Pauline Hanson factor fails to rate Indonesia: Study

By Rob Goodfellow

WOLLONGONG, Australia (JP): A recent qualitative study conducted in Indonesia suggests that the Pauline Hanson Factor was not high in the minds of the average Indonesian man in the street.

This was just one of a number of findings made in a study involving 100 ordinary Indonesian people by Wollongong University-based IRIS Research.

The survey group included Indonesian high school students, retired people, university undergraduates and wage and salary earners, and was conducted in the city of Yogyakarta in Central Java. Yogyakarta has over 70 universities and colleges and is widely accepted as Indonesia's "cultural and educational capital".

The survey followed similar research conducted in Australia in 1994.

Following its release, the results of the "Australian attitudes to Indonesia" questionnaire were widely published, discussed and debated in both countries.

Like the Australian survey, the Indonesian-based research asked four questions of a mixed gender sample of 100 high school students, retired people, university undergraduates and wage and salary earners. Twenty-five Indonesian people in each group were randomly selected and asked the following questions -- what is the first thing you think of when I say the word "Australia", who is the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia, what is the capital of Australia, and, finally, what are your feelings about present and future bilateral relations?

In contrast to the same survey conducted with an Australian sample in 1994, which exposed an overwhelmingly negative or hostile attitude to Indonesia, this questionnaire revealed that most Indonesians in the survey group had a warm or positive opinion of Australia.

One surprising result was that 22 percent of the sample believed that Paul Keating was still Prime Minister of Australia, 68 percent did not know or would not comment and only 11 percent were able to correctly identify John Howard as the leader of Indonesia's closest neighbor.

However, the most unexpected result was that "Pauline Hanson" or the "One Nation Party" was not raised at all, as either a negative first impression or as a criticism of Australia.

Significantly the survey team had expected Hanson and One Nation to be major issues of concern to Indonesians but that this had not been a feature at all. Two questions covering top of mind impressions and the future of bilateral relationships did not elicit any unprompted mention of One Nation from any respondent.

Martin O'Shannessy, chief executive officer of IRIS Research, actually suggested in response to the findings of the survey that the most striking contrast borne out by the questionnaire was the difference between attitudes expressed in Australia and Indonesia about the negative impact of One Nation.

The other important factor is that while the 1993 study found that Australians were ignorant and suspicious in their attitudes toward Indonesia, the 1998 survey showed that a warm and optimistic view of Australia is held by Indonesians with 100 percent of respondents giving a positive or even affectionate response when questioned on their top of mind impressions about Australia.

Images of kangaroos, aborigines, farming, beautiful cities and cultural landmarks were all positively mentioned as well as the quality of education and tourism opportunities.

Significantly, 100 percent of retired people surveyed believed that relations between Indonesia and Australia were "close" or "good".

On the negative side, 24 percent of high school students recorded critical responses. These included that "relations with Australia were good before Australia confronted Indonesia at the 1998 Asian Europe Meeting (ASEM) in London. Since then, they have been cold or distant"; and "far because the Indonesian government is in total disorder and the Indonesian economy is ruined because of the monetary crisis".

Two respondents mentioned that relationships between the two nations were "distant" "because of the geographical distance between borders".

Twenty-eight percent of salary earners surveyed made negative comments about future relationships based on perceptions of Australia's role in the East Timor controversy. For example, "far apart because many people from East Timor in Australia raise human rights issues against Indonesia. However relations can improve if we have cooperation in the field of student and cultural exchanges"; "not so harmonious because fugitives of Fretilin (an opposition party in East Timor) are given sanctuary in Australia"; "relations are far apart because of the troubles in East Timor, especially because the hand of Fretilin can be seen in Australia's support and Australia has combined with Portugal to undermine Indonesia's position"; and finally "disturbed because relations over East Timor are strained".

Finally, of the Gadjah Mada University students surveyed a 16 percent negative response was noted, including the following; "Far apart because of the cultural differences between the two countries and because each country must follow a different or distinctive political path"; "rather estranged because Australians are frightened that there are so many people in Indonesia and that one day, Indonesia will have to expand its territory to include Australia".

The writer is a Ph.D. research fellow at the University of Wollongong, journalist, author and Indonesian cultural consultant.