RI-Aussie ties look toward millennium<\/p>\n
By Geoff Forrester<\/p>\n
The following article is based on a paper presented at the
\npanel discussion \"Australia-Indonesia Relations: Facing a New
\nMillennium\". The session was held during the Australian Studies
\nConference, organized by the Australian Studies Center,
\nUniversity of Indonesia, on April 21 and April 22, 1999.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA: The immediate prospects for Australia-Indonesia
\nrelations are gloomy.<\/p>\n
It would have been ludicrous to make such a statement six
\nmonths ago. Why suggest it now?<\/p>\n
My reasons for doing so have nothing to do with the economic
\ncrisis. Despite the collapse of much of the modern sector of the
\nIndonesian economy, the economic relationship has remained
\nstrong. Australian investors have for the most part remained
\ncommitted to Indonesia, and Australia has responded to the crisis
\nwith a substantial increase in development assistance.<\/p>\n
Nor is Indonesia's overall human rights record the problem.
\nDespite some glaring breaches, for example at Semanggi on 13
\nNovember, Indonesia's human rights record has improved
\nsubstantially with the fall of Soeharto. There is a new press
\nfreedom. And Indonesians are preparing for the first genuinely
\ndemocratic election in 44 years.<\/p>\n
The issue which is undermining and poisoning the bilateral
\nrelationship is East Timor.<\/p>\n
The issue of great importance to both countries is being
\nseriously mishandled by all those involved: the Timorese
\nthemselves, by Australia and Indonesia, by the United Nations
\nand, once again, by the pusilanimous Portuguese.<\/p>\n
The Timorese, Indonesia and Australia are the most directly
\ninvolved in the problem. Whatever the outcome, we three parties
\ncannot run home to Europe or let the problem slip as other crises
\nelsewhere in the world grab the limelight.<\/p>\n
In 1975, the world let a vicious civil war run its course and
\ndid nothing to restore order or legitimate authority. Thousands
\ndied. And then Indonesia annexed the territory. There are many
\nsimilarities between the situation then and the situation now.
\nFirst, bloodshed is already occurring and civil war threatens
\nagain.<\/p>\n
Before the 1975 civil war, all sides wanted time to prepare
\nthe territory for an act of self-determination. Events in Timor,
\npropelled directly by political events in Lisbon, ran out of
\ncontrol and the violence and killing began. The Portuguese
\nallowed Fretilin to seize their arsenal, just as the
\nproindependence militia are now acquiring ABRI weapons.<\/p>\n
The same loss of control threatens now, but for different
\nreasons. It is Jakarta which is inexplicably accelerating the
\ntimetable for political evolution in East Timor. No longer are
\nthe parties contemplating ten or five or three years of
\ntransition leading up to an act of self-determination. Jakarta is
\ninsisting, and the outside world is accepting, that East Timor
\nmust make a choice now, even as Indonesia struggles with its own
\ndemocratization. If autonomy is not accepted in the next few
\nmonths, the province will be free by the end of the year.<\/p>\n
Time was essential for a peaceful evolution in 1975. It is
\neven more essential now.<\/p>\n
Not surprisingly, this abrupt timetable has terrified the pro-
\nIndonesia elements in the province. Still imbued with the
\nbrutalization of the New Order, they are protecting their
\ninterests by using force. And not surprisingly, they reportedly
\nhave the support of Indonesia's Armed Forces during this
\ntransition period when the power structure which maintained the
\nNew Order is still in place.<\/p>\n
This is the most dangerous time possible to force a choice on
\nEast Timor. The New Order is still intact. Its democratic
\nsuccessors have not even been chosen. There is every reason to
\nexpect that a democratic Indonesia will behave differently toward
\nall Indonesians generally. It will behave differently toward East
\nTimorese. It will promote the development of a strong civil
\nsociety, and gradually move ABRI out of politics. Waiting for
\npolitical change in Jakarta could well secure a peaceful
\ntransition in the province. The current breakneck timetable is
\ncertain to end in disaster.<\/p>\n
In this dangerous situation, Australians are totally
\npreoccupied with the East Timor situation, and tend to see the
\nfate of 202 million Indonesians through the prism of 800,000
\nEast Timorese.<\/p>\n
East Timor is only one of many problems spawned by the
\nSoeharto New Order. A new democratic Indonesia must solve the
\nproblems of Aceh, Madurese immigrants forced from West Kalimantan
\nand the thousands of farmers forced off their land during the New
\nOrder era. Indonesia must develop new financial and political
\nrelationships with its provinces and restore religious harmony.
\nIt must restore a shattered modern economy. I believe that a new
\ndemocratic government can make a genuine start on these problems,
\nand will. At the very least, it must be given a chance.<\/p>\n
Australians do not focus, however, on this massive reform
\nagenda and the need to support it. We see only the violence and
\nthe bloodshed. And East Timor dominates our view of Indonesia. No
\nwonder then that Indonesians ask why, in the New Order period, we
\nmade an issue only of human rights abuses in East Timor and Irian
\nJaya and never about the systematic slaughter of Muslim Acehnese.
\nEast Timor is a small neighbor, which certainly needs our help
\nand support. But Indonesia is a huge neighbor, which needs
\nmassive help and understanding at this critical point in its
\nhistory.<\/p>\n
Current discussion of East Timor in Australia is ill-informed,
\narrogant and verging on the hysterical.<\/p>\n
Some of the debate is carried on through the Australian media
\n-- diplomatic leaks and press releases -- as if our consciences
\ncan be salved by calls for United Nations peace enforcers or
\npeacemaking or peacekeeping forces, which we know will never
\ntranspire. Make the problem someone else's.<\/p>\n
And the Portuguese, of course, are the best at this game. The
\nPortuguese representative in Jakarta, Ms Anna Gomes, reportedly
\nsaid on April 13 she was \"shocked to hear (Howard's) comments
\nlast week that he was not willing to put Australians lives at
\nrisk\". She reminded us of the East Timorese lives lost in the
\nprovince in World War II defending Australian soldiers. Portugal,
\nof course, has never risked a single life of its own in the
\nprovince. This is extraordinary gall from a country which basked
\nin the comfort of the fascist Salazar regime during World War II.<\/p>\n
Then there is the \"Why not bomb Jakarta too?\" phenomenon. If
\nNATO can pour so many bombs into Serbia because of its human
\nrights abuses in Kosovo, which is still legitimately part of its
\nterritory, there is more justification to do so against
\nIndonesia, which has no right to be in East Timor.<\/p>\n
To quote Brian Toohey: \"The message for Indonesia is ominous:
\nbecause the UN does not recognize Indonesian sovereignty over
\nEast Timor, it doesn't even have the excuse that the behavior on
\nthe island is an internal affair. While no one is suggesting that
\nJakarta should be bombed, Indonesia's political and military
\nleaders must expect to come under growing international pressure
\nto stop arming paramilitary groups.\" (Australian Financial
\nReview, April 13, 1999).<\/p>\n
Is Brian suggesting that the NATO intervention in Yugoslavia,
\nwith all its fine, moral dimensions, has been a success? Instead
\nof providing a rapid, clean solution to the plight of the
\nKosovars, it has precipitated a humanitarian and political
\ndisaster which will require decades for Europe to resolve.<\/p>\n
Will Brian raise the possibility of bombing when the next
\nreligious or ethnic violence breaks out elsewhere in Indonesia?
\nThe fact is that he has put the issue on the public agenda, where
\nit will no doubt feed White Australian primordial fears of Asia.<\/p>\n
\"Be a man and stand up and do something about this or there
\nwill be a great deal more bloodshed.\" These are the oddly sexist
\nwords of a Sydney Roman Catholic nun calling on Australia to
\nbecome involved immediately in a peacekeeping force in East
\nTimor. She accuses the Australian government of betraying \"all
\nthat Anzac has stood for. It has betrayed the ideals of fairness,
\ncomradeship and courage\".<\/p>\n
Is she saying that our debts to the Timorese can only be paid
\nin still more blood? Where is the understanding of the forces at
\nwork now in the archipelago? Where is compassion for all those
\ninvolved? And where is the humility and acknowledgement that no
\none is perfect?<\/p>\n
I grew up in a country town where Aboriginal girls were
\nbrought to a training school after being seized from their
\nfamilies. They were trained there by the Anglican Church to
\nbecome maids in wealthy white houses for \"a lousy little
\nsixpence\". I know them now as our lost generation, a profound
\ninjustice for which many Australians cannot yet apologize.<\/p>\n
Then there is the extraordinary arrogance of those who think
\nthey know best for Indonesia. For example, Scott Burchill writes
\nin the Canberra Times of April 14: \"Australia needs to take an
\ninternational lead in discussions about democratizing Indonesia
\nand any other states which may emerge from its post-colonial
\nclutches\".<\/p>\n
Is he totally unaware of the struggle now underway to achieve
\na democratic Indonesia? Has he not heard of Megawati, or Mukhtar
\nPakpahan, or Amien Rais or Budiman Sudjatmiko? Thousands of
\nIndonesians, known and unknown, are fighting now to secure a
\nvoice for all Indonesians in their Government. This will take
\nyears to achieve and consolidate, but the opportunity is here
\nright now. Indonesia does not need to be lectured from outside
\nabout democratization. It needs help and support, not
\ninterference.<\/p>\n
If Australia is not careful, we will come to be considered in
\nIndonesia as having harmed, not helped, Indonesia in this crisis.
\nAlready Australia is losing sight of the primary challenge
\nIndonesia faces. Public opinion in Australia is swinging
\naggressively against Indonesia. The government is being led by
\nevents, rather than trying to set a new course. We are falling in
\nbehind the agendas of others, including the Portuguese. And we do
\nnot seem to recognize that as a result of the June elections, new
\npolitical forces could emerge in Indonesia quite soon which will
\nwant to take a different path.<\/p>\n
At the moment, attitudes and actions in Australia and
\nIndonesia on East Timor are fraying tempers and draining patience
\non both sides. There is now a real danger that both countries
\nwill fail to manage this extremely difficult problem. The most
\npressing need is to slow the pace of events, and allow time for a
\nnew, genuinely democratic government in Indonesia to find a
\npeaceful solution in East Timor.<\/p>\n
If this does not happen, for whatever reason, the next
\nmillennium is likely to begin with an absence of trust and
\nconfidence, which neither Australia nor Indonesia can afford. The
\npositive myth of the support Australia gave Indonesia during the
\nwar against the Dutch, which has underpinned the relationship in
\ngood and bad times, could be overtaken by a conviction that
\nAustralia failed Indonesia at its most critical point.<\/p>\n
Dr. Geoff Forrester is a board member at the Australia
\nIndonesia Institute and editor of the bestselling The Fall of
\nSoeharto.<\/p>",
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