Mistrust between Indonesia and Australia
The media's view of Australia-RI relations
Santi W.E. Soekanto, Jakarta
Australians regard Indonesia as the country's greatest security threat, far outranking other nations in the region, a new study in Australia revealed on Wednesday Aug. 25, 2004. Released by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), it said fewer Australians now saw an external security threat than at any time in the past 30 years.
"However, to the extent that the public identifies a security threat to Australia, there is a greater consensus than ever before that the threat comes from one country: Indonesia," ASPI said as quoted by the Sidney Morning Herald. "Notwithstanding improved bilateral relations, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s, the public's concern about Indonesia has increased almost consistently since opinion polls first began to track it in the late 1960s."
The study was conducted for ASPI by Australian National University professor of political science Ian McAllister who reviewed polls dating back to the late 1960s. It quoted a 2001 survey that showed 31 percent believed Indonesia would be very likely to pose a threat to Australia's security compared with just 9 percent for China, 6 percent for Malaysia and 5 percent for Japan.
The piece did not say why Australians considered Indonesia their greatest security threat. However, it brought to mind a report, titled Near Neighbors, Good Neighbors, issued in May by the Australian Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade -- which is a subcommittee of the foreign ministry -- on its inquiry into Australia's relationship with Indonesia. Invoking the warmth that people usually feel about having good, reliable neighbors, the report discussed how good relations and understanding could be built through, among other things, exchange visits.
On its chapter on the role of the media, the committee discussed meeting with Muslim leaders during a recent visit to Jakarta, where young Indonesian Muslim leaders discussed how the portrayal in the media of Islam, and the media's failure to distinguish between Muslims generally and "radical elements such as the Taliban", was offensive.
"A plea was made for the western media to give Muslims the right to the benefit of the doubt," the report said, before going on to say that the committee and the Muslim leaders discussed the importance of the mass media getting more understanding of Islam and the East.
The report cited the Journey into Islam in Indonesia, a program undertaken by the Melbourne-based Asia Pacific Journalism Center, in which a group of Australian journalists and their Indonesian counterparts went on a journey to Muslim communities to gain a better understanding of how Indonesian Muslims live.
A total of 18 journalists traveled in May for 10 days along the length of Java to visit pesantren (boarding schools) and other Islamic communities, a journey that was expected to provide insight for everybody on the trip. Warm personal ties developed. "This program has changed how we will report about Islam in the future," said one Australian journalist. "A 10-day journey has shown us that huge gaps can be bridged," said another.
The committee commented thus in its report: "The committee considers such programs are an extremely important way of enhancing the media's understanding of Islam and, through their extended reach, the general community. An insensitive and inaccurate portrayal of Islam in the west is indeed offensive and damaging to relationships."
When the Australian participants published their stories, however, a critical overtone of Indonesian Muslims remained. Expressions of wariness at more radical Indonesian Muslims, and admonitions about how Indonesia should treat such elements, also appeared.
This showed how hard a task it was to earn somebody's trust and to change one's attitude about another person. Only in movies do people change their behavior and attitudes within a short span of time. The Muslim leaders quoted by the joint committee report would have to wait longer before their wish for a fairer portrayal of Indonesian Islam could come true.
There is no question that Sept. 11 created serious roadblocks on the journey to understanding between the West and Indonesia. For the same reasons, Indonesia and Australia are facing those roadblocks now.
Former American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once said, "If I call Europe, whom should I ring?" By the same token, whom should we ring when we call the West? Whom shall we ring when we call Islam? Individuals, however, can start to make a difference.
The writer is a freelance journalist and manager of the Journey into Islam in Indonesia 2004 program. She can be contacted at santi_soekanto2001@yahoo.com