Does Australia really belong to E. Asia?
Jusuf Wanandi, Member, Board of Trustees Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta
The general elections in Australia brought back to power the Coalition under PM John Howard for the third time. Following a very ugly campaign, where racism, xenophobia, and bigotry have become the main tactics to win the elections, Australia's status regionally and internationally has been reduced to a pariah.
Australia can no longer claim to hold the high moral ground. Earlier on, she was an example of how a multi-racial and multi- cultural society was to be organized.
She was very attentive on how to become a part of the region where her future lies, economically, politically, and strategically.
Australia has been at the forefront of efforts to promote regional cooperation. The idea of a Pacific economic community originated with her, and she has been working hard to get it off the ground with the establishment of Pacific Economic Cooperation Council and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
She has contributed greatly to the resolution of the Cambodian conflict, working in tandem with Indonesia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The establishment of the ASEAN Regional Forum was made possible with the support of Australia and Japan. These achievements may be wiped out by one man's leadership, that of PM Howard.
Howard never paid attention to the East Asian region, and he always appears to be uncomfortable with the people and leaders of the region. He is like someone living in a small town somewhere in 19th century England. Especially when taking over Pauline Hansons's racist and xenophobic strategy of re-establishing "Australia's White Policy" of the 1950's and the 1960's, he turned upside down the earlier bi-partisan efforts to make Australia a part of the region.
He should have been proud of assisting Indonesia in overcoming the debacle in East Timor in 1999, but his rhetoric hampers the development of a healthy bilateral relationship. Now he has his own problems with the East Timorese as he has had with the aborigines and Asian populace in Australia as well.
That he has been re-elected, despite being so narrow-minded and out of place for an open, modern Australia, located in the Western Pacific together with over 2 billion East Asians and in the 21st century, only shows how immature and full of fear a big number of Australians still are.
This brings home some serious disillusion for someone like myself, who thought that Australia could inject some civilized values and democratic ideals to the region. We have been looking forward to an Australia that could assist the region in coping with change and creating stability and peace, and promoting regionalism.
I believed Australia was fighting for those values. That's why, I and many other Indonesians have worked hard to keep the bilateral relations between Indonesia and Australia on an even keel, whatever the challenges between those two disparate countries and nations, including during the East Timor crisis.
We have also worked very hard to make Australia accepted in the East Asian region although Howard is not enthusiastic to belong to this part of the world -- and in his rhetoric looks down on the region. I did that because I thought that Howard is an aberration in Australian politics. With this general elections and noting such a vicious, racist and xenophobic campaign, I am not too sure whether Australia really belongs to East Asia. I hope my friends in Australia would understand this disillusionment and regret.
I do hope, nonetheless, that in the end the Australian people will look ahead and will not be influenced by short-sighted leaders who for their own short term political interest damage Australia itself. I must add, however, that I have yet to be convinced that this is still possible.
In the meantime, I would like to argue that my government should simply maintain a business-like relationship with the Howard government, without expecting too much from or willing to give special efforts to the relationship.