Insurer AAMI's 'Rhonda and Ketut' Balinese love story was teased out over four commercials and three years. The marketing strategy, blurring advertising and entertainment, has come to its long-awaited, soapy end. Whether you have loved it or cringed at it, the campaign is a huge success, and its campy, cocktail soaked tentacles have penetrated the Australian mainstream.
But for the millions who tuned into the AAMI saga, how many have been puzzled by the brown-skinned man with the funny hankie on his head?
The knowledge Australians have for our closest Asian neighbour is poor. And awareness of Bali does not translate into awareness of Indonesia. According to a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade report released last year, 30 per cent of respondents didn't know Bali was part of Indonesia.
In the final ad, Rhonda chooses Ketut over an Australian man. Ketut says to Rhonda, 'Saya cinta kamu' — 'I love you'. This is the first time in history that Indonesian language has been used in an Australian TV commercial for a national brand.
Indonesia suffers from a lack of popularity in Australia. How is it that most of us are clueless to common words like 'I' or 'love' from the country that straddles our northern border? Indonesia is the world's third largest democracy, it's vital to our national security, and we share approximately $15 billion worth of annual trade. But we prefer to bathe in apathy until tragedy whets our appetite for the place.
The latest research into the state of Indonesian language found it was vanishing from our schools and universities. An Asia Education Foundation report found 99 per cent of all Australian students studying Indonesian quit before year 12. More recently, Murdoch University Professor David Hill found enrolment in Indonesian courses fell nationally by 40 per cent from 2001 to 2010 and by 70 per cent in NSW.
Aren't we supposed to be preparing for the 'Asian century'? There is a policy belief that this means learning an Asian language. Julia Gillard's 2012 'Australia in the Asian Century White Paper' recommended every Australian student be given the opportunity to learn a 'targeted' language from kindergarten to year 12.
And this is bipartisan. Last December, Tony Abbott stressed the need for more Australians to 'speak Asian languages, catch cultural meanings and navigate local networks'. Abbott has established a new $15 million dollar Australian centre for Indonesian studies to help Australians to 'get to know contemporary Indonesia better.'
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