Long term commitment: Australia and E. Asia (2)

This is the second of two articles based on a speech delivered by Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer at a meeting of the Indonesian Council on World Affairs and the Indonesia-Australia Business Council in Jakarta on July 9.

JAKARTA: Australian involvement in the Asian region has been challenged most recently by the One Nation Party.

Some Australians, as is the case around the world, are finding rapid change brought about by the irresistible force of globalization, disconcerting. Yet we cannot close our eyes and wish globalization away -- technology makes that impossible. The great challenge for all our countries is to make globalization work for us.

It is a basic rule of politics, cynically exploited by One Nation in Australia and its xenophobic counterparts elsewhere, that it is much easier to tear people down and oppose, than explain and create. One Nation proposes no realistic ideas about Australia's future -- only a desire to return to an era that no longer exists anywhere else in the world which is looking forward, not to the past.

One Nation cannot even claim to be nostalgic in outlook. It is divisive, regressive and heartless. In a world where we have as nations and cultures increasingly to work together, One Nation's offensive comments on race would, if implemented, set people against people and culture against culture. For the last half century, so much of international diplomacy has tried to bury policies such as these so we can all live together in greater harmony. That too must continue to be our aim in the 21st century.

One Nation promotes an insular Australia -- inward looking, narrow-minded, protectionist and separated from the region and the world. Down that path lies disaster for Australia, and the government will not take it.

(Member of Parliament Pauline) Hanson's thoughtless comments and policies also endanger our export earnings and Australian jobs. It is sad that she is willing to risk the future of Australian families for the sake of ambition and fleeting notoriety. The Australian government will not compromise the fundamental interests of Australia for short-term political expediency.

The real test of a relationship, the real test of commitment, comes not when times are good, but when they are difficult. By that standard, Australia has proven its commitment to the region.

It is now just over a year since the region's financial crisis began with the first jolts to the Thai economy. The downturn hit the region hard, coming as it did after many years of unprecedented economic growth and increasing regional confidence. But after the inevitable recovery, we will be able to look back on this period as the time the region came of age.

Australia, too, has gained a new stature in response to the regional crisis, though our challenges are different.

The government has been determined -- through timely and well- focused assistance, and robust advocacy on the region's behalf -- to play its part in the recovery. That is mirrored by Australian business, which sees the downturn not as a signal to pull out, but rather one to make even greater efforts in regional markets.

Australian companies that stay the course in Indonesia and do not pull out will be rewarded in the longer term. In Indonesia, in particular, the prospects for eventual economic recovery and long term growth are excellent. This is a great country with a large pool of highly talented people.

There is a new maturity in our attitude to our neighbors. Since taking office in 1996, the government has made the expansion and strengthening of our bilateral relationships in Asia its primary foreign and trade policy task. The results are now apparent. We have ceased being the region's "demandeur", badgering our neighbors for attention and recognition. Australia is now a genuinely close partner and regional friend, a country that can be relied on in good times and in bad.

In the midst of all the understandable concern about the current situation, I believe some genuine fundamentals are often forgotten by outside observers, and perhaps even by some Indonesians.

Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country. Its natural resource base is huge and diverse, ranging from mineral resources, to forestry and fisheries. Its location on global shipping routes and near other major economies gives it great potential for foreign trade. Moreover, the economic reform program, one of the most ambitious ever attempted, is likely to improve greatly the efficiency and competitiveness of the economy.

The success Indonesia achieved in its struggle for nationhood in 1949 captured the world's admiration and inspired many other countries. The current process of political and economic reform is no less a process of nation-building, and requires no less courage and resolve. The Australian government is absolutely confident that Indonesia will succeed in this endeavor and will, as a result, fill its proper place, in every sense as one of the world's biggest and most important countries.

In the years since Australia assisted Indonesians as they fought for independence, our relationship has had its problems and its successes -- as in any relationship, there are occasions on which we will differ. But our commitment to Indonesia -- and to Asia -- cannot, and will not, alter. We will certainly be doing whatever we can to help Indonesia, and to encourage others to do the same.