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USTRALIA: Australia’s capacity to benefit from Indonesia’s dynamic growth in Asia is being hindered by the lack of language skills, a recent research report stated.

In his detailed research into the study of the Indonesian language, Murdoch University prof. David Hill revealed that there were fewer year 12 students studying Indonesian in 2009 than there were in 1972. University enrollments in Indonesian language also fell nationally by 40 percent between 2001 and 2010.

“Opportunities exist for Australian graduates in all sectors of the Indonesian economy, but to maximize these opportunities, Australia needs Indonesian-literate graduates who can communicate effectively in Indonesian,” Hill said in a media statement.

With a population of 240 million, Indonesia is the world’s third largest democracy, fourth most populous nation, and home to a rapidly expanding middle-class. Its economy is growing by more than 6 percent per annum, with the International Monetary Fund projecting its nominal GDP growth rate (2009-2015) to be 15.1 percent, higher than Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Korea, Japan and the rest of Southeast Asia.

The Hill report recommends 20 strategies to build Australia’s Indonesian language capability to meet the Australian government’s goals for the bilateral relationship. Full details of the report, with its submission recommendations, will be released in Canberra on Monday.