Australia, the region and the East Asian Summit: Reluctant

Australia, the region and the East Asian Summit: Reluctant
partner or agenda setter?

Kevin Rudd
Perth

We in the Labor Party are pleased that our fearless Foreign
Minister Alexander Downer finally came to his senses and realized
last week that it really was "now or never" if Australia wanted
to be a participant at the inaugural East Asian Summit and
through that a member of any future East Asian Economic
Community.

The East Asian Summit, due to be held in Kuala Lumpur in
December this year, signifies a turning point in the development
in East Asian regionalism with the emergence of a forum which may
ultimately become a major regional economic institution.

At the heart Australia's role in the region in both security
and economic terms is its enduring relationship with Indonesia.

It would come as no surprise that Indonesia is central to
Australia's foreign policy outlook.

Our relationship with our Indonesia has never been more
important. We are truly fortunate at present to have in Indonesia
a President who not only appreciates this fact but who is
prepared to lend his personal political support to the cause.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's election as the directly elected
President of one of the largest, not to mention newest,
democracies in the world testimony to the strength of democracy
in Indonesia.

But the fact that the majority of the Indonesian people felt
free to choose a candidate that was not from one of the
established political parties is the clearest possible indication
that the ballot was free and fair, and that democracy is alive
and well in Indonesia.

There is no doubt that the Indonesia of today enjoys freedom
of the press. In fact the Indonesian press are so free that
Australian politicians have been known to become quite alarmed by
the ferocity of the Jakarta media scrum.

In addition to the promising signs of emerging democracy in
Indonesia, Indonesia's economic performance so far this year is
also showing promising signs.

Despite the devastating impact of the tsunami, the economy is
on track to achieve economic growth in 2005 of 5.5 to 6 percent
this year. Importantly, economic growth is shifting from
consumption to investment reflecting renewed confidence by
domestic and international investors in Indonesia's longer term
prospects.

Inflation has increased to 8.8 percent following the fuel
price hike, although Indonesia should benefit from high oil
prices as it is a substantial net energy exporter.

Of course major economic policy challenges remain,
particularly further reductions in public debt from 50 percent of
GDP to a more sustainable 35 to 40 percent, further reform of the
financial sector, especially improved governance, and further
steps must be taken to address corruption.

Contributing to its improving economic outlook, has been the
Indonesian government's attitude towards eliminating terrorism
from their shores.

This response to the terrorist challenge has only served to
bring our two countries closer together. I would like to again
place on the record the Opposition's thanks to the Indonesian
government for its excellent response to the two terrorist
attacks on Australian interests on Indonesian territory. The
quality of the response is due of course in no small part to the
leadership of President Susilo in his previous capacity as
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs.

But beyond the police cooperation on the investigations of the
Bali and Jakarta Embassy bombing there is much more that can be
done to combat the terrorist threat in Indonesia.

In particular, Labor has been calling on the government to
develop a hearts and minds strategy to combat the causes of
terrorism which would work in parallel with cooperation combating
the effects of terrorism such as cooperation on law enforcement,
border control and intelligence sharing. Labor argues that
Australia should lead an international donor consortium, beyond
specific commitments in Aceh, in order to work with our partners
in the Indonesian education system to rebuild the Indonesian
school system.

Another element in an effective hearts and minds strategy in
Indonesia and in South East Asia more broadly should be the
rebuilding of Radio Australia. The sorry saga of the destruction
of Radio Australia is well known to many Australians,
particularly those such as yourselves with an interest in the
region.

In short, following the election of the Howard government,
they decided to sell the Cox Peninsula transmitters at Darwin.
The long-term lease was given to a Christian fundamentalist
broadcaster instead of the voice of the Australian government.

The net impact, however, has been that our capacity to get out
a "soft message" about what Australia is doing to help ordinary
Indonesians has been severely curtailed.

The Australian government, if it had any sense of national
responsibility, should act now to recreate and rebuild Menzies'
child: that is Radio Australia. Radio Australia began
broadcasting in 1939 when Robert Gordon Menzies was Prime
Minister. John Winston Howard, who prides himself in being
Menzies disciple, is the one who has axed this service to the
bone. And it is the long-term Australian national interest which
has suffered as a result -- including in our overall long-term
engagement of the war against terrorism.

The terrifyingly destructive force of the Tsunami, which
killed hundreds of thousands and destroyed the livelihoods of
many hundreds of thousands more, also bought with it some
positive forces of change. A chance to rebuild not just the
bricks and mortar that had been washed away but a chance also to
rebuild civil society in Aceh. To its credit the Indonesian
government seized the opportunity to restart negotiations on a
peace agreement with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

On July 17 the government and GAM finally reached a peace
agreement which will be formalized at a ceremony in Helsinki next
week. It is to be hoped by all people of goodwill that this
agreement will bring to an end 30 years of fighting in Aceh that
has cost nearly 15,000 lives.

Labor in recent times has on a number of fronts been
consistently ahead of the Howard government in setting
Australia's foreign policy agenda.

We've done it on Afghanistan. We've done it on the East Asian
Summit. We've done it in outlining our proposal for a
comprehensive regional counter-terrorism strategy. And we are
doing it now in our calls on the government to embrace a similar
strategy in response to Avian Influenza.

What Australia needs today is a reassessment of its foreign
policy priorities. Gaining membership to the East Asian Summit,
albeit at the last minute, is a good start. Australia needs to be
an agenda setter in the region. We must demonstrate leadership.

One thing is becoming more certain, when Australia is involved
in the region, we will have our friends in Indonesia right beside
us. It is a critical relationship for Australia. And it is, I
believe, also a critical relationship for Indonesia.

The writer is Australia's shadow minister for foreign affairs,
trade and international security. This article was condensed from
a speech he delivered to the West Australian chapter of the
Australia Indonesia Business Council in Perth recently.