Q&A with Samah Hadid

Interviewed by Olivia Cable

Samah Hadid is a Human Rights activist who took part in the Indonesia-Australia Dialogue 2011 in Jakarta.

She was also a 2010 Australian Youth Representative to the United Nations, and in 2009 Samah was selected as the first Australian to complete a Minority Rights Fellowship with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

This interview was conducted as part of the Indonesia-Australia Dialogue 2011 in Jakarta. The Dialogue, held in Jakarta on 5-6 October, was a joint initiative between the leaders of Australia and Indonesia to promote a deeper relationship.

What are your views on the Australia-Indonesia relationship, and why is it important?

Well I think that as an Australian, it’s particularly important to realise our place in the Asia Pacific region, and foster stronger relationships with our neighbours. Indonesia, I think, is an important neighbour of ours. We’ve been undertaking a lot of cultural understanding, a lot of exchange programs, we get a lot of Indonesian exchange students in Australia, so it’s an important neighbour that deserves to be invested in far more.

I think that the relationship could stand to be refreshed, re-energised, and this dialogue is an important undertaking in that.

Bilaterally, how can Indonesia and Australia improve people-to-people links among the youth?

One of the outcomes that I hope that this dialogue will produce is far more communication between young people and youth groups within civil society in Australia and in Indonesia. One of the other participants in this dialogue is very much involved in civil society, as I am in Australia, and we’ve decided to continue on the dialogue and discussion around how we can link up youth groups in Indonesia and Australia through ICTs, such as a simple Skype call for instance, which I think is a first step really.

So in tapping into new technologies and social media, I think that young people from both countries can certainly start communicating on a more meaningful level.

How is Indonesia addressing climate change?

Well there are successful and existing civil society organisations and initiatives that have been engaging with young people and young climate change activists that exist within Oxfam, that exist within the UN system as well, and I know that AusAid does fund (not quite a lot), but does fund programs to do with climate change. I think that it’s about what we can do as Australians to promote technologies and technology transfer, how we can better improve the carbon market here.

In our last session we discussed the issue of the carbon market here and how there is potential there for growth, it’s just about investment and looking into that.

But I would say, really just get your voices heard because quite often we don’t hear from those who will be directly affected, immediately, by climate change and we know that young Indonesians will inevitably bear the brunt of the consequences of climate change, so their voices need to be heard and I’d like to see far more of those voices in these dialogue sessions for instance.

The video of Samih Hadid’s interview can be viewed here

Other interviews conducted by Olivia Cable as part of the Australia-Indonesia Dialogue include:

Professor Tim Lindsey, Director, Asian Law Centre, The University of Melbourne 

Professor Andrew MacIntyre, Dean, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University 

The Hon. Robert Hill, Chancellor, The University of Adelaide 

Mr Mark Scott, Executive Director, Australian Broadcasting Corporation 

Olivia Cable studying a Masters in Strategy and Defence at the Australian National University.

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