Tony Abbot and Susilo Bambang Yudh
Jakarta. When Prime Minister Tony Abbott met President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Batam last week, he declared that bilateral ties strained by spying and asylum-seeker issues were back on a solid footing.
If that was the official take, then the average Australian apparently didn’t get the memo, according to the results of a survey published the same week by the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based think tank.
The institute’s Foreign Policy Poll showed that Australians’ perception of Indonesia had turned more negative in the past year, largely because of the issue of asylum seekers trying to reach Australia from Indonesia.
Forty percent of the 1,000 Australians polled said they believed that relations with Indonesia were worsening, up from just 16 percent in 2008.
More than 70 percent highlighted the three issues of asylum seekers, regional security, and terrorism and being of most concern to them. The poll also showed that 71 percent supported the government’s policy of turning back asylum-seeker boats mid-ocean — a practice that has been condemned by Indonesia and the wider international community.
Approval of Australian espionage on Indonesian officials was also high, at 62 percent, following revelations last year that Australian intelligence had eavesdropped on phone calls by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and members of his inner circle — which prompted the president to recall Jakarta’s ambassador to Canberra.
The envoy, Najib Riphat Kesoema, was only sent back to his posting two weeks ago.
Crucially, the poll found that on a scale of 0 to 100 of how warmly Australians viewed Indonesia, with a higher number indicating a more cordial sentiment, Indonesia scored just 52 degrees, or the least of any of Australia’s geographical neighbors.
Unfriendly sentiment
That the people-to-people ties have degenerated is evident to observers in Indonesia.
“On the government level, the relationship has improved, but not so on the people level,” Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a senior adviser to the Indonesian government and researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, or LIPI, tells the Jakarta Globe.
“Leaders in Australia like Abbott will say that Indonesia is very important,” she adds, but the rhetorics hasn’t trickled down to the average person on the street.
“People-to-people interaction between the countries hasn’t really worked as we might have expected,” says Aleksius Jemadu, dean of Pelita Harapan University’s School of Social and Political Sciences.
He adds there’s a real need to address the “unfriendly sentiments” toward Indonesia.
Those sentiments, Dewi says, are understandable given the sometimes confrontational history between the two countries.
She cites the invasion of East Timor by Indonesia in 1975 and subsequent killing of Australia-based journalists there by Indonesian troops, in the now infamous Balibo incident.
The Bali bombings of 2002 and 2005, in which most of the dead were Australian tourists, also served to seriously set back ties, Dewi says.
“What happened in Bali and the Australian Embassy bombing [in 2004] did not help. This fueled the perception of the average Australian that Indonesia was full of radical militants,” she says.
Aleksius agrees that it was only natural in the wake of the attacks that Australians would feel they were being targeted by Indonesian terrorists.
Both observers also cite cultural differences between largely conservative Indonesia and its liberal southern neighbor, and the fact that Indonesia can be seen as a regional rival to Australia, which dwarfs its other neighbors in terms of geographical size, economy and military clout.
“If you look at the other neighbors, they’re all smaller, they’re not a threat to Australia,” Dewi says. “Indonesia is a big neighbor and culturally it’s very different.
“So it’s not surprising that Indonesia is the least liked by Australians. Australia is always worried,” she adds.
Negative slant?
But while these perceptions might be valid, Dewi says many Australians don’t really know Indonesia that well, and it’s this unfamiliarity that can be a factor for the hostility.
“Many Australians are ignorant about Indonesia. Their perception of the country is outdated. Many of them, for instance, still think Indonesia isn’t a democracy,” she says.
She attributes this to negative coverage of Indonesia-related issues, like the asylum-seeker boats, by the Australian media.
“There hasn’t been a time when the news about Indonesia was reported in a positive light,” Dewi claims. “It’s very difficult to find a single favorable news report about Indonesia in Australia. The Australian media tend to be negative about Indonesia.”
The Lowy Institute reported that at around the time it was polling respondents in February, “the government’s success in turning back to Indonesia boats carrying asylum seekers had attracted considerable media attention.”
Dewi says the unfriendliness is ironic, given that some of the best Indonesia experts in the world can be found at Australian universities, while there are more Australian-educated ministers in the current Indonesian cabinet than at any other time in history, among them Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, who obtained his doctorate at Australian National University.
The Australian Embassy acknowledges that there is a gulf in perception that needs to be addressed.
“The Lowy Poll shows that our two nations still have much work to do to understand and engage each other,” Ray Marcello, an embassy spokesman, tells the Globe, adding that there are already programs in place to promote a better understanding of Indonesia among Australians.
“Australian is determined to see more of its young people study and work in Indonesia, through the Australian government’s New Colombo Plan,” he says.
Australia’s loss
Ultimately, Dewi says, Australia is the one that stands to lose the most if it fails to improve ties with Indonesia.
“It’s more worrying for the Australians than the other way around. While we always say that both countries need each other, the fact is that Australia needs Indonesia more than the other way around. Geographically, Indonesia has a much bigger game to play,” she says, referring to the country’s growing clout on the International stage.
“We need to remember that in 2005 some countries opposed the inclusion of Australia in the East Asia Summit because it’s not an Asian country. But Indonesia has always been one of Australia’s strongest supporters in the region,” Dewi says.
“Objectively, Indonesia is a big country placed in a very strategic position. It’s going to be more important globally. It is one of the top 10 countries in the world [by economy]. SO it will be to Australia’s detriment if it distances itself from Indonesia.
“It’s just a shame that Australia is ignorant about its own neighbor,” she adds.
By Josua Gantan on 08:40 am Jun 11, 2014
