Chairperson

Michele Ford became interested in Indonesia when she was studying Engineering and Industrial Relations at the University of New South Wales . In 1990, she took an Indonesian language summer course in on a whim, and it changed her life. Indonesia beat Engineering 45-love, and she ended up with an Indonesian husband, an Indonesian house (in Tanjung Pinang in the Riau Islands ) and a PhD in Indonesian labour relations. When she is not working on Inside Indonesia, she teaches Indonesian language and Southeast Asian Studies (with a focus on social activism and human rights) at the University of Sydney or does research on Indonesian labour and Kepulauan Riau. Michele is also a member of Inside Indonesia's editing committee.

Vice-Chair

Jemma Purdey joined the IRIP Board in September 2007. She is currently researching and writing a biography of Herb Feith, who until his death was one of Inside Indonesia’s earliest and long-time supporters. Jemma’s interest in Indonesia came via her passion for human rights causes beginning in the early 1990s and an interest in knowing more about our near neighbours. Jemma has spent extended periods of time travelling, studying and researching in Indonesia . She wrote a PhD on anti-Chinese violence in Indonesia during the last years of the New Order and after reformasi. She now works as a researcher in the Centre of Southeast Asian Studies at Monash University .

Treasurer

Anton Lucas continues as Treasurer of the IRIP Board. He arrived in Yogyakarta from the University of Hawaii 's East West Center in late 1969 on an Indonesian language semester study programme and it changed his life forever. He wrote a PhD on the independence struggle of 1945 on Java's north coast, and has since taught in Indonesia , in Makassar (1984-85), and in Yogya (1990-92). After Inside Indonesia started in the mid-1980s, he signed up his wife Kadar's extended Yogya family, and a Catholic nunnery in Central Java , as subscribers. Kadar's family were interrogated by intelligence officers, and the nuns were accused of spreading banned Marxist teachings. Indonesia has changed a lot since then, but the magazine maintains its commitment to social justice, and what is happening at the grass roots level in the largest Muslim country in the world which is Australia 's closest neighbour. Anton teaches Asian Studies and Indonesian at Flinders University , and does research on agrarian and environmental issues.

Secretary

Julian Millie is an ARC fellow currently working in the anthropology section of the School of Political and Social Inquiry, Faculty of Arts, Monash University . His current project concerns Islamic preaching in West Java . Prior to undertaking this project, Julian completed two other studies on the Islamic culture of Indonesia . He has taught in a number of departments in the Faculty of Arts at Monash University , and is a member of the executive committee of the Monash Centre of Southeast Asian Studies.

Other Members:

Ed Aspinall was the previous Chair of the IRIP Board. He now serves on Inside Indonesia’s editing committee. Ed became involved in things Indonesian when he spent a year in Malang , East Java , as a teenager in 1983 (his father was working on an Australian government aid project). Later he studied Indonesian at high school and university. He finished his PhD in 2000 on the topic of the democratic movement that overthrew the Suharto regime. Now he researches Indonesian politics at the Australian National University , currently with a focus on the conflict in Aceh.

Gerry van Klinken and his partner Helene became avid readers of Inside Indonesia when they were living in Salatiga, Central Java in the late 1980s. After both submitting pieces and being thrilled when they were published, Gerry found himself editing the magazine in 1996. After moving to a guest editor system in 2002 he continued to be actively involved in the magazine, first as coordinating editor, and later as a member of the editing committee. He is now a researcher in the Netherlands . Gerry is continually struck by the infectious energy that Indonesia inspires in those who return from their travels. He sees that energy as a sustaining force for the magazine. Helene and Gerry's own memories of Indonesia include high adventure, back-packing around the archipelago and being shipwrecked at night on a coral reef in a traditional sailing boat! They both want the magazine to be a 'bridge between people, to challenge stereotypes, to highlight movements and individuals who we think symbolise a better tomorrow.' 

David Matthews first visited Indonesia, via Portuguese East Timor, in August 1973. From1983 he worked for several years with Oxfam Community Aid Abroad in Perth. During that time he initiated, produced, recorded and presented a half-hour weekly radio program, 3rd World Magazine. Between 1990 and 2003, David made frequent extended visits to Indonesia and India where he made digital field-recordings of music, storytelling and various soundscapes. David coordinated the documentary screenings and seminars component of the 2002 Melbourne IFFEST, the first major Indonesian film festival outside Indonesia. David has been a keen reader of Inside Indonesia for two decades and for the last two print edition years was on the mail-out team and helped with proofreading. Since May 2007 he has been managing this website.

Thushara Dibley spent 10 years of her childhood in Indonesia, growing up in Jakarta and Yogyakarta. She discovered Inside Indonesia as a student in the Indonesian Studies Department at the University of Sydney.  Thushara has used Indonesian to do field work research for her Honours thesis in Timor Leste. After completing her studies she worked for a year with various local organizations in Timor Leste. Thushara is currently enrolled in a PhD at the University of Sydney. Her research looks at the relationship between local and international organisations implementing peacebuilding projects in Aceh and Timor Leste.