Australians dramatically change attitude to Indonesia

Rob Goodfellow, University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

In September 2001 Wollongong-based IRIS Research was commissioned by Ian PCH Siagian, Political Representative (Koordinator Wilayah) of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) in Australia, to research changing attitudes of ordinary Australians towards Indonesia.

Compared to a similar poll conducted in 1993, responses in the IRIS survey showed a much higher awareness of internal Indonesian issues, much lower perception of threat from Indonesia and much higher concern for improved bilateral relations on the part of a broad cross-section of the Australian population.

The survey showed that in eight years general knowledge of Indonesia had dramatically increased. For example three times as many respondents in 2001 were able to name the Indonesian President unprompted as were able to do so in 1993. Similarly, the proportion able to name Indonesia's capital city jumped by a factor of five times.

According to Siagian, who was interviewed in Sydney recently, the aim of the research is to better inform PDI Perjuangan policy makers in Jakarta about contemporary Australian attitudes to Indonesia. "I will be presenting the results of the research to legislators and party officials in Jakarta so that informed decisions can lead to better regional policy formation", said Siagian.

"I believe that in commissioning this research the PDI Perjuangan is demonstrating that there are sophisticated ways of measuring regional sentiment towards Indonesia, and that these views will be taken into account as part of the more subtle, consensus-decision-making-process that is so important in my country", Siagian added.

In September 1993 research was conducted on Australian attitudes to Indonesia that become headline news prior to the inaugural APEC summit of that year. The research looked at a random sample of retired persons -- over 60 years of age, and the same number of students enrolled at university. The research indicated that Australian's were both ignorant about, and hostile towards, Indonesia. The research was released in Indonesia to coincide with then prime minister Paul Keating's visit to Jakarta prior to the Bogor APEC summit of the following year.

Questions looked at general perceptions of Indonesia, general knowledge and one final question which invited respondents to subjectively speculate on what they felt was the likely course of future Indonesia-Australian relations.

Amongst older Australians the general response section of the research was overwhelmingly negative evoking descriptions such as "foreign", "war", "political conflict" and "poverty". Only five percent of the retired sample made what would be considered "positive" comments about Indonesia. In the general knowledge section only 10 percent of the sample was able to identify who the President of Australia's nearest northern neighbor -- The Republic of Indonesia, was. Only 8 percent were able to correctly identify that the capital of Indonesia was Jakarta, with 20 percent answering "Batavia".

In the final section 84 percent of respondents felt that Indonesia and Australia would at some time in the near future be at war with each other. Reasons given were because of "Indonesia's powerful and expansionist military", that Indonesia was "war-like", because Indonesians were "sneaky", that "they (the Indonesians) could not be trusted", and because they "bred too quick or like rabbits".

In the university sample 50 percent of answers were considered "positive", with "Bali" given as the response of 14 percent of respondents. Again general knowledge questions revealed an extraordinarily poor general knowledge of Indonesia with only 10 percent of the student sample able to correctly identify either Soeharto as the president or Jakarta as the capital.

In the final question 32 percent of younger people strongly believed that Australia and Indonesia would not be at war with each other in the future and that relations would improve over time, about four percent had no opinion, and 56 percent felt that conflict was inevitable citing "East Timor", "Indonesia's aggressive tendencies", "religious fundamentalism", and "population pressure".

The new research was based in the same geographic area as the 1993 study. Results strongly demonstrate that respondents were much more aware of Indonesia and the largest group gave answers that displayed concern over the recently reported internal issues in Indonesia. These issues gained high profile in Australia during Krismon (the 1997/1998 economic crisis). Second to this was comment about the highly publicized people smuggling activities of recent months.

This was followed by a large number of positive references to Indonesia (and in particular Bali) as a tourist or holiday destination.

While East Timor rated a high level of awareness, there was also a large group that expressed desire for improved relations between Australia and Indonesia.

The combination of answers seems to suggest greatly increased awareness since 1993. Much, but not all of this was issues based. In addition, in the research results there seems to be a clear thread of desire for improved relations.

The survey also showed a dramatic increase in awareness levels with respect to the Indonesian President. Research conducted in 1993 found that only 10 percent of the persons surveyed were able to identify the president of Australia's nearest northern neighbor. The 2001 survey shows that, in the Illawarra Region, Australians are now three times as likely to be aware on this point.

General knowledge in this area has also improved dramatically. The 2001 survey revealed that over half of the Australians surveyed were able to correctly name Jakarta as the capital of Indonesia. This compared to only 10 percent in 1993.

General concern about traveling overseas and the current relationship difficulties between Australia and Indonesia may be damping down interest in Bali as a holiday destination. The question posed to respondents asked whether they would be more or less likely to holiday in Bali than they would have been three months ago. About 60 percent indicated that they would be less likely to holiday at this time than three months ago.

However, when this figure is compared to the level of optimism about future relationships between Australia and Indonesia, it becomes clear that increased interest in Indonesia as a holiday destination is to be expected in the near future.

Finally, in releasing the survey results, Siagian commented: "Given that a number of political issues affecting Australia's relationship with Indonesia were current in the Australian media at the time of the survey, the research results show that ordinary people have a positive expectation of future relations between Australia and Indonesia".