A shot of reality
The story
so far: To the boredom of electors who
think otherwise, Australian politicians on the hustings pronounce that our big
island continent is part of Asia.
They also
add a moral instruction while largely ignoring their own advice: We must get on better terms with the
neighbours, particularly Indonesia. There’ll be bumps along the way but our
special relationship will help us stay on track.
What
speakers, what dates? Silly questions - this rhetorical routine has been part
of the election cycle from way back when, as necessary as a candidate’s
rosette.
The problem
is this: Voters haven’t bought the
message.
Our
deafness has been obvious for years. Academics have long warned about the
decline in studying Indonesian – less than 1,000 are learning the language in
their final school year. Only 15 of the
nation’s 43 universities teach the culture.
Clearly
parents and their kids have ignored the politicians and decided that Chinese,
Japanese or a European tongue will serve them better.
Almost a
million Australians holiday in Hindu Bali every year – but only a fraction
venture west into Muslim Java where the real power resides.
Investors
also plug their ears to Canberra’s pleas to boost sales to our 250 million neighbours.
Two-way trade is worth only $15 billion.
We do more business with Thailand and even more with Singapore.
The Lowy
Institute for International Policy has tracked the decline of public
trust. The latest polls show ‘feelings towards Indonesia, which have never been warm and have
at times been characterised by wariness and even fear, have fallen to their
lowest point in eight years’.
In his new book Condemned to Crisis? former diplomat
Ken Ward argues that President Joko (Jokowi) Widodo is more indifferent than
hostile. He wants his nation to be a world power but considers little
Australia, with just one tenth of his citizens, too unimportant to help.
The brutal
execution of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, despite pleas and petitions for
clemency, can’t be dismissed as yet another passing judder in the relationship
following spy allegations, asylum seeker push backs and live cattle export
bans.
The
gunshots didn’t just terminate the reformed drug smugglers’ lives; they also
marked the end of the flawed reasoning that’s been our foreign affairs policy.
We’ve seen the raw Indonesia and been horrified. Now we’re back on the real
road.
Perth
researcher Dr Greta Nabbs-Keller has read the map and been brave enough to tell
the truth:
‘There’s no special relationship between
Canberra and Jakarta and there never was, precisely because the goodwill
expressed toward Australia by individual Indonesian political leaders,
diplomats and military officers has never really permeated Indonesia’s broader
political elite or public consciousness.
Instead, there’s confluence of common interests and personal rapport
between leaders at key junctures.’
That
rapport is rare and common interests limited. Our history, culture, values,
lifestyles and language owe little to Asia.
The praiseworthy migration program that has brought more than seven
million new settlers since 1945 has included
Chinese, Vietnamese and Indians – but the greatest numbers have come
from the UK and NZ.
We remain a
predominantly European nation eating foods, playing sports and following faiths
rooted in another continent far away.
Our ‘special relationships’ are confined to the Anglosphere,
particularly the UK and the US, which are also the major investors in
Australia.
We claim to
have good intentions and be part of the neighbourhood; but we’ll soon have
2,500 US marines in Darwin, just 830 kilometers from Kupang the capital of Nusa
Tenggara province. Imagine our reaction
if the Chinese army set up a similar base on Indonesian soil.
It’s depressing enough to give even the most
one-eyed fan of Indonesia reason to turn elsewhere. Yet despite these depressing facts there are solid practical and
moral reasons to stay staunch, listen to the politicians’ messages and demand
they hear their own voices.
Indonesia
is neither about to move nor shrink. It
will remain our nearest neighbour and the world’s fourth most populous country
with almost 90 per cent Muslim.
If we don’t
know what’s happening next door, what the folk are thinking and doing, understand
their concerns, how can we ever be mates?
And if we’re not – then what are the alternatives?
The time
for appeasement has passed. We can’t ignore issues like Indonesia’s vile use of
capital punishment, its corrosive corruption and seriously damaged application
of the rule of law. We should be strong in condemnation, adding our voices to
those in Indonesia who are equally appalled and seeking reform.
Our
principles are not for sale, and Indonesia is unlikely to honour a nation that
doesn’t plainspeak its values. Developing a respectful relationship built on a
hardstand of facts is going to be a long, tough sweat – but the end result
should be a safer world for our kids.
(First published in On Line Opinion, 23 July 2015. For comment see:
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=17535
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