A Letter from Australia: Greater understanding is needed<\/p>\n
-- Ros Kelly has been a Labor Member of Parliament for Canberra,
\nAustralia's national capital, since 1980. She was Minister for
\nDefense Support from 1987 to 1989 and Minister for the Environment
\nfrom 1990 to 1994.<\/p>\n
Dear friend, the most remarkable aspect of the relationship
\nbetween Indonesia and Australia is not that at long last we have
\nbegun to trade with each other, visit each other and talk to each
\nother.<\/p>\n
What is remarkable is that we haven't been doing it longer.<\/p>\n
Looking at the map, anyone can see that the world's sixth
\nlargest country by area is a next door neighbor of the fourth
\nlargest by population.<\/p>\n
Put that combination anywhere else on the globe and you would
\nfind a substantially higher two way trade in goods, services,
\nculture and information than Indonesia and Australia presently
\nenjoy.<\/p>\n
It is as if there has been a fence between our two countries
\nwhich has prevented easy commerce in the recent past.<\/p>\n
The original migrants to Australia, the Aborigines, didn't
\nworry about the distance 100,000 years ago when they crossed the
\nnarrow strait separating what was to become Indonesia from what was
\nto become Australia.<\/p>\n
But with the widening of the sea between the two countries over
\nthe past 100,000 years, a distance was created that we have only
\nrecently begun to reduce.<\/p>\n
This has been especially evident since Independence. Many
\nAustralians actively supported the Indonesian independence movement
\nin the late 1940's, as to a certain extent did the then Labor
\nGovernment of Australia under Prime Minister Ben Chifley.<\/p>\n
But something happened to Australian support through the 1950,s
\nand 1960's.<\/p>\n
The fact of the matter is that Australians did not embrace
\nIndonesia in particular, and Asia in general, in those years because
\nwe still looked to Britain and were to a large extent afraid and
\nignorant of Asia.<\/p>\n
The changes of the 1970's -- the take off in some Asian
\neconomies, a Labor Government in Australia, Britain turning to
\nEurope, the massive increase in Australian tourism in Asia --
\nresulted in Australians beginning to realize that far from being
\nafraid of Asia, our future was inextricably enmeshed with that of
\nour closet neighbors.<\/p>\n
But the legacy of the 1950's and 1960's in Australia is that
\nunderstanding of Australia's position as a developed 'new world'
\ncountry at the gateway to the world's fastest growing region has
\nbeen slower to penetrate than it should have been.<\/p>\n
For example, some Australians are unwilling to accept that we
\nare a free and independent country that does not need British
\napproval, or a British monarch as head of state. This last vestige
\nof our colonial past is largely symbolic, but it is the wrong symbol
\nfor the twenty first century Australia.<\/p>\n
But as the report Australia and Indonesia into the 21st
\nCentury, released at Australia Today Indonesia '94 (ATI'94)
\npoints out, despite the geographic proximity of Indonesia and
\nAustralia, the major cities of Australia are many thousands of
\nkilometers from Indonesia (though closer to Indonesia than anywhere
\nelse) and face the pacific.<\/p>\n
And Indonesia has for centuries faced north towards Asia. In a
\nsense, we have had our backs to each other all this time.<\/p>\n
It's obvious we have developed in different says, but we also
\nhave much more in common than perhaps many of us realize.<\/p>\n
Australia, like Indonesia, has undergone a profound series of
\nchanges since the 1950's.<\/p>\n
We are, in our own slow way, finally throwing off the legacy of
\nover 200 years of colonialism and maturing as we welcome migrants and
\nvisitors from all over the world, including in recent years, from
\nAsia.<\/p>\n
Just like Indonesia, Australia is a far different place in 1994
\nthan it was in 1945.<\/p>\n
Now some 22% of all Australian were born, as we say,
\n`overseas'. We are proud of our society and think that it is one of
\nthe friendliest places on earth because it is a multi-cultural, not
\na multi-national society.<\/p>\n
We like to think there is at least one Australian who has come
\nfrom everywhere else in the world and most likely has opened a
\nrestaurant.<\/p>\n
Indonesians visiting Australia can expect as warm a welcome to
\nAustralia as I have received on my numerous visits to Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The evidence of what Australia is becoming can be noticed in
\nour schools. My daughter attends the local Government school in
\nCanberra. There are children from 48 countries there, and her best
\nfriends are from Indonesia and Thailand. `Bahasa Indonesia' is the
\nsecond language taught after English.<\/p>\n
But the Australian Prime Minister, Paul Keating said at the
\nopening of ATI'94, what has been lacking in both countries
\nis knowledge and understanding of our complex cultures and
\nhistories.<\/p>\n
In this column I hope to write about our way of life \"down
\nunder\", about our heroes and achievements, especially through the
\neyes and deeds of Australia's young people.<\/p>\n
Through small things such as this, I hope a greater
\nunderstanding of each other will grow.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/a-letter-from-australia-greater-understanding-is-needed-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}