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

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.