An Uncommon Expat Couple

The Jakarta Post   |  Fri, 03/28/2008 2:55 PM  |  Two of a Kind

If life from the outside looks too good to be true, it probably is. When Anton Clark and Gregory Biggs decided life was too perfect, they threw each other a challenge: move to Indonesia, start a new life and commit to working as volunteers for a couple of years. From gardening and teaching in almost outback Australia, to the smog of Jakarta and the wilds of Sumatra, they are doing good things for a foreign country they’ve fallen in love with – which makes them two of a kind.

Gregory Biggs
In 2004, Greg was working at a primary school in Busselton, Western Australia. He was teaching Bahasa Indonesia, which he’d studied throughout university and in Bandung. He had a bright future and life was pretty good. But at the ripe old age of 30, he developed itchy feet. So he left behind a perfect job, rented out his perfect house and became a volunteer teacher in Jakarta with the largest Islamic organization in Indonesia.

The librarian at our school in Busselton always knew I had an interest in doing something developmental in education and she knew I had an Indonesian language background.

She found this job advertisement on the AVI (Australian Volunteers International) website and e-mailed it to me. I was in a class and I had my CV sitting on the server, so I just typed up a generic letter and sent it off.

I didn’t even tell Anton what I’d done.

But I think one of the things we knew was that we wanted to move.

All our friends -- and we’re still close with them – are not that adventurous, and I kind of felt that we had something else in us that was a bit more adventurous.

We were living in Dunsborough and it was so beautiful there. I had got to a stage where I thought we were never going to leave or go anywhere. It wasn’t that I felt trapped, but it was a bit surreal. And I thought, there’s got to be more to life.

But my letter was sent just before Easter in 2004 to AVI and I got an interview in Melbourne. I went along thinking that I can always say no.

It took a really long time but I was finally offered a position around October 2004.

I was assigned to a project and they said they would support partners and spouses. So I told them about Anton and they said no problem at all. The only problem was the Indonesian government would not accept us coming as a couple.

But AVI said they would sort Anton out. They were very supportive, it was never an issue. It was quite invigorating, actually. They were really inclusive.

Just before Christmas 2004, we packed the house, rented it out and went to Perth to live with my mum. I had been given two years leave without pay from my school and Anton had finished his work.

AVI found Anton a business role and he left for Indonesia on January 15, 2004. At that stage AVI couldn’t tell me when I was leaving, they couldn’t tell me anything. My education visa was taking longer to sort out than Anton’s business visa.

I knew Anton would be OK though because he’s quite an adaptable person. But I got to Perth, and he’d gone. I was living with mum and I wasn’t getting paid from my school ...

So I started working in a café. I loved it. I was at Cottesloe on the beach. It was a waiting period. I was working with these 18-year-olds who thought I was hilarious. But I loved it.

And it was probably a bit better for Anton to be by himself in Yogyakarta for the first bit.
I finally got there in February 2005 and I did another two-week course in Bahasa Indonesia, a top-up course.

I love Yogyakarta. I was really excited. I knew what to expect, I knew the language, and I knew it would be OK. We knew people here. It was a soft landing for me. It wasn’t a soft landing for Anton though.

I was posted to Jakarta and to the largest Islamic organization in the country.

I worked out of their headquarters for a young women’s organization and I had a lovely, lovely bunch of progressive Islamic women to work with.  I just loved it. Absolutely loved their company.

Within Pengurus Besar Nahdlatul Ulama, I taught English to security guards, cleaners, men, women, everyone. Most of these people are peasant farmers from East Java.

I had a A$10,000 budget, it was very well funded for two years. They warmed to me quite quickly. My color made a difference. The fact I look Indonesian and I could speak a bit of Bahasa. That made a huge difference.

And I warmed to them quite quickly. I just loved my time with them.

My classes started off really big, but as time went on, people lost interest and I ended up not having very large numbers attending my classes.

It got too hard. They weren’t really making a commitment. But I was very lucky, there was another AusAid program running in Jakarta called Learning Assistance Program for Islamic Schools (LAPIS).

Robert Kingham was in charge, he’s also Australian, and he said to me, “Greg, I want you to work with me and I want you to see as much of Indonesia as you can.” He was just the loveliest guy. He’s the kind of guy if you give him water, he’ll give you gold in return. He’s that kind of fellow.

This project was different. It wasn’t Canberra pushing. It was LAPIS, it was their budget, but the ideas had to purely come from the locals and then it was supported by us.

I had to organize a field trip to Perth, I became a coordinator for the entire organization. And then when it was all over, I moved to the Australian International School in Jakarta, which is where I am now.

And I love it. I’m teaching year two this year. I’ve got a two-year contract, which ends this year.
I think life is about making choices, and making a choice that you think is the right one at the time and giving it a go.

I tell other people that I’m really very lucky and fortunate to be living here. And the quirkiness of this country – you can see a mother and a father and kids on a motorbike and you can say,

“I can’t believe these people are doing this to their children,” or you can say, “where else would I see that, and isn’t it hilarious.”

We are so lucky to be here. And I think, wherever you are, you have to embrace it. I find it a pretty easy place to live. It may be because I can speak Indonesian, I’m Asian looking, I blend in with the crowd.

But my father died when I was 15. My mother lost her husband. We had a really tough time for three or four years after that. And we decided not to be victims. This is what life is all about. It’s about your ups and downs, and how you move on from that.

I’ve learned a lot from my time here. Anton is away a lot now, so I’ve learned to enjoy my own company and I’ve learned to enjoy the people around me.

My advice to newcomers to Jakarta? Give it a go. And really embrace where you are. Ask yourself, why am I here and how can I make the most of my time here.

And you just have to respect everyone. I think you have to remember you’re a guest. It’s like, I’ve been invited to someone’s house and I’m a guest. Remember, Indonesia can give you more than you can give Indonesia.

Anton Clark
Anton calls himself a gardener. But before he left for Indonesia, he was head horticulturalist for one of the most famous new gardens in Western Australia. It was a project he’d given five years of his life to and one he thought he would forever be a part of. Until he decided it was time for a change. Since then, he has overcome all the hurdles that go with moving to a foreign country, and he has become a businessman and volunteer leader in the Acehnese community in which he lives.

Greg was on holiday in Melbourne when he rang me and said, “I’ve got a job, how would you feel if we moved to Indonesia?”

We’d loved living in Dunsborough, but there were just so many wealthy people. The locals had made a lot of money from property and tradesmen were making a mint.  

Then Greg told me about his AVI job and I thought, god, my project hasn’t finished.

This garden I’d been working on, I saw myself as being a caretaker for history, for the future.
Some of the trees I planted won’t come to fruition for 80 to 100 years. I never envisioned myself leaving. We’d bought a house in Dunsborough and we were about to build another.

But then we thought, we can stay and play that game, new houses and new cars and lots of dinner parties, but it was all a bit gross.

I was supposed to be clipping hedges and making everything look incredible. Instead, I’m tripping off to Melbourne because I had to interview for a new job in Indonesia.

It was all a bit difficult. I’d been living with a Bahasa Indonesia teacher who had taught me nothing. I knew nothing. I didn’t even know what terima kasih meant.

So, it was really a bit of a shock. But by that stage, I was really ready for a change.

In November 2004, we had the big housewarming for the property I’d been working on. After five years of work, there was a pretty big party. All the bigwigs were there, there was free-flowing Moet.

Then when the tsunami hit, we were even more determined to come to Indonesia. We saw this country as needing even more help.

AVI kind of wrote my job description up as some sort of business communications adviser. And they linked me to this small group in Jakarta called Pekerti Nusantara – a fair trade group that concentrates its development and aid efforts in rural and poorer areas.

I’d been to Bali a couple of times and Greg and I were in Jakarta the Christmas they bombed churches in Jakarta and across Indonesia, in 2001. So when the tsunami happened, and we were still in Australia, I guess we just thought we’d still go.

But when I landed in Yogyakarta on the 15th of January for my six weeks of language lessons, there was no one to meet me at the airport.

I thought I was following a mate, coming to Indonesia, but Greg’s visa wasn’t organized, and so I thought, right, I’m doing this by myself.

And I speak nothing. No Bahasa. But I thought, I’m totally determined, nothing’s going to stop me.

Then I got off the plane and thought, it’s hot, and this is horrible.

I didn’t sleep for the first three months when I started my job. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was eating ham and cheese twice a day. I’d fall asleep at three in the morning and get up at five.

And Bahasa lessons? I just couldn’t do it. My whole mind would go blank. I’ve got a visual memory, I haven’t got a hearing memory. And the lessons were all oral.

I just couldn’t do it. For the first month, I was a total failure. And they’d say I should practice, but I was embarrassed, so I didn’t practice. I wasn’t going to speak until such time as I was confident enough to say what I needed to say.

So I became a real nerd. I studied and studied. I’d go home, have a nap for an hour, and study. I had six weeks by myself before Greg arrived.

When we got to Jakarta, and I went to my office, they gave me a desk and they gave me a book on what Pekerti does. It was a hive of activity in my office because of the tsunami.

Pekerti Nusantara goes into small rural areas, we teach cooperative skills and handicraft skills.

My salary is paid by AVI, but I work for Pekerti. Right now I work with a cooperative of women in Trienggadeng village, southwest of Banda Aceh, and I’m teaching them how to work for their future. We make mats, handbags, all sorts of things from pandan leaves, and we sell them in Banda Aceh, in Jakarta and in Yogyakarta.

On coming to Jakarta, what’s my advice?  Come with no expectations, then you won’t be disappointed.

And I think what I’ve learned is that everyone is the same, all over the world.

Indonesia brings you back to the common denominator.

It’s taught me to be more respectful and humble. Indonesia has more to give us. I haven’t given back enough, yet.

I’m doing a lot, and I’ve helped to revive an organization.

Because you come from an international perspective, you can open that door. A lot of volunteers come here and they hit the door, and it hits them, and they get frustrated and they go home. But I’ve found the key to that door and I’m using it.

As told to Sarah Porter

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