Why australia worries about indonesia

When then Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono addressed the Australian parliament in , he argued that the bilateral relationship faced four major challenges: improving mutual public understanding, managing diplomatic differences, boosting economic ties and adapting to emerging regional problems.

More than a decade later, both countries have made steady progress on the last three challenges. However, the Lowy Institute Poll of Australian attitudes to the world shows that there is still much work to do on the first. Analysing the Indonesia data in the annual Lowy Poll is usually a dispiriting exercise. Whether asked about their warmth toward Indonesia, confidence in its leaders, or even their level of basic knowledge about their biggest neighbour, Australians tend to show a combination of disinterest and distrust.

We cannot afford just to tell each other how important Indonesia is. We need to convince politicians and broader swathes of the public to learn more and care more. We need to convince politicians and broader swathes of the public to learn more and care more about Indonesia if we are to develop a positive feedback loop that brings more attention, resources, knowledge and trust to bear in the bilateral relationship.

Cuts in the funding for teaching the Indonesian language and culture have made this task harder. But, in addition to lobbying government for more resources, we need to find other ways to improve Indonesia literacy in Australia. So how concerned should we be about Australian attitudes to Indonesia? Yet again, Australians place Indonesia ahead of revisionist actors such as Russia and China but well behind India and close allies such as Japan and the UK.

Instead, Morrison may have to pay a very high price for his choice in the future. Notwithstanding the different approaches Australia and Indonesia have taken in response to the regional dynamics, the IA-CEPA has cleared major obstacles to bilateral relations between the two neighbors. But no matter how perfect the agreement is, at the end of the day realization will depend on both sides.

In the coming years and decades, a love-hate relationship will continue to mark Indonesia-Australia ties. We tend to think Australia needs us more than the other way around. But no matter how much you love or hate each other you have no choice but to always adjust yourself to facts. TheJakartaPost Please Update your browser Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. LOG IN. Forgot Password? Or continue login with Google Facebook Linkedin.

Register here Want to register your company or campus? Register here. Academia Opinion. Indonesia-Australia ties: The more you know, the less you love. It has superior military forces and has, at least until recently, enjoyed a higher international profile. That Australia gave large sums of development aid to Indonesia probably fixed in the minds of many ordinary Australians that their neighbour was a poor and needy country.

Whether these indicators really did mean Australia was more important to Indonesia than Indonesia was to Australia has been a matter of historical debate among scholars and commentators. They view Australia as a neighbour that their country will soon overshadow. It is an initiative aimed at tackling the complexities of the bilateral relationship outside of a formal government context. Most of the Australians have good Indonesian and the Indonesians good English.

A wide range of issues, from politics, to the environment, to culture, will be discussed during the conference. Differences of opinion are welcomed and respected. What ties the Australian and Indonesian conference delegates together is a shared desire for warm relations and the deepest possible mutual understanding. Evidence of high levels of popular mistrust of Indonesia has long been evident in Australian media reporting and commentary. But two recent surveys on bilateral perceptions released by the Australia-Indonesia Centre AIC provide a more detailed picture of Australian and Indonesian attitudes.

One of the surveys examines current attitudes ; the other looks at historical opinion polling going back to the late s. Islam and terrorism were particular sources of negativity for those surveyed. While there are a number of methodological concerns about this AIC survey, it nonetheless indicates the broad parameters of Australian thinking towards Indonesia.