of the Chinese minority community in Indonesia. His interest was initially sparked by the anti-Chinese violence that erupted in 1963. It eventually led him to edit a book on the political, legal and economic problems then facing the Indonesian Chinese (Mackie 1976b), to which he contributed an account of incidents of hos-tility towards them from the late 1950s (Mackie 1976c). With the rise of the New Order and the revival of the Indonesian economy, Mackie shifted his attention to the role played by the Chinese in the economic life of the country, and in particu-lar to the rise of big business ‘conglomerates’. His analysis was strengthened by
#2+`&+1()%465/2"*41*)."(-)(-+)@&%(&/("10)#42(&1+*)4#)(-+)48+2*+/*)E-"1+*+)%46-munities in other Southeast Asian countries (Mackie 1988, 1992).
A happy set of circumstances allowed Mackie to return to his historical training in 2005. He undertook the preparation of an attractively illustrated book
pub-lished to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1955 Bandung Conference, a
unique gathering of Third World leaders hosted by Indonesia. Mackie sought to place the conference in its historical context for present-day readers, explaining its 54'"("%/')7/%;024&1!,)0"8"10)/1)/%%4&1()4#)(-+)524%++!"10*)/1!)*46+)4#)(-+)!"#$-%&'("+*)(-/()4%%&22+!)/*)!+'+0/(+*)*(2&00'+!)(4)$1!)%46641)024&1!,)/1!)4##+2"10) -"*)/**+**6+1()4#)(-+)%41#+2+1%+N*)*"01"$%/1%+)X:/%;"+)[\\MS?
Mackie wrote at least as much on Indonesia’s economy (including four papers in this journal) as he did on its politics, despite the fact that he taught mainly
politics and history.6 He had a deep curiosity about how the Indonesian economy
worked – in Jakarta, in the regions and in villages – and how political changes "1@&+1%+!) (-+) +%41463?) A+) ./*) +*5+%"/''3) 5&aa'+!) 73) -4.) 5+45'+) *&28"8+!) under conditions of great instability and hardship, such as those he had witnessed $2*(V-/1!)"1)KLM]bMZ)/1!)!&2"10)1&6+24&*)*&7*+`&+1()8"*"(*?)F-"*)%&2"4*"(3)'+!)
him to write an insightful Cornell monograph, modestly titled Problems of the
Indo-!"#$%!&'!(%)$*!&(1967a), which applied a political-economy approach to explaining (-+)!31/6"%*)4#)"1@/("41?7 Mackie also wrote on the implications of the
nationali-sation of foreign-owned estates (plantations) and their subsequent management by state-owned enterprises in the 1950s and 1960s (Mackie 1967b). His judgments on these and other economic issues during the Soekarno period are contained "1) /) %4652+-+1*"8+) *&28+3) +1("('+!) UF-+) T1!41+*"/1) +%41463,) KLM\bKL]cN,) $2*()
published in 1964 (Mackie 1964a).8 Later, during the Soeharto era, besides work
on several other areas, he was to examine agricultural and regional development more closely through a number of papers on aspects of East Java’s regional econ-omy (Mackie 1985, 1989, 1993). His 1993 paper was one product of the rural social dynamics project at the ANU mentioned earlier.
Three themes stand out in this work. First, Mackie wanted to show how
ordinary people (the rakyat) had suffered as a result of economic
mismanage-6+1()X7+)"()-35+2"1@/("41)42)52"%+)%41(24'*S,)3+()/()(-+)*/6+)("6+)-4.)"10+1"4&*) many people and businesses were in dealing with shortages and hopelessly low
money wages.9)=+%41!,)"1@&+1%+!)73)(-+)!"*%&**"41*)4#)*-/2+!)2&2/')548+2(3)
6 Indeed, during his time in the Planning Bureau in Jakarta, he gave a monthly series of lectures on general economic history to students at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta. These were later translated into Indonesian and published in two volumes (Mackie 1964b). 7 In 1962 Mackie had co-authored, with internationally renowned economist Max Corden, an article on the extremely complex issue of Indonesian exchange rates under conditions of
-"0-)"1@/("41,)."(-)2+5+/(+!)&1*&%%+**#&')048+216+1()"1(+28+1("41*)(4)*(/7"'"*+)52"%+*)/1!) "1@&+1%+)(-+)*&55'3)4#)(2/!/7'+)044!*)XE42!+1)/1!):/%;"+)KL][S?)
Z) F-"*)$2*()/55+/2+!)"1)/)O+26/1)publication on development in South and East Asia in 1964, and was re-published in Bruce Glassburner’s edited collection, The Economy of
Indo-nesia: Selected Readings (Mackie 1964a).
L) T1)-"*)E421+'')641402/5-)41)-35+2"1@/("41,):/%;"+)2+6/2;+!)(-/()-+)./*)2+6"1!+!)4#)
the softer struggle depicted in ‘Chekhov’s Russia’ rather than the harsh struggle of ‘Stein-beck’s Okies’ (Mackie 1967a: 84).
in Clifford Geertz’s classic Agricultural Involution (Geertz 1963), Mackie was concerned about the long-term welfare implications of the population explosion "1)(-+)KLM\*)/1!)KL]\*?)J1+)*(2410)2+/*41)#42)-"*)`&/'"$+!)*&5542()4#)(-+)=4+-harto regime was its success in reducing population growth rates through fam-ily planning in the 1970s and 1980s. In his later writings, Mackie was impressed by the emergence of a more prosperous small-scale farming class on Java, both in food (especially rice) production and in plantation crops. He contrasted this with the slow decline of the estates, which continued to suffer from under-investment in government hands. On all of these issues, Mackie challenged col-leagues who judged the Soeharto regime solely on the basis of its poor record on political and human rights.
Mackie made two other important contributions to economists’ understand-ing of Indonesia. First, his analysis was rooted in history, drawunderstand-ing attention to the institutions and past policies that underpinned contemporary economic behaviour. Second, he introduced many Indonesianist economists to some of the political determinants of economic decision making and their political and social
consequences, including graft and corruption (about which he wrote in the BIES
as far back as 1970; Mackie 1970).
An overview of Jamie Mackie’s writings on Indonesia – and we have men-tioned here only those we see as the most important in a long list of articles in journals and edited collections and a steady stream of journalism – fails to do jus-tice to his far wider contribution to scholarship on Indonesia and Southeast Asia more broadly. The very antithesis of the self-centred, cloistered academic, he saw it as his responsibility throughout his career to inform others – in academia, in the media and in policy-making circles – about the complexities of Indonesia and its problems. He never pretended that there were easy answers to understand-ing our important neighbour, and was always impatient with those who claimed +C5+2("*+)41)(-+)7/*"*)4#)*-42()8"*"(*)42)*&5+2$%"/')%41(/%(*?)T1!++!,)"()./*)41)<&*-tralia’s relations with Indonesia and Asia that Mackie’s ideas most informed and "1@&+1%+!)1/("41/')!+7/(+*?)H+)14.)(&21)(4)(-"*)*&7R+%(?
AUSTRALIA, INDONESIA AND THE WORLD
From the beginning of his work on Indonesia, Mackie had developed a strong interest in the complex questions surrounding relations between Australia and its northern neighbour. One of his earliest contributions traced the development of relations between the two countries from the time of Australia’s support for the "1!+5+1!+1%+)*(2&00'+)"1)(-+)6"!VKLd\*)(-24&0-)(4)(-+)642+)!"#$%&'():+1a"+*)+2/) of the 1950s and 1960s (Mackie 1963).
J8+2)(-+)3+/2*)-+)6/!+)6/13)642+)%41(2"7&("41*)(4)/1/'3*"*)4#)(-+)!"#$%&'() and often ambivalent relationship between the two countries, and of the broader relations between Australia and Southeast Asia (see especially Mackie 1976a). Fittingly, given his personal commitment to building a stronger awareness of the importance of the Australia–Indonesia relationship to both countries, one of 9/6"+):/%;"+N*)$1/')5&7'"%/("41*)./*)/)*&7*(/1("/')e4.3)T1*("(&(+)D/5+2)X:/%;"+) 2007) that surveyed the ups and downs of the relationship, including those of more recent times that arose from Islamic extremism and terrorist attacks in Bali and Jakarta. Typically, in addition to analysing the many complex issues, he was
concerned to canvass concrete strategies that Australian policy makers might
adopt to help strengthen ties in the future.10
Mackie’s efforts to help steer policies on relations with Australia’s neighbours were only part of a broader and deeper concern about race relations and Aus-tralia’s reputation abroad. He made an important contribution to building a more tolerant, open and informed society in Australia, especially in relation to the realities of its geographic location on the edge of Asia. One enduring feature of that role was his collaboration with other like-minded individuals in establish-ing the Immigration Reform Group in 1959. Mackie was convener of the group, which promoted reform of Australia’s restrictive and discriminatory immigration policies through the presentation of cautious and carefully argued policy recom-mendations in their 1960 pamphlet ‘Control or colour bar?’ (Immigration Reform
Group 1960).11 The main thrust of the pamphlet was to draw the attention of key
<&*(2/'"/1) 54'"("%/') $0&2+*) (4) (-+) "1+`&"(3) /1!) !/6/0"10) %41*+`&+1%+*) 4#) (-+) ‘White Australia’ policy, which was central to Australian immigration policy from federation until the 1960s.
The pamphlet’s recommendations were quintessential Mackie. At a time when Australia was still receiving large numbers of European migrants, the pamphlet argued cautiously for an annual quota of 1,500 Asian migrants per year. Mackie and his fellow reformers knew that they would need to proceed very gradually if they were to persuade politicians to give serious consideration to a non-racially
based policy.12 They were listened to. The then immigration minister, Hubert
Opperman, began to dismantle ‘White Australia’ just six years later.13
Mackie followed this up with efforts more than 30 years later to combat the re-emergence of racism in Australian public debate, when the nationalist and pro-tectionist One Nation Party led by Pauline Hanson attacked the then Liberal– National coalition government’s policies on immigration and multi-culturalism. In the late 1990s Mackie played an active role in forming a national group called Racial Respect, whose main objective was to counter all forms of racism in Aus-tralia, whether directed towards indigenous Australians or newcomers.
JAMIE MACKIE’S STYLE
Mackie’s former students will attest to his diligence as a teacher and supervi-sor at both undergraduate and graduate level. Singling out younger scholars -+)7+'"+8+!).42(-3)4#)*&5542(,)/'./3*)+/0+2)(4).2"(+)"1(24!&%("41*)42)-+'5)$1!)
10 Mackie’s Lowy paper made four key proposals: creation of a consultative council to act as a ‘guardian’ of the long-term health of the relationship; a substantial increase in funding for the Australia–Indonesia Institute; greater exposure of bilateral and Indonesia country specialists to developments in Japan, China and India; and restoration of funding for Indo-nesian language training in Australia.
11 The original pamphlet, together with some additional material, was later republished as a book (Immigration Reform Group 1962).
12 This was a period when the racial dimensions of immigration were beginning to receive attention in the United Kingdom.
13 Many years afterwards, Opperman wrote to Mackie expressing appreciation of his role in helping to push forward this historic reform.
./3*)(4)2/"*+)#&1!*)#42)(-+"2)2+*+/2%-)524R+%(*)42)$+'!.42;,):/%;"+)-/!)(-+)-/553) knack of making his students feel that they were part of something exciting and important. He was always prepared to spend generous amounts of time discuss-ing, probing and encouragdiscuss-ing, and when written drafts of a thesis or an article were handed over, they were invariably returned quickly, covered with copious notes, corrections and positive suggestions in his characteristic long-hand.
Fundamental to the support and assistance that he gave his students was his 8"+.) 4#) (-+) "6542(/1%+) 4#) ("6+) *5+1() "1) (-+) $+'!) (4) !+8+'45) .-/() -+) '";+!) (4) call a ‘worm’s eye view’, getting to know Indonesia from the inside at the grass roots level: ‘… it’s why ever since the 1950s I’ve felt that unless we could get to understand how the country worked outside the cities, down in the villages, about which we knew almost nothing at that time, we were going to misinterpret things by applying the analysis you’d apply to a more modernised economy ... We needed both a bird’s eye view from a great height of how the great historical forces of the turbulent mid-twentieth century were impinging, and at the same time we needed ... a worm’s eye view of what was actually happening down on (-+)024&1!,)7+%/&*+)(-/(N*).-+2+)(-+)*4%"/')%41@"%()./*)7&"'!"10)&5)fN)X:43/') 1998: 55–6). Mackie’s viewpoint on this was probably partly fashioned by his 1950s interaction with Herb Feith and the volunteer graduates in Indonesia, who
were part of a scheme that he greatly admired.14
As well as his research, teaching and writing, in each of his academic posts Mackie was a generous and encouraging colleague and mentor to many Indo-nesianists. He believed strongly in the Oxford tradition of small informal group discussions outside the formal seminars of the academy. One example was the ‘Tuesday night group’ at the ANU, initiated by Mackie in the early 2000s. His goal was to build up greater communication and understanding across disciplines and generations among Indonesianists at the university, and to inform, and help foster links with, selected bureaucrats and journalists. This was done through occasional meetings, each on a topic of current mutual interest, such as terrorism, 2+%+1()+'+%("41*,)(-+)<%+-)%41@"%(,)(-+)+%4146"%)%2"*"*)/1!)(-+)`&+*("41)4#)D/5&/?) F-+)/(64*5-+2+)/()(-+*+)6++("10*)2+@+%(+!):/%;"+N*)*5"2"()b)"1(+''+%(&/''3)*+/2%--ing and robust discussion, intermF-+)/(64*5-+2+)/()(-+*+)6++("10*)2+@+%(+!):/%;"+N*)*5"2"()b)"1(+''+%(&/''3)*+/2%--ingled with good humour and conviviality.
Asian scholars and internationalists at the ANU, across Australia and abroad
will miss Jamie Mackie greatly. Selamat jalan, comrade!
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14 In the 1950s, Feith pioneered a tradition of embedding young Australian professionals in Indonesian institutions at Indonesian rates of pay, giving them very much a ‘worm’s eye view’ of the everyday life of middle-class Indonesian families and communities. A number of these volunteer graduates later became well-known academics working on Indonesia.
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:/%;"+,)9?<?E?)/1!)g/"1,)WR&6"'/-)XKLZLS)U_/*()9/8/h)7/'/1%+!)024.(-)/1!)!"8+2*"$%/("41N,)
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