Australia–Indonesia relations

Australia–Indonesia relations

Australia	Indonesia

Australia–Indonesia relations are foreign relations between Australia and Indonesia.

Since Indonesian independence, the two countries have maintained mutual diplomatic relations, formalised co-operation (especially in the fields of fisheries conservation, law enforcement, and justice cooperation), a measure of security co-operation, broadening treaty relationships, co-membership of regional forums, and co-participation in several multilateral Treaties of significance.

The two nations differ in terms of religion and language. Recent years have seen a deepening of Australia's aid commitment to Indonesia, and Australia has become a popular venue for Indonesian students.^[1]

In 2008-09, Indonesia is the largest recipient of Australian aid at a value of AUD462 million.^[2]

Public opinion

The proportion of those voters mentioning Indonesia as a threat reached one in five after the Dili massacre of 1991 and increased to three in ten after the atrocities in East Timor following its 1999 independence referendum. In 2004, an Australian Strategic Policy Institute survey showed 29% of those polled identified Indonesia as 'most likely' to pose a threat to Australia in the future, a slight decline from the figure of 31% recorded in 2001. In all surveyed periods, Indonesia was unambiguously recognised as the country representing the most likely threat to Australia.^[3]

History

Indonesian National Revolution

Following the Japanese surrender at end of the Second World War, Australian forces occupied Eastern Indonesia in coordination with the British Southeast Asia Command's occupation of Java. As Allies during the War, Australia and Britain were both under obligations to help the Netherlands restore control over the former Dutch East Indies. Australian forces also participated during the Borneo campaign alongside American forces particularly the Battle of Balikpapan in 1945.^[4] On 17 August 1945, Indonesian nationalist leaders Sukarno and Mohammed Hatta proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Indonesia.

Despite sympathies among the political left for the Indonesian Revolution, Australia cautiously withheld de facto regonition of the Republic until 9 July 1947, and then only over the regions of Java, Sumatra, and Madura^[5][6] Following frustrations over negotiations with Indonesian republicans, the Netherlands launched a major military offensive in Java and Sumatra on 20 July 1947. From that point and until Netherlands recognition of Indonesian independence in December 1949, Australian waterside workers banned Dutch vessels and vessels taking munitions and equipment to the Netherlands East Indies.^[7]

On 30 July 1947 Australia referred the conflict to the United Nations Security Council naming the Netherlands as the violators of the peace. Later, Australia raised the matter of Indonesia's decolonisation in United Nations. On 1 August 1947 the UN Security Council ordered a cease-fire and established a committee to broker a truce and a renewal of negotiations. The Indonesian Republic nominated Australia to sit on that committee. The committee produced the Renville Truce Agreement of January 1948. The Dutch launched a second major military offensive, occupying Republican territory in Java. Following a Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference from August to November 1949, Republic of Indonesia sovereignty over Indonesia was officially recognised in December 1949.^{[citation needed]}

The Sukarno era

The Menzies Government in Australia held strong reservations about Sukarno's flirtation with the Indonesian Communist Party continuing through to 1965.

In 1962 Sukarno and his communist allies began a propaganda campaign to seize Irian Barat. The Australian Joint Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs took the view that it was important that such a campaign should fail.^[8] However, the territory was transferred to Indonesia in 1963 and achieved its incorporation as such in 1969.

Australia conducted warfare in aid of Malaysia against Indonesia at the time of the Konfrontasi from 1964 until August 1966. Australian forces in Sarawak were frequently deployed across the border into Indonesia to ambush patrols moving towards Malaysia during 1965 and 1966.^[9] Even during the course of the Indonesian defeat a number of Indonesian army officers were still receiving their military education in Australia.^{[citation needed]} 22 Australian soldiers died during the deployment, of which 7 were killed in action.

The Suharto era and East Timor

On 11 March 1966, Suharto was installed as Indonesia's Acting President and then made President in March 1968. Robust anti-communism characterised his administration through until his resignation in 1998, and that proved to be a point of common cause with successive Australian administrations.

East Timor has been a central issue in Australian-Indonesian relations since the time of the territory's decolonisation from Portugal and its subsequent invasion and annexation by Indonesia in the mid-1970s. On 16 October 1975 at Balibo, Portuguese Timor, members of the invading Indonesian military murdered five Australian journalists who had been reporting events in the build up to Operasi Seroja. The circumstances of their executions is a matter of current coronial investigation in New South Wales, Australia.^[10]

Prime Minister Whitlam made assurances of Australian non-intervention, and even encouraged the Indonesia action to take over East Timor in 1975. Subsequent killings and famine eliminated one-third, or 200,000, of the territory's population.^[11] In subsequent years Australia became the only foreign government to afford complete recognition of the incorporation, even representing Indonesia's case in that regard to the UN.^[12]

Recent relations

Relations between the two countries reached one of their lowest points at the time of East Timor's secession from Indonesia in 1999.^[13] Following a United Nations agreement between the Republic of Indonesia and Portugal^[14] a UN-supervised popular referendum choosing between autonomy within Indonesia and full independence, was held on August 30, 1999. The people of East Timor overwhelmingly voted for independence. An Australian-led and Indonesian-sanctioned peacekeeping force, INTERFET, was sent into the territory to restore order following a violent 'scorched-earth' policy carried out by pro-integration militia and supported by elements of the Indonesian military

INTERFET was replaced by a UN force of International Police, the mission became known as UNTAET, and the UNTAET Crime Scene Detachment was formed to investigate alleged atrocities.

Since 2002 a number of Islamist-inspired terrorist attacks in Indonesia have been directed at Western interests including the Australian embassy in Jakarta and the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings, which killed a total of 92 Australian nationals as well as some hundreds of other human often left unmentioned. Indonesian diplomatic and consular premises in Australia received a number of hoax and threat messages in 2005. Both the United States and Australian governments have issued warnings against travel to Indonesia, advising their citizens of a continued risk of attacks.^[15]

High-level visits and meetings

Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies visited Indonesia in 1959.^[5]

Australian foreign minister Paul Hasluck visited Indonesia to meet Suharto three times between August 1966 and January 1968, before Suharto's formal appointment as acting President.^[16]

Suharto visited Australia in 1972 and met Prime Minister William McMahon.^[17]

Prime Minister Gough Whitlam met Indonesian President Suharto at Central Java in 1974. The leaders again met at Townsville in 1975.

Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser met Suharto in October 1976. Fraser offered de facto recognition of the Indonesian annexation of East Timor, which was followed by de jure recognition in 1979^[17]

Visits between Prime Minister Paul Keating and Suharto were exchanged in the 1990s. In 1994, Keating said:

"No country is more important to Australia than Indonesia. If we fail to get this relationship right, and nurture and develop it, the whole web of our foreign relations is incomplete [and] ... the emergence of the New Order government of President Suharto, and the stability and prosperity which [it] has brought to [Indonesia] was the single most beneficial strategic development to have affected Australia and its region in the past thirty years. We need to encourage the use of popular media with positive imput [such as] "Why can't we be friends? Why can't we be friends? Why can't we be friends? Why can't we be friends?" [this is] the exact sought of opinions we need".^[18]

President Yudhoyono visited Australia in April 2010.

The Eighth Australia-Indonesia Ministerial Forum (AIMF) was held in Bali on 29 June 2006 and was attended by five Australian and eleven Indonesian ministers. A key outcome was support for the conclusion of a security agreement, later realised as the Lombok Agreement, to provide a framework for the development of the security relationship by the end of 2006. The AIMF, established in 1992, provides an important platform for the expansion of bilateral ties. Representatives of the Australian and Indonesian business communities also held a dialogue with ministers.

The Sixth Australia-Indonesia Trade Ministers' Meeting (TMM) was held in Canberra on 10 August 2006. The meeting focused on reviewing implementation of the Trade and Investment Framework. An inaugural Policy Dialogue was held concurrently with the Meeting to provide an opportunity for officials to meet with the business community to exchange views on business climate issues in both countries.

Australia-Indonesia-East Timor Trilateral Ministerial Meetings have occurred three times to September 2006.^[19]

Contemporary relations

The value ($million/month) of Australian imports from Indonesia since 1988

In January 2005, Prime Minister Howard and President Yudhoyono announced the formation of the Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development (AIPRD) under which Australia will contribute $1 billion over five years towards reconstruction and development in Aceh and elsewhere in Indonesia. All funds have now been allocated to projects.^[20]

The current travel advisory suggests travellers Australia travellers to reconsider the need to visit Indonesia because of the 'very high threat of terrorist attack', threat of kidnap, violence against the Australian Embassy, suicide attacks that have been known to target great numbers of Australians.'^[21]

Both nations are members of APEC and the East Asia Summit.

A total of 92 Australians died as a result of the Bali bombings in 2002 and 2005 in Indonesia. As of February 2007, Australian Government travel advisories suggest Australians 'reconsider their need to travel to Indonesia' due to the 'very high threat of terrorist attack'.^[21]

The Strategic Relationship

Indonesia's strategic significance to Australia is revealed by the circumstance that 60% of Australia's exports pass by its Northern approaches.^[22]Indonesia is also the most populous country neighbouring Australia, and is nearer by landfall to Australia than all countries excluding Papua New Guinea. Ahead of Indonesia, Australia's favoured trading partners include China, Japan, the US, New Zealand, South Korea, the UK, Taiwan, Singapore, and India.^[23]

The significance of Australia to Indonesia is firstly demonstrated by the existence of a maritime boundary between the two countries. Both countries have been concerned to definitively delimit that boundary for the purpose of protecting fisheries from encroachment,^[24] and determining the limits of responsibility for vessels found in that area. The significance of Australia to Indonesia is less than that of its ASEAN co-members, particularly its close neighbours in the Philippines and Malaysia. Indonesia's highest trade volumes are with Japan, the USA, Singapore, Germany and Saudi Arabia.^[25]

Australian aid to Indonesia

In some areas, like education, development aid to Indonesia traces back to the early 1950s commencing with scholarships funded through the Colombo Plan.^[26]

Under the Australia-Indonesia Partnership (AIP), which includes the A$1 billion committed by Australia following the Indian Ocean tsunami, Australia is providing funds to help rebuild communities in Aceh and in other disaster affected areas, and to promote economic growth across Indonesia. Combined with the pre-existing Australia-to-Indonesia program it boosts the value of the Australia-to-Indonesia aid over a five year period from 2005 to A$2 billion^{(figure includes at least A$500 million in concessional loans) [27]}

The AIP is governed by a Joint Commission, overseen by the Prime Minister of Australia and the President of Indonesia.

In 2008-09, Indonesia is the largest recipient of Australian aid at a value of AUD462 million.^[2]

Some examples of the assistance given or to be given (all figures A$):

• $50 million for restoration of services in ACEH
• 600 scholarships
• $10 million for emergency response capacity building
• $50 million for 'government-to-government partnerships'
• $328 million loans/grants for road improvement^[28]
• $300 million loans/grants for school construction and rehabilitation^[29]

During a Bilateral meeting in the Indonesian Island of Bali on 10 December 2008,Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made an announcement that Australia will Contribute about $650 million to Indonesia to survive the Global Credit Crisis.^[30]

Five-year Development Strategy (2008-2013)

On June 13, 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced the development partnership with Indonesia during his visit with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta. This strategy reveals the purpose to help resolve poverty in Indonesia and also to promote peace and stability between both countries. Australia aspires to accelerate Indonesia’s progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, chiefly in improving the health of mothers and children, providing access to proper sanitation and clean waters, and combat climate change.^[31]

Australia is providing a four-year maternal and neonatal aid estimated to be AUD49 million to ensure pregnancy and childbirth are safe for these women. The program includes:^[32]

• Increasing the number of trained midwives
• Improving the administration of maternal and neonatal health care
• Improving support from various communities for new expecting mothers

In light of the tsunami which struck Sumatra in 2004, it demonstrated the vulnerability of Indonesia to natural disasters. In response, Australia has reacted immediately by forming an Australia Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development (AIPRD) in reconstructing and developing the infrastructure of the tsunami-affected areas.^[33] Furthermore, the Australian government will be providing up to AUD50 million to support the worst-hit tsunami areas to construct a sustainable and prosperous future. This includes; providing a quality education, promoting community members in the participation of democratic course and establishing economic development.

Apart from humanitarian efforts to combat poverty and rebuild the tsunami-affected areas, development programs also include economic reforms and political governance in supporting anti-corruption measures in the parliamentary and electoral institutions and also in the financial sectors.

In Australia’s 2010 budget speech delivered by the Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan, it was estimated that the aid granted to Indonesia amounts to AUD458.7 million.^[34] The assistance focuses on promoting sustainable growth and economic management, supporting climate change and health systems, improving access to water, clean sanitation and education, improving governance and democracy and lastly maintaining peace and safety.^[35]

Cultural ties

With the exception of participations in the Arafura Games, sporting ties are not significant. No Indonesian athlete or sporting team has achieved a high profile by visiting Australia. Popular Australian sports such as rugby, cricket, Australian rules football, swimming and netball raise little interest in Indonesia. Both countries maintain professional Football (soccer) leagues: see Liga Indonesia and A-league. The two leading teams from the Australian A-League and the champions of the Indonesian Liga compete in the Asian Champions League.

Since 1989, an Australia-Indonesia institute has funded youth exchanges, journalist fellowships, and artistic residences in Indonesia.^[36]

History of diplomatic and treaty relations

The two countries have maintained unbroken diplomatic relations since Indonesia's emergence as an independent state in 1949. At times, such as 1970–1972, most favoured nation trading terms have been allowed to lapse. The table below summarises the course of bilateral treaty relations, significant multilateral treaties of which one or both nations were party, and other noteworthy diplomatic events:

There is no existing protocol for prisoner transfer. Authorities in both countries have expressed the desire to seal such an agreement as a matter of priority to facilitate the repatriation of prisoners of either nationality residing in the others' jails.

Further reading

• Edwards, Peter; Goldsworthy, David (2003). The Century of Australian Engagement with Asia. Melbourne University Press (for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia). ISBN 0-522-85040-5. 
• Monfries, John (editor); Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University (2006). Different Societies, Shared Futures - Australia, Indonesia and the Region. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. ISBN 981-230-386-3. 
• Vickers, Adrian (2005). A History of Modern Indonesia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-54262-6. 

Notes

Constructs such as ibid., loc. cit. and idem are discouraged by Wikipedia's style guide for footnotes, as they are easily broken. Please improve this article by replacing them with named references (quick guide), or an abbreviated title. (February 2012)

External links

• List of Australia-Indonesia Diplomatic Agreements
• Australia-Indonesia Institute, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
• AUSAID Australia-Indonesia Partnership
• Indonesian Embassy, Canberra
• Australian Embassy, Jakarta
• Map of Australian maritime boundaries. Geoscience Australia, 2002
• Report of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, Australia-Indonesia Maritime Delimitation Treaty, November 1997 (Recommends ratification of the Treaty)
• UNHCR Treaty
• List of UNHCR members

See also

• AusAID
• Australia-Indonesia border
• Australia-Indonesia Prisoner Exchange Agreement
• Foreign relations of Indonesia
• Foreign relations of Australia
• List of Indonesian Ambassadors to Australia
• Merauke Five

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