Keating tries to improve ties

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.