1. 8
Indonesia-AustraliaRelations Jakarta Globe Monda
Diplomacy A shift in foreign focus means near neighbors are set
to get plenty of government attention, but will the public follow?
HayleyDavis
Australia will open the doors to its biggest
embassy in 2015. At 40,500 square meters
in Jakarta, the expansion is symbolic of
Australia’sintentiontodeepentieswithits
largest neighbor to the north, Indonesia.
These aspirations were announced in
October,whenthegovernmentreleasedits
AustraliaintheAsianCenturyWhitePaper.
Now,astheAsiancenturyrollson,analysts
wonder whether Australia and Indonesia
can follow through on initiatives designed
to strengthen their relationship as they
confrontissuessuchasculturalmisunder-
standings,migrationandcorruption.
The report was Australia’s formal re-
sponse to the development of China and
India, and of nations in Southeast Asia. It
outlinedaframeworkof25nationalobjec-
tives supported by 133 “pathways” that, if
implemented, were designed to best posi-
tionAustraliatotakeadvantageoftheeco-
nomic opportunities these nations have to
offer.
While Australian Prime Minister Julia
Gillard’sreleaseofthereportseeminglyin-
dicatedanewerainAustralianforeignpol-
icy, observers pointed out that in many
ways, it echoed the Asia-oriented policies
ofthegovernmentsofBobHawkeandPaul
Keating,primeministerswhoservedinthe
1980s and 1990s. The author of the white
paperwasKenHenry,aformerchiefofthe
Australian Treasury and an adviser to
Keating.
FergusHanson,anonresidentfellowat
US-based think-tank the Brookings Insti-
tution,saidthattheAustraliangovernment
would have to do more to enact the policy
shifts flagged by the report.
“The white paper didn’t make any real
budgetaryallocations,”hetoldtheJakarta
GlobeinaphoneinterviewfromPerthlast
month.“PoliciesrelatingtoIndonesiawere
only re-announcements, indicating that
thesamestatusquoapproachtoIndonesia
will continue. This will not move the rela-
tionship to where it needs to go.”
Hanson said that widespread cultural
misunderstandings of Indonesia among
Australians were a significant barrier to
furthering bilateral ties. He added that lit-
tlehadchangedinAustralians’perceptions
ofIndonesiaasanunderdevelopednation
since Sukarno ruled as the country’s first
president after independence in 1945, fol-
lowed by Suharto in the 1960s.
“Cultural understanding is absolutely
the corner stone of the relationship, and I
think it goes a long way to explaining why
therelationshipissounderdoneatthemo-
ment,”hesaid.“PerceptionsontheAustra-
lian side toward Indonesia are outdated
andhaven’treallyprogressedsincetheSu-
harto/Sukarno eras.”
Hanson is also a former director at
Sydney-based Lowy Institute of Interna-
tional Policy, a prominent Australian
think tank.
In a 2011 Lowy poll, Australians’ atti-
tudestowardIndonesiaremainedmiredin
distrust and suspicion and were virtually
unchangedsincethesamequestionswere
asked in 2006. This compared with an
equivalent 2012 Lowy Institute Indonesia
Poll, which surveyed 1,289 adult Indone-
siansandshowedanimprovementinposi-
tive perceptions of Australia.
Warmlyregarded
Of21countries,itsaidthatAustraliawasthe
fourthmostwarmlyregardedamongIndo-
nesians, moving to a temperature scale of
62degreesfrom51degreesin2006.Ofnine
nations, Australia was viewed by Indone-
sians as the second most trusted to act re-
sponsibly in the world, according to the
Lowypoll.TheUnitedStatesrankedfirst.
Hansonsaidcomprehensiveeducation
initiatives in Australia, including govern-
ment-funded language classes and im-
proved media coverage about Indonesia,
were essential, as were efforts by Indone-
sia to address persistent hostile views
among some groups, such as Indonesian
Muslim extremists, toward Australia.
Lowy’s2012surveyshowedthat12per-
centofIndonesianspolledwereinfavorof
the Indonesian government encouraging
militant groups to attack Australia. At the
same time Indonesians sought a broader
relationshiponeducation,with95percent
in favor, according to the poll.
“The level of misunderstanding needs
tobeaddressed,”Hansonsaid.“Indonesia
has to deal with the nub of the minority
radicals. You can’t operate an easy ex-
change of people when you have a small
minority of people saying crazy things
about Australia.”
Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, former head of the
Center for Political Studies at the Indone-
sian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), acknowl-
edged that there remained significant is-
sues facing Indonesia but that it was all
part of the consolidation of democracy.
“Even though there are so many diffi-
cultiesrelatedtoethnic,religiousandprop-
erty issues, in general Indonesian people
are much happier in the new era,” Ikrar
said,referringtotheperiodaftertheendof
Suharto’s rule in 1998. “Indonesia is still a
changingsocietyandachangingcountry.”
Former Australian diplomat Bruce
Haigh, who served as head of the Indone-
sia section in the Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade from 1984 to 1986, said
muchneededtochangeintherelationship
withIndonesiaandAustralia’swhitepaper
did little to initiate the necessary foreign
policy shift.
“Dealingwithandhavingclosetieswith
Asia should be self-evident and central to
ourforeignandtradepolicies,”hesaid.“We
needtoexpandourdiplomaticrepresenta-
tionintheregion,andlanguagetrainingfor
allAustralianofficialsworkingintheregion
shouldbemandatory.”
Asylum-seekers
Haigh said Indonesia-Australia relations
neededtomovebeyondsuperficialunder-
standings based on media portrayals of
asylumseekers,butthatcontentiousissues
Indonesiaa
KeyPartof
Australia’s
AsianPolicy
such as the live cattle trade must be dealt
with openly.
“IthoughtitmightindicatethatAustra-
liawasnowpreparedtodeveloparelation-
shipwithIndonesiathatwasnotjustbased
on boat people,” he said. “We need to be
honestandnotsweepissuesunderthecar-
pet.Thefiascoofthelivecattletradeneeds
tobeaddressed,quietlyandthroughaper-
manent commission.”
In December, Indonesia established
diplomatic ties with Nauru in a bid to
strengthentiesbetweenthetwocountries
afterAustraliareopeneddetentioncenters
toprocessasylumseekersontheSouthPa-
cific island. In November, an Amnesty In-
ternational team visited the Nauru camp
and strongly criticized it for lax human
rights practices, unlawful detention and
inhumane conditions.
Cattle trade disputes were inflamed in
June2011afteranewsreportshowedcruel
treatment of imported livestock, prompt-
ingAustralia’smonth-longbanonbeefex-
ports to Indonesia. That was followed by
trade disputes throughout 2012 instigated
by Agricultural Minister Suswono’s rejec-
tion of previously accepted certifications
for imported Australian beef stock.
NewZealandisalsoanothernationthat
is increasing its focus on Indonesia as a
growingglobalplayerandiscommittedto
improving diplomatic and trade relations.
NewZealandambassadortoIndonesia
DavidTaylornotedtheimportanceofboth
improved business and political practices
in Indonesia and a more nuanced under-
standing of the country for New Zealand.
“Theyneedtoknowwearesensitiveto
their culture and supportive of their aspi-
rations,” he said in an interview with the
Jakarta Globe last month.
Taylor said that it was in Indonesia’s
best interests to improve practices in live
animal trade as there were increasing op-
portunitiestosupplyproduceandmeatto
Indonesia’sgrowingmiddleclassesastheir
spending habits changed.
“A reduction in poverty and growing
middleclassmeansthereismoredemand
for goods and services that Australia and
New Zealand can supply,” Taylor said.
“Working hard to advance sensible solu-
tionswillunlockthepotentialofthetrad-
ing opportunities we have with
Indonesia.”
RossLove,managingdirectorofAustra-
liaandNewZealandattheBostonConsult-
ing Group in Sydney, also argued for a
greater appreciation of what Indonesia
had to offer in business transactions.
‘Sophisticatedculture’
“AustraliancompaniesandAustralianpeo-
ple in general have just as much to learn
from Indonesia as Indonesian companies
have to learn from Australia,” said Love,
who lived briefly in Indonesia.
“Indonesia is a very old, very sophisti-
cated culture, and I learned a lot while I
wasstudyingovertherethathasputmein
good stead for my work.”
Brookings’HansonsaidtheIndonesian
governmentneededtoprioritizeeconomic
reformtodealwithcorruptionandtheease
ofdoingbusinessinIndonesiabyremoving
barriers of investment. Indonesia has the
biggesteconomyamongthe10membersof
the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations.
“Australiaisn’taverystronginvestorin
Indonesia. Increasing strides will need to
be taken to tackle some of the obstacles to
that,” Hanson said.
“On the one side there is a really strong
drive for foreign investment, but on the
other hand there are factors stifling those
efforts,suchasissueswithcorruptionand
red tape. So, there are mixed signals about
howIndonesiaapproachesforeigninvest-
ment and more broadly foreign policy.”
Berlin-based Transparency Interna-
tional reported in December that Indone-
siaranked118thof176countriesintermsof
corruption. The result was a slide from
100th out of 183 in 2011.
WhileIkrarofLIPIbelievesthatmount-
ingpressurefromanincreasinglyinformed
and active civil society in Indonesia will
forcepoliticianstoreduceabusesofpower,
it is unlikely that there will be much cam-
paigningonissuesofcorruptionintheup-
coming presidential elections.
“They will be very careful on political
Cultural
understanding
isabsolutelythe
cornerstoneof
therelationship
...itgoesa
longwayto
explainingwhy
therelationship
issounderdone
FergusHanson
95%ofIndonesiansare
infavorofabroader
relationshipwith
Australiaregarding
education,
accordingtoapoll

2. 9
Indonesia-AustraliaRelationsay, February 11, 2013
campaigning relating to corruption,” he
said in Jakarta. “Ordinary people in Indo-
nesiaarealreadytiredwiththeissueofcor-
ruption, but I do believe in the next 10 to
15-yearperiodtheconditionrelatedtocor-
ruptionwillbebetter.Everyyearpeopleare
campaigning that politicians should be
morerelatedtopolicythanmoney.”
As Indonesian presidential candidates
such as Prabowo Subianto, a retired gen-
eralwithtiestotheSuhartoera,andMega-
watiSukarnoputri,aformerpresidentand
a daughter of Sukarno, vie to run in next
year’s elections, some analysts question
whetherAustraliashouldbetakingadvan-
tage now of President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono’s pro-Australian disposition.
“Yudhoyono was a real gift to the rela-
tionship,” Hanson argued. “He is some-
body who had instincts that were positive
forAustralia-Indonesiarelationsandtheir
joint interests. It is a bit of a missed oppor-
tunity at the political level to have not put
inplacetheframeworksforaveryhealthy
long-term trajectory.”
In Australian politics, recent polling in
The Australian newspaper predicted a
landslide win in September’s election for
the current opposition, a coalition of the
Liberal Party and National Party.
HansonsaidhebelievedtheLiberalPar-
ty could be strong in carrying forward the
objectivesofanAsian-orientedforeignpol-
icy, though he said the election is unlikely
to bring forth foreign policy moves that
could strengthen the Indonesia-Australia
relationship. He said that Julie Bishop, the
Liberal Party’s likely foreign affairs minis-
ter,wouldbeanidealsupporterofrelations
withIndonesia,shouldherpartywin.
Foreignpolicy
“The Liberal Party has strong Asian in-
stincts and will be pushing for proper re-
sourcing of the Department of Foreign Af-
fairs, so there is the potential to have very
good Asian policy but foreign policy tradi-
tionally doesn’t win votes” in Australian
national elections, Hanson said.
He added that it was unlikely that the
upcomingAustralian2013-14budgetwould
containanymorecommitmentofresourc-
es to the Indonesia relationship.
“Thisbudgetisallaboutdomesticpoli-
tics,”hesaid.“Therearenovotesinforeign
policy, so I will be very surprised if there
are any foreign policy announcements or
resources allocated. This is disappointing
for the strengthening of the relationship
with Indonesia.”
Australian Ambassador to Indonesia
Greg Moriarty said the outcome of next
year’sIndonesianelectionwouldnothave
an impact on relations over the long term.
“Australia has a strategic partnership
withIndonesia,”hesaidinane-mail.“The
resultofthe2014presidentialelectionwill
not change Australia’s long-
term commitment to this
partnership.”
With Indonesia on track to
becomeoneofthetop10econo-
miesintheworldby2030,asin-
dicated by Australia, the ques-
tionremainsastowhetherAus-
tralia will shift its defense
policies away from the United
States to Indonesia.
“Ialsothoughtthewhitepa-
per underlined the huge gulf
between our statements on de-
fense ties with the US and our
needtodevelopourownstrate-
gic and defense responses to
developments in the region,” said Haigh,
theretireddiplomat.“Werewenottiedin
so closely with the US, the white paper
should not have been necessary.”
Lowy’s 2012 poll showed that Indone-
sians expressed concerns about the grow-
inginfluenceofChina,with56percentsay-
ingthatitwaslikelythatChinawillbecome
amilitarythreattoIndonesiainthenext20
years. Meanwhile, 58 percent of Indone-
sianssupportedtheUnitedStatestobethe
leading military power in Asia in 20 years,
comparedwith25percentforChina.
Defenses
IkrarofLIPIsaidAustralia’sup-
coming defense white paper
shouldreflecttheneedforgreat-
ersecuritycooperationwithIn-
donesia.
“Police-to-police coopera-
tions, military-to-military co-
operationsevenrelatingtocor-
ruption [will be necessary] be-
cause…Aseancountriesshould
strengthentheirsecuritycoop-
erations, not only related to
China but related to any secu-
rity challenges in the future,”
he said of potential conflicts
such as the South China Sea
territorial disputes.
“I believe that Australia will not see In-
donesiaasathreatanymoreandthatIndo-
nesiawillnotseeAustraliaasapoliticalnui-
sancecomparedtotheera,sayinthe1980s,
when the Indonesian political system had
alreadychangedtowarddemocracybutIn-
donesiawasstillseenasathreat.”
Haighwasnotsooptimistic,sayingthat
theupcomingreportonAustralia’sdefense
policy will offer no progress. The report is
being prepared by Alan Hawke and Ric
Smith, both of whom, Haigh said, were
very conservative.
“The defense white paper will in my
opinion be a step backwards,” he said.
Haigh predicted that the report would
argue for a closer alignment of Australia
withtheUSmilitaryintheregion.
“Tomymindthatisamistake,”hesaid.
“The US is slowly going broke so sooner
thanlatertherewillbeconstraintsonwhat
it can do and what it can offer its allies. It
will assist Australia only with significant
resourcesonlyifitsuitstheUS.TheUSbe-
lievesithasIndonesiaonitssideifnotinits
pocket, but I wouldn’t be so sure.”
Thisarticleispartofaseriesfocusingon
relationsbetweenIndonesiaandAustralia.
Furthercoverage
Editorial >10
AmericanjournalistHenryGrabernotedrecently
onTheAtlanticCitieswebsitethat,inthedesign
offoreignembassies,architectsmust“trytocon-
structbuildingsthatwill,ingoodtimesandbad,
represent[thehomecountry’s]valueswhilethey
withstandtheforceofbombs.”
Suchconsiderationswereparamountinthe
designofthenewAustralianEmbassy,whichwill
belocatedinthePatraKuningandistrictofSouth
Jakarta,knownlocallyastheTamanPatraland.
Thedesignhasbeendescribedas“boldyet
elegant”intheembassy’splans,andhaswon
praisebyarchitectsforitsbalanceofelegant
formandfunctionaldesign.Itwillfeature32
housingunitsandaseparatehomefortheam-
bassador,creeper-coveredpergolas,aplay-
ground,aswimmingpoolandtenniscourts.
Thedecisiontobuildanewembassycomplex
waspromptedbytheSeptember2004bombing
ofthecurrentsiteonJalanRasunaSaidinSouth
Jakartaandagovernmentassessmentthatthe
currentfacilitiesdidnotmeetnecessarysecurity
requirements.
Theexpansionwasalsodesignedtoaccom-
modatetheAustralianmission’sexpandingop-
erationsinJakarta.Itwillcover40,500square
metersandstandfivestorieshigh.Thecurrent
embassy’sareaisonly10,600squaremeters.
TheprojectisajointventurebetweenLeigh-
tonContractorsIndonesiaandTotalBangunPer-
sadaandisexpectedtocostA$230million($237
million)andemployaround800Indonesian
workersattheheightofconstruction.
DentonCorkerMarshall,thearchitecturalfirm
behindthenewembassy,hasincorporatedenvi-
ronmentallysustainabledesignprinciplesbyin-
cludingwatermanagementthatusesrainwater,
andhavingextensiveuseof“greenroofareas”to
minimizesolarheatbuild-up. HayleyDavis
NewEmbassytoFeatureImprovedSecurity,GreenRoofing
Theresultof
the2014
presidential
electionwill
notchange
Australia’s
long-term
commitmentto
thispartnership
GregMoriarty,
ambassador
Clockwisefrom
main:
AustralianPrime
MinisterJulia
Gillardinspects
Indonesianmilitary
honorguardsin
Jakartain 2010.
Indonesianspecial
forcesparticipatein
ananti-terrordrillin
Baliin2010.
Indonesiantroops
watchthearrival
of anAustralian
warshipinSurabaya
in2011.
Hundredsofsurfers
gatherbefore
takingpartinthe
‘PaddleforPeace’
eventonBaliin
Octoberaspart
ofthe10th
anniversaryof
theBalibombings.
AFPPhotos