Letter DJOKJAKARTA, 21 July 1949
AUSTRALIAN FELLOWSHIPS
With reference to your letter [1] of 27 May 1949 no. 352/1, I herewith have the honour to inform you that the selection of candidates for the Senior and Junior Fellowships offered by your Government has been closed and resulted in the nomination of the following persons:
Senior Fellowships: 1. Dr. Sugoto, Engineer, 2. Miss Kurnianingrat.
Junior Fellowship: 1. Mr. Sabarsudiman.
I regret very much not to be able to nominate more candidates as suggested in your letter, because as a consequence of the Dutch military action most of our candidates who had been already selected before 19 December 1949 are still outside the residency of Jogjakarta fulfilling their duties.
I therefore beg your kind intermediary to convey my request to your Government to the effect that this emergency situation be taken into consideration so that aforementioned persons could be regarded as the only and most qualified candidates of the Republic of Indonesia.
These candidates have been selected very carefully under my personal observation and I can assure you that they will represent the Republican ideals in a satisfactory way.
The documents concerning these applicants, required by your letter, are enclosed herewith. I should however like to draw your attention to a matter of personal interest of one of the applicants.
Mr. Sugoto, who is an engineer, asked me whether it would be possible to bring his wife with him on their own expenses. She is a sister of Prince Paku Alam of Jogjakarta, and her going with her husband would be of great help and advantage not only for his study, but also for making the Australian people acquainted with Indonesian culture and art, since Mrs. Kusbinah Sugoto is a well- known performer of Javanese dances in the palace of Prince Paku Alam. These circumstances will certainly promote the friendly relations between the Australian and Indonesian peoples. I therefore beg you to urge your Government that permission be given to Mrs. Sugoto to accompany her husband to Australia.
As to Miss Kurnianingrat I would like to draw your attention to the fact that she is one of the most qualified teachers in the English language in our secondary schools. Besides she has very much interest in general problems of education, and since in the Republic of Indonesia there are but few specialists on educational psychology it would be a great help if Miss Kurnianingrat could take the advantage of this fellowship for the completion of her study in educational psychology.
For further information I would like to refer to Mr. Harris, member of the Australian Goodwill-mission to Indonesia, who met Miss Kurnianingrat personally at Jogjakarta. Mr. Harris told me that according to his opinion Miss Kurnianingrat would be an excellent representative of Indonesian womanhood when sent to Australia on the fellowship offered by your Government.
Our candidate for Junior Fellowship, Mr. Sabarsudiman, has already acquired experience during his work in the Post-Telegraph and Telephone Service, and his study in Australia, although only for a short time, will be of great help to the development of his technical ability.
I will therefore beg your kind cooperation for urging your Government in order that above-mentioned applications be taken into favourable consideration.
In connection with the necessary preparations for the departure to Australia I would be very much obliged to you if I could receive information concerning your Government’s decision in this matter in due time.
May I convey to you my gratitude for your kind and valuable cooperation? I avail myself of this opportunity to renew to you, Sir, the assurance of my high consideration.
_
1 Document 424.
_
[AA : A4357/2, 352/1]