Australian aid package a watershed for Canberra-Jakarta

Australian aid package a watershed for Canberra-Jakarta
relations: analysts

Neil Sands
Agence France-Presse/Sydney, Australia

Australia's A$1 billion (US$764 million) Indonesian tsunami aid
package shows Canberra's eagerness to permanently improve a
relationship with its largest northern neighbor too often
strained by cultural, religious and economic differences,
analysts said on Thursday.

Experts said tensions were inevitable as "an accident of
history" had placed Australia -- a prosperous, western democracy
-- alongside Indonesia -- impoverished home to the world's
largest Muslim population.

"Of all Australia's bilateral relationships, the one with
Indonesia is the most delicate and the most subject to flux,"
said Malcolm Cook, the Asia-Pacific program director at the Lowy
Institute for International Affairs.

"There's always a lot of white noise in there (but) this has
the potential to be a watershed that could change things for the
better and overcome past differences."

The scale and speed of Australia's response to the Dec. 26
tsunami has raised hopes that it will now be seen as a good
neighbor, rather than a brash upstart prone to "megaphone
diplomacy" as it seeks to do Washington's bidding in the region.

"This is a historic step in Australia-Indonesia relations,"
Prime Minister John Howard told reporters when unveiling the
billion dollar package, one half of which will be delivered in
direct aid grants, the other in interest-free loans.

The package makes Australia, with a population of just 20
million, the world's largest tsunami aid donor.

It has also been praised for the rapid deployment of aid and
rescue resources in the aftermath of the catastrophe that killed
more than 145,000 people in eight Asian nations, nearly 100,000
in Indonesia alone.

World Vision Australia chief Tim Costello said the aid package
was "magnificent" and would help dispel hatred of Australia
promoted by Islamic fundamentalist groups.

"I understand the politics, the concern that Australia proves
it's a great neighbor to 212 million (Indonesian) Muslims ... and
proves we shouldn't be the target of fanatical bombs," he told
reporters.

Canberra-Jakarta relations reached a low point in 1999, when
Australia led a UN-peacekeeping force into East Timor to end a
24-year occupation after a landslide vote for independence
sparked a violent backlash from Indonesia-backed militias.

There was a thaw in late 2002 as Australian and Indonesian
police successfully combined to hunt down the extremists
responsible for the Bali bombing, where 88 Australians were among
the 202 dead.

But more recently, Jakarta has voiced concerns over Canberra's
purchase of long-range cruise missiles and its unilateral
declaration of a 1,000 kilometer maritime security zone off its
coast.

Howard also ruffled feathers during last year's election
campaign by saying he would authorize preemptive strikes against
terrorist threats in Southeast Asia, although he retracted the
statement after the poll.

The prime minister been accused of downgrading ties with Asia
in favor of close links with traditional allies such as Britain
and the United States, seen in Australia's participation in the
U.S.-led Iraq war.

Cook said the cumulative impact of the tensions was a
deteriorating opinion of Australia among the average Indonesian.

He said the generosity of tsunami response should reverse the
trend.

"I think there will be a ripple effect, with goodwill
spreading from the places where Australian aid is most visible,
Aceh and Jakarta, across Indonesia," he said.

However, Sydney University Indonesia expert Peter King said
aid efforts could feed fundamentalist resentment if Australia and
other foreign nations were not mindful of local sensitivities
when organizing aid relief.

"There's a chance that a massive foreign presence in Indonesia
could actually restart the jihad if it's seen as an intrusion in
the guise of relief and reconstruction," King told AFP.