Bali blast tests Indonesia-Australia ties

Endy M. Bayuni, Deputy Editor, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Relations between Indonesia and Australia have never been as good or as warm as what we have seen over this past week. For those who have closely watched the often turbulent ties, it simply seems too good to be true. It therefore begs the questions of whether it will last, and what will it take to make it last.

There is a good explanation as to why Indonesia and Australia have been working shoulder to shoulder, literally, in a way never seen before: Both countries were rudely awakened by the bomb blasts that killed scores of their nationals in Bali on Oct. 12. Each government considered the attack a national tragedy. The two nations went into a sad mourning period.

And now, their governments are now both resolute in hunting down the perpetrators, and in bringing them to justice. And they know they can't do it alone, and that together they stand a better chance of success.

This is a crisis that has brought the two giant neighbors -- which have been at odds for much of these past five decades -- closer together. The worst kind of crisis has that kind of impact. It brings communities together, and in the case of the Bali blast, it has brought the two neighbors together.

Ever since the tragic attack on that fateful Saturday night, the two countries have shown a spirit of community and neighborliness. Australia has come forward with plenty of offers of help and assistance, and Indonesia has responded positively each time.

The sight of a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) plane on Indonesian soil would, in "normal" times, have provoked a xenophobic outcry from the nationalist camp, including the Indonesian Military (TNI). We did not see or hear those sentiments when an RAAF transport plane landed on the Sunday after the blast, bringing the first batch of medical staff to help the victims. More RAAF planes came and left after that, bringing in more medical staff and flying home some of the injured, both Australians and Indonesians, for further treatment.

And then there was the subsequent arrival of Australian police officers, intelligence agents, forensic experts, investigators and many others to Bali to help Indonesia deal with the aftermath of the bomb attacks, including the investigations.

Two senior Australian Cabinet ministers came to Bali early in the week, and then proceeded to Jakarta for meetings with top Indonesian government officials, including President Megawati Soekarnoputri. The two governments subsequently announced the establishment of a joint task force to crack the case.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard came to Bali on Thursday to attend a memorial service for the dead Australian victims.

At no time did we hear any negative remarks from Indonesian officials or politicians as these Australian government officials and workers went about their business on Indonesian territory.

If this had been normal times, the presence of so many Australian government officials would have provoked an outrage in Jakarta, and cries of suspicion of Canberra's hidden motives.

Before Oct. 12, bilateral relations had not fully recovered from the disruption that goes back to East Timor's vote to separate from Indonesia in 1999. Many people in this country, particularly TNI and its supporters, are still sour toward Australia, whom they blame for causing the loss of East Timor.

Prime Minister Howard was accused in Indonesia of stoking anti-Indonesia sentiments when he used the issue of Central Asian asylum seekers in his reelection campaign last year.

There has been enough progress in the relations between the two countries over the past year to suggest that they are mending fences. There was the joint hosting of the regional conference on asylum seekers in Bali in January; and there was last month's inauguration of the South West Pacific Forum of dialog in Yogyakarta, which also included New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and East Timor.

Prime Minister Howard visited Jakarta in February, during which the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly deal with the threat of terrorism facing the region.

But as good as the relations between the two countries are today, we all know too well that, given the recent history of our relations, they are not without perils.

A lot depends on how our leaders play their cards. History may not be on our side, but who says we can't beat the odds.

This crisis has shown that the two countries, plunged into the crisis together, are able to put aside not only their differences, but more importantly their egos. There is too much at stake for the two countries today to be quarreling about national pride, and even about sovereignty.

The terrorists who attacked New York and Washington last year, and those who attacked Bali this month, did not distinguish people, nationality or state borders. Nations need to therefore respond together. Indonesia and Australia realize that they are in this together, and that together, they stand a much better chance of addressing the threat of terrorism.

The two countries have also learned about each other's sensitivities after 50 years of almost constant quarreling. The two governments have approached the issue correctly. No one party is imposing on the other. Australia offers assistance, and Indonesia welcomes it with open hands.

But we cannot live under the pretension that Indonesia- Australia relations will remain as good as they seem today forever. They are still precarious enough that even the slightest slip could send relations south.

The Australian government's travel advisory for Australians to leave Indonesia, while acceptable given the bitter experience of the Oct. 12 attack, cannot remain in place forever without undermining existing relations.

Prime Minister Howard should contain the outrage that is slowly emerging in Australia. Soon, they will be demanding action, and some of that anger will be vented at Indonesia.

There have been attacks on Indonesian and Muslim properties in Australia this past week, apparently in anger over the Bali blast.

This anger is bound to spread unless the two governments crack the Bali blast case quickly, identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice. The pressure is on the joint task force.

Success on this front bodes well for future relations. But failure to come up with credible answers within a reasonable period of time would put the Bali blast on the long list of disasters that have marred relations between the two countries.

(The writer was in Australia at the invitation of the Australia-Indonesia Institute last week).