Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Vol. 51, No. 2, 2015: 213–16 ISSN 0007-4918 print/ISSN 1472-7234 online/15/000213-4 © 2015 Indonesia Project ANU http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00074918.2015.1061911 FIFTY YEARS OF THE BULLETIN OF INDONESIAN ECONOMIC STUDIES: 1965–2015 Pierre van der Eng* The Australian National University When Professor Heinz W. Arndt embarked in 1964 on establishing what has become the Indonesia Project at The Australian National University, he was uncertain about whether to include the publication of an academic journal on eco- nomic development in Indonesia. Nevertheless, in 1965 the Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies (BIES) emerged. It became—in the words of the late Widjojo Nitisastro (1990, 43), one of Indonesia’s most eminent economists—‘a most valu- able English-language academic journal about the Indonesian economy and a prominent, publicly available source on economic development in Indonesia’. BIES continues to be widely regarded as the world’s leading journal on the devel- opment of what is now one of the 10 largest economies in the world. One reason for Arndt’s uncertainty about publishing a journal was that he was still developing his interest in Indonesia, as part of his position at the then Research School of Pacifc Studies (RSPacS) at ANU. Colleagues advised Arndt against establishing the Indonesia Project. Indeed, the mid-1960s were inauspicious years for an Australian to take an interest in Indonesia, as Australia–Indonesia relations reached a nadir during konfrontasi. But Arndt’s initiative received a favourable hearing from leading public servants in the Australian Department of External Affairs. As his ideas about encouraging the study of Indonesia’s economy took shape in 1964–65, Arndt found that little of substance was known about Indonesia’s economy. Increasing political radicalisation and xenophobia, as well as safety concerns, had caused many foreign observers, academics, and journalists to leave the country. Within Indonesia, local newspapers had been banned or censored in favour of propaganda, the administrative systems that sustained the collection of economic data had broken down, and the government had prohibited the pub- lication of its budget. Data that were taken for granted in Australia’s case were simply not available for Indonesia, or were of dubious quality. This, and the perilous state of Australia–Indonesia relations, convinced Arndt that Australia had to develop ways to improve its understanding of the economic diffculties experienced by its nearest Asian neighbour. Arndt created a tentative frst issue of a journal in June 1965: a typescript print, produced by the RSPacS * BIES editor, 2012–15. This brief overview draws on articles by Arndt (1990), Booth, McCawley, and Sundrum (1984), McCawley (2002), and Brown (2015), as well as on BIES and the annual reports of the ANU Indonesia Project. Downloaded by [Australian National University] at 16:21 24 August 2015