Editor’s note: The responses in this report have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
DeKALB – Andi Mallarangeng, from Indonesia, graduated from NIU in 1991 with his master’s degree and then again in 1997 with his doctoral degree in political science. Mallarangeng spoke to the Northern Star about his experience at NIU and what he is doing today.
Question: Tell me a little bit about yourself? What do you like to do in your free time?
Answer: “I graduated with my master’s (degree in sociology) in 1991 (from NIU) and then moved on to the political science department for my Ph.D. and graduated in 1997. Then I got back to Indonesia because I thought that I’m more useful in Indonesia, rather than staying in America, being a professor there. So I got back to Hasanuddin University in Makassar, Indonesia, as a professor there. But then, six months after I got back to Indonesia, President Suharto went down, then “reformasi,” or reform, in which we were starting a journey to democratization in Indonesia after 32 years of President Suharto. At the time President Habibie, who became president, wanted to start democratization by setting up new elections based on democracy. And of course, we needed at the time, a new set of laws on elections and democratic elections, and I was being asked to join a committee to prepare for the new law. In Indonesia at the time no one was studying elections. There are many political scientists, but there’s very, very few probably who study elections, because elections were a joke during the new order, but I studied elections. My dissertation was on elections at NIU, because I thought that anytime, if there’s a democratization, then we need to have democratic elections. And somebody has to study about that. So that’s why I got involved outside of academics, into writing laws, and then later on joining the election commission as one of the commissioners, and then running the first democratic elections in 1999 and then on, I joined political parties. And right now I’m the secretary of the High Council of the party Democrat in Indonesia. I used to be a Minister of Youth and Sports in Indonesia, from 2009 to 2012.”
Q: Why did you decide to attend NIU?
A: “I wanted to go to America. I applied to several universities in the world: Germany, Japan, Canada and the U.S. But I met Professor Dwight King. He was going home back to NIU. I met him, and he offered me to go to NIU. And he gave me also a application form to fill out. And he said, ‘I’m going back to NIU next week. So if you could fill this out, I’m going to bring your application form to NIU.’ And then I got all the requirements, and I got a scholarship from World Bank. I already got a scholarship, but they need an acceptance letter. So one month later I got the acceptance letter from NIU, and because I knew Professor King, I said, ‘I’m going to go to NIU.’ I was accepted at universities in Germany and Canada, but I chose NIU, and so I went there in the fall semester of 1989. I got an assistantship from the housing department. I was manager for marriage student housing on Annie Glidden Road. So people who are married can live in the apartment, because I got a student manager there, I can basically go further for my Ph.D. program. And there was no Ph.D. program in sociology at NIU. So I took the Ph.D. program in political science, because then there was Professor Dwight King over there, and I took some classes in political science or Southeast Asian department.”
Q: Were you involved in any clubs/organizations during your time at NIU?
A: “Well, of course, Southeast Asian Club. We have a Southeast Asian club because of the students from Southeast Asia at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, and we got all different kinds of discussion. We also have an Islamic Society at NIU. I was the vice president of Islamic Society of Northern Illinois at the time.”
Q: What was your experience at NIU like?
A: “I spent eight years at NIU master’s and Ph.D. program, and it was one of the most wonderful years in my life. I think the NIU provided a campus life that was very great. One of my daughters was born in DeKalb. So we had family time bowling under the Holmes Student Center. Also the relationship between professors and the students was very good. I mean, very friendly, and very helpful. I was especially impressed by the political science department. I think the political science department, all the professors, are very helpful to us, especially for us foreign students. The library is great, especially since we have an Indonesian, Southeast Asian section of the library. So I enjoyed living there. And the city of DeKalb itself is small, but you know what? You can enjoy that you’re very secure. You don’t have to worry about anything. And if you want to go to big cities, Chicago is probably one and a half hours away.”
