Embassies of Australia and Singapore

Embassies of Australia and Singapore

Last week, I and all of my friends in cohort 2011, went to Australia Embassy and Singapore Embassy.  There, we learned about the education, culture, and many things about the country. We also learned about the relation between Australia with Indonesia and Singapore with Indonesia. Australia Embassy in Indonesia is the biggest embassy of Australia in the world. Before we entered the embassy building, we through lot of security process.  After that, we entered one room to hear the explanations about the country of the embassy.

We learned many things about Australia in Australia Embassy. Australia is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the mainland of the continent of Australia, the island of Tasmania, and various small islands in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean . Indonesia is one of Australia's neighboring countries, that is in the north. For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia has been inhabited by Aborigines. Australia’s population of 22,5 million. Australia has 6 states and 2 territories on the mainland.  Australia is the world's thirteenth largest economy and has the ninth highest per capita GDP. Australia is a multicultural country.  Australians were born overseas, the five largest immigrant groups were those from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Vietnam, and China. Australia has no official language. English became the de facto national. Australian English is the main varieties of the language with a different accent and vocabulary. Hindi and China language are the top language other English. Australia's native language allegedly remained at the time Europeans first made ​​contact with Aboriginal. Australia has no official religion. According to 2006 census, 64% of Australians claim to be Christian. Largest non-Christian religion in Australia is Buddha. In Australia, religion does not play a central role in the lives of many people. The participation of students in school is compulsory throughout Australia. All children received 11years compulsory education from ages 6 to 16 years. Australia is always top five of the thirty major developed countries, in the International Pelaar Assessment Program. Government guarantees full support to the establishment of 38 universities in Australia, all of a state, except for one university. Australia has world class education. Almost 58% of Australians aged 25 to 64 years have a vocational qualification or university. Life expectancy in Australia is quite high, 78.7 years for males and 83.5 years for women born in 2006.

In Australia Embassy, we got the explanation about cooperation between Australia and Indonesia, especially in education. Australia – Indonesia Youth Exchange Program (AIYEP), is the program of Australia-Indonesia Institute (AII) that  invites applications from young Australians aged between 21 and 25 years,  willing to represent Australia for two months in Indonesia during December 2011 to February 2012 as members of the AIYEP 2011/12. The program aims to provide wider opportunities for young people from Indonesia and Australia to appreciate the culture, development and way of life of each other's country and to build groups of young and potentially influential people in both Australia and Indonesia who have knowledge and personal experience of the two countries. Australia – Indonesia Muslim Exchange Program (MEP) is a program that involves visits of several weeks duration to Australia by groups of young Indonesian Muslim community leaders and visits to Indonesia by their Australian counterparts.  The aim is to develop greater understanding and recognition of religion and its role in each society.  Australia also has Scholarship Program, namely Australia Award. The Australia Awards aim to promote knowledge, education links and enduring ties between Australia and our neighbours through Australia's extensive scholarship programs. The Australia Awards are comprised of two streams, that is achievement stream and development stream. We also watched one of documentary movie in Australia Embassy that tell story about relation between Australia and Indonesia when Indonesia will be colonized again by the Dutch. Australia helped Indonesia to fight for the independence of Indonesia. Australia held the allies that would invade Indonesia back in the port of Sydney, so the Indonesian population residing in Australia can proclaim its independence.

In Singapore Embassy, we also get many things about Singapore. In the first time, before we enter the building of Singapore Embassy, we didn’t get complicated security checks as when in Australia Embassy. After we entered the room of Singapore Embassy, we listened the story of Singapore History first. Singapore is in the mastery of a Malay sultanate in a long time, so it became the British colony on August 2, 1824. In 1869, the island is inhabited by 100,000 people. Singapore formally achieved independence on August 9, 1965. In 2011, Singapore's economic growth reached 5%, whereas in 2012 is estimated to about 1-3%.

English is the most dominant language in Singapore. Among the people of Singapore, most speakers of English, followed by Mandarin, Malay and Tamil. The use of English is so widespread in Singapore after 1965. Since then, English became the main intermediary in the education system in Singapore and became the official language that is recognized by Singapore. In school, children must learn English and a language which is their native language. Malay language serve as a national language because of the history and symbolic, and became the main language of Singapore's Malay community substitutions. Malay language used in the national anthem, " Majulah Singapura". Mandarin is the most dominant language in Singapore. Tamil language is widely used by the Indian community in Singapore. Approximately 42% of Singaporeans are foreigners. Singaporean food is a blending of cultures several countries, that is the British, Malay, Chinese, Indian and Peranakan.  The most widely embraced religion in Singapore are Buddhism. No religion is considered lower or above the other, all the diverse religious beliefs were well received and all the religious practices of their cultural roots run depends so they do not offend a particular religious sect. Singapore has a compulsory military service for every male citizen for at least two years. Housing policy and defense policy in Singapore to allow people from other nations to get involved. Education in Singapore is one of the best education in the world.