Keating tries to improve ties

By Ikrar Nusa Bhakti

JAKARTA (JP): Prime Minister Paul Keating's wish to consolidate Australian-Indonesian relations is apparently not a seasonal dream. Since he became Australian PM four years ago, he has visited Indonesia four times. This Sunday, Sept. 17, Keating will visit Indonesia again to hold a dialog with President Soeharto in Bali. The agenda of the talks includes matters relating to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), particularly toward the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting (AELM) in Osaka, Japan, in November, bilateral relations, and developments of regional and international interest.

Apparently, bilateral relations will receive the greatest attention among the topics mentioned. This is understandable because in these past three months Australian-Indonesian relations have been very severely tested. It started with Australia's indecision in accepting Indonesia's candidate ambassador for Australia, Lieutenant-General H.B.L. Mantiri, which led to Indonesia's canceling the nomination. Moreover, Australia freed 18 illegal immigrants from East Timor who fled the island on May 24, 1995, resulting in waves of protests in Indonesia.

Relations between the two countries became more heated after a number of demonstrations and the burning of the Indonesian flag in Australia. Indonesian Youth National Committee (KNPI) activists retaliated by burning the Australian flag at the Australian embassy in Jakarta.

Since 1945 Australian-Indonesian relations have known their ups and downs. Prof.Dr. Colin Brown, an Australian observer of Indonesia, compares the relations between the two countries to a roller coaster. It climbs very slowly but once the top is reached it descends drastically. Australia and Indonesia had their honeymoon in 1945-1949 when the Australian people and government supported the Indonesian struggle for independence.

However, in 1950-1966 relations reached a level of hostility because Australia, a liberal-capitalist country, was suspicious of Indonesia's intentions regarding West Irian, the Indonesia- Malaysia confrontation and this country's foreign policy to establish the "New Emerging Forces" (NEFOS) to confront the "Old Established Forces" (OLDEFOS). In 1967-1975, relations between the two countries returned to normal and attained their peak when Gough Williams, of the Labor Party, was prime minister.

From 1975 on the relations between the two countries have had their ups and downs which is basically caused by differences in perception on human rights, especially in East Timor and Irian Jaya, freedom of the press, civilian-military relations in Indonesia, collusion and corruption between government officials and the private sector in Indonesia.

To eliminate this negative perception, prime minister Bob Hawke's government proposed to establish an Australia-Indonesia Institute, a Ministerial Forum, and to adopt a Joint Declaration of Principles or a Friendship Treaty between the two countries, as exists between Australia and Papua New Guinea. The first and second proposals were implemented only in 1989 and 1992, after Senator Gareth Evans took over the position of Australia's foreign minister from Bill Hayden in 1988.

Together with Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, Evans took efforts to erect pillars of bilateral relations, mainly through a multidimensional approach, i.e. not only through diplomatic and military relations, but also through the stepping up of trade and economic as well as socio-cultural relations. At the moment, Australian-Indonesian relations at Government-to-Government level can be qualified as good, but on the level of the two countries' communities it can be said that negative perceptions are still apparent.

The following may serve as an example: When the Australian Armed Forces Academy's Department of Political Sciences conducted a survey in 1993, it found that 57 percent of Australian voters and 28 percent of Australian legislators believed that Indonesia would become a security threat for Australia in 10 years' time. The 1986 Australian Defense White Paper had written the same. On the other hand, the majority of the Indonesian community believes that Australia still applies a White Australia policy and causes misery to the aborigines.

The differences in perception at the community level often influence the process of decision making at the elite level of decision makers in both countries. The violent storms hitting the bilateral relations between July and September 1995 are a manifestation of the existence of negative perceptions in the two countries as well as inclinations towards violent acts and high- level political games in political elite circles in both countries.

PM Keating's visit to Indonesia, apart from preparing the Australian-Indonesian position in the coming AELM in Osaka, is also meant to improve bilateral relations. Keating is taking over Foreign Minister Evans' place because apparently Indonesia no longer considers Evans a positive asset in the two countries' bilateral relations like at the beginning of his term as foreign minister. Evans has created a negative image of himself because the commotion surrounding Mantiri had its origins in his comments in front of the Australian press.

In the implementation of Australia's foreign policy on Indonesia, the differences in the background and in the position and views of PM Keating and Foreign Minister Evans strongly resemble those between Prime Minister Joseph Benedict Chifley and Foreign Minister H.V. Evatt of the Labor Party, which ruled in the years following World War II. Like Chifley, Keating is a politician who was born and raised as a Labor Party activist. Keating was a working class man from Bankstown, New South Wales, who in 1969 became a parliament member representing the electoral district of Blaxland. Therefore, also like Chifley, in defending Indonesia, Keating is more pragmatic and is not so bound by aspects of international law.

On the other hand, Foreign Minister Evans, like Foreign Minister Evatt, is strongly influenced by his background as an academic and lawyer. Therefore, Evans is more rigid in the implementation of Labor Party idealism, which gives priority to human rights and links these to international law. For example, in the case of East Timor, Foreign Minister Evans always says that although Australia has recognized East Timor's integration into Indonesia, he still maintains that the act of self- determination has not been carried out in East Timor. The anti- integration East Timor community residing in Australia and their supporting NGO activists know Evans' position and views and want to make use of them. Moreover, Evans has a vested interest in transferring his position from the Senate to the House of Commons and needs the support of human rights activists and the press.

Amidst the crisis in the two countries' relations, Keating desires to state that the final decision lies in his hands. His pragmatic attitude may have been influenced by his advisers in his office and by the group of businessmen, scientists, bureaucrats, the military and other groups of the Indonesian lobby who do not want the relations between the two countries to enter total confusion. This does not mean that the Australian foreign office does not wish good relations, because in this office too many people focus their attention on Asia rather than on Europe. At least, PM Keating still adheres to his statement of March 16, 1992 that Indonesia's sustainable economic development is very important for Australia's security, that good relations with Indonesia is one of the criteria for wider Australian-Asian relations, and that the economic growth of Australia and Indonesia contributes positively to both countries and the Asia- Pacific region.

The writer is a researcher at the Center for Political and Regional Studies, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Jakarta.