Flying high with SBY

Flying high with SBY

Have relations between Indonesia and Australia ever been closer?

With Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono due here later this month, and a bilateral forum scheduled for Canberra on Thursday featuring no fewer than nine Indonesian government ministers, it would be hard to argue things could be much better. The last Indonesian leader to visit was Abdurrahman Wahid, in the twilight of his tenure in 2001 -- and the one before that was Soeharto in 1975. The visit is above all a tribute to the unlikely but genuine chemistry between Susilo and John Howard. Howard's attendance at Susilo's inauguration last year struck a chord with the Indonesians, while the response of the Australian Government and the Australian people to the tsunami disaster struck a much louder and deeper one. The confidence between the two leaders was illustrated by the speed with which Susilo signed up to Australia's hands-on tsunami relief package, worth $1 billion.

This excellent relationship should now be nurtured. Susilo faces immense challenges in improving governance, defeating corruption and getting the Indonesian economy back on the rails. Until Indonesia demonstrates it is a reliable place to do business, it will never compete successfully for foreign investment -- which it desperately needs -- against the tiger economies surrounding it. But by taking the unpopular step earlier this month of reducing government fuel subsidies -- a notorious platform for black-marketeering, and for rewarding the rich at the expense of the poor -- he has shown a willingness to begin the necessary reforms. A democrat who took on an incumbent president in a clean election and won, Susilo gives every appearance of being the best thing that has happened to bilateral relations in decades.

He also represents a new political class in Indonesia that understands Australia much better than its predecessors. There are 22,000 Indonesian students here, and until recently they included Susilo's son Edhie, who graduated from Curtin University earlier this month. The key challenge for the ministerial forum later this week is to go past the big headline issues -- terrorism, insurgency in Aceh and tsunami relief -- and work towards deepening partnerships in areas such as education, health, governance and capacity building. Every step we take towards helping Indonesia to govern itself more effectively is a victory in the battle against Islamist fanatics for the hearts and minds of ordinary Indonesians. -- The Australian, Sydney