Labor or Liberal, no difference to Indonesia
Labor or Liberal, no difference to Indonesia
JAKARTA (JP): While Australian party leaders continue to jeer at one another over the other's foreign policy approaches, analysts here believe the outcome of the Australian election will have little bearing on relations with Indonesia.
Though both parties have expressed diametrically opposite views, many here see it as an electioneering ploy to drum up support from the electorate and nothing else.
"It is part of the posturing in Australian domestic politics to differentiate themselves from Keating's policies whom they consider to be close to Pak Harto," Juwono Sudarsono told The Jakarta Post when asked to assess the position of the coalition Liberal and National Parties lead by John Howard.
"There probably won't be too much of a difference whoever is elected in the end," said Juwono, who is deputy governor of the National Resilience Institute, the military's think tank.
Juwono disagreed with the notion that a new government in Australia would weaken the improving ties carefully built between Jakarta and Canberra over the past few years.
Prime Minister Paul Keating has set March 2 as the date for the general election in Australia. He is currently hard at work on the campaign trail to try and earn another victory for his Labor Party which has been in power for the past 13 years.
While the election is expected to hinge on domestic issues, the course of future Australian foreign policy towards its neighbors has surfaced as part of the heated debate to woo voters.
Liberal party officials have said that, if elected, they will take a firmer stand with regard to relations with Indonesia.
Keating has lashed back at them, saying President Soeharto "would not seriously negotiate with Howard" and that Jakarta would not have agreed to the security agreement signed in December if it had been proposed by the coalition government.
Juwono strongly believes that despite the criticisms, the Liberals will likely emulate a similar policy towards Indonesia.
"If the Liberals are elected, they will be just as close," he said, stressing that in such a fierce campaign they have to display a counter position to the incumbent.
"It is just a campaign tactic so that they sound different," he remarked.
Keating has adopted a highly complaisant relationship with President Soeharto and these have allowed ties in many fields to flourish. This relationship reached a new apex in December when the two countries signed a security agreement.
Keating's attention lies in his realization of the tremendous commercial potential that lies in attuning with Indonesia in particular and Southeast Asia in general.
He has however has often been reproached for what many Australians believe is compromising human rights principles for the sake of business.
Juwono maintains that even the Liberals will be practical in their approach and see the rewards of cordial ties. "The reasons are pragmatic. (In the end)...they all agree with what is being pursued by Keating thus far," he argued.
Two-way trade between 1989-1994 grew at about 50 percent per year.
Political scientist Nur Imam Subono from the University of Indonesia and Kusnanto Anggoro from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, while noting the possible tendencies for closer scrutiny on human rights, contended that Canberra could not afford to slight Jakarta.
They maintained that Australia's material vested interests in Indonesia would outweigh any other "symbolic" concerns that a new administration have might have.
Subono contended that Indonesia will be of only limited concern when voters enter the voting booth next month.
Similarly Kusnanto pointed out that it was a common strategy in elections to grasp at any potential issue at hand which might boost a party's popularity. During the past five years, one of Keating's successes has been in bringing Australia closer to Southeast Asia, he added. (mds)