Indonesian scholar wins top academic prize at University of Melbourne
Media Release, Monday 22 October 2007
An Indonesian researcher has become the first international student to win a coveted Chancellor’s Prize at the University of Melbourne.
Dr Luthfi Assyaukanie’s PhD on Islam and politics in Indonesia was judged the best Humanities and Creative Arts thesis completed during 2006.
Dr Assyaukanie’s PhD was one of only four dissertations from among almost 500 submitted last year to receive the prestigious prize, which has been awarded annually by the University since 1998.
The awards will be announced at an official ceremony in Melbourne on 23 October. Dr Assyaunkanie will be unable to attend because of work commitments.
Dr Assyaukanie spent four years at the University of Melbourne completing his Masters and PhD. He was supervised by Professors Merle Ricklefs, Abdullah Saaed and Arief Budiman.
“My thesis explores the development of Islamic political thought in Indonesia,” Dr Assyaukanie said.
“It deals with the Muslim responses to such modern political concepts as democracy, freedom and secularism.
“Focusing on three generations of Indonesian Islam I found that there is progress in the discourse.
“Indonesian Muslims are currently more open and positive to political secularization than four or five decades earlier.
“There is certainly a campaign of Islamisation throughout the ages though it generally took place at the societal level.
“In the political level, particularly with regards to political parties and the basis of the state, Indonesian Muslims tend to be more secular than ever.”
The citation for Dr Assyaukanie’s Chancellor’s Prize said his thesis had made a “significant and pioneering contribution” to literature on Islam and politics in Indonesia.
One examiner said the thesis “will have a major impact on the current domestic debate about the relationship between religion, specifically Islam and politics. My views…have been changed by reading Assyaukanie’s account”.
Dr Assyaukanie is now completing a post-doctoral program at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore and working as an associate researcher at the Freedom Institute in Jakarta.
He said he enjoyed his experience studying at the University of Melbourne and chose to complete his PhD there because it was “the best university in Australia”.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Dr Luthfi Assyaukanie
Freedom Institute, Jakarta
Mobile: +6281382167412
assyaukanie@gmail.com
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