Indonesia – Australia relations in the era of democracy: the view from the Indonesian side
This article reflects on the changes in the relationship between Australia and Indonesia following the latter’s new democratic wave and changes in her domestic politics. It further discusses the way in which Indonesia’s new democratic era has contributed to the improvement of her bilateral relationships with Australia. The parliamentary role and that of other non-governmental actors in ensuring this healthy relationship between the two countries are also considered in detail.
The relationship between Indonesia and Australia has not always been a smooth one. Various extraordinary happenings have always tested the honesty of these two countries relationship. One of these events was the 1999 Australia’s intervention which led to political independence of East Timorese and the 2004 Australian Embassy terrorism attack. It has been opined that the healthy bilateral relationship between the two countries is attributable to their strong geographical and historical ties. Australia played a greater role by helping Indonesia to attain her political independence from Dutch colonialists through diplomatic engagements. Geographically, the two countries are neighbors and it is therefore necessary for them to maintain bilateral ties and a good relationship.
The relationship between the two is also politically and strategically based. Australia’s future political stability is hinged on Indonesia’s political stability. Australia also exports her goods to Asia through Indonesia’s sea and air space. Their foreign and domestic policy perspective also largely influences their relationship. The rise of the democratic wave in Indonesia has further improved and strengthened her ties with Australia. The two countries also face the same challenges and in pursuit of their solutions, they have devised similar policies in an attempt to surge forward.
The bilateral relationship between Australia and Indonesia has been highly criticized on a number of grounds. First, various scholars have described the relationship between Australia and Indonesia as a relationship between strange neighbors. This has been as a result of the myriad number of challenges and the complexities faced by the countries in their attempts to nurture their bilateral relations. Some of these scholars opine that although the two countries neighbor each other geographically, they do not know nor understand each other. As a result of this misunderstanding, their seemingly healthy bilateral relationship is in reality a strained one.
The second issue or ground of criticism arising from this article is that although both Australia and Indonesia are described as being at par politically and economically, the reality is that the two are very much different in the political and economic arena. Politically, Australia is standing whereas Indonesia is still in some aspects crawling. In the economic front, Indonesia is better off because of her being endowed with various unexploited natural resources as compared to Australia.
The third issue arises from the identity problem. Both Australia and Indonesia shares identity problems which are almost the same, if not similar. This further strengthens the fact that the two countries do not know each other. Australia is neither an Asian nor a European nation. Failure of Australia knowing her identity has brought about fear based on her existence. The fear has grown into insecurity which has been exacerbated by the fact that she does not know her neighbors, including Indonesia On the other hand, Indonesia also harbors some fears of her continued existence. Fear of her collapse has dealt a blow to her bilateral ties with her neighbor, Australia. These fears are always triggered when Indonesia feels that Australia is involved in some diplomatic activities designed to interfere with Indonesia’s domestic affairs. This further strains the relationship between the two countries.
Bibliography
Sulistiyanto, P., 2010. Indonesia-Australia Relations in the Era of Democracy: The View From the Indonesian Side. Australian Journal of Political Science.
