Respect thy neighbor
Respect thy neighbor
Just as we thought we had seen every issue that could possibly
upset relations between Indonesia and Australia, a completely
different matter surfaced last week: the thong affair. The
incident may seem a tiny issue, uncomparable to East Timor, Irian
Jaya, human rights, the deaths of Australian journalists or the
flap over the appointment of the two countries' ambassadors, all
of which have contributed to the rocky relations between the two
neighbors. But one should never underestimate the thong,
especially since it is tied in with the emotional issue of
environmental conservation.
We may recall that an Australian senator on Friday called for
a national boycott of Indonesian thongs, charging that thousands
of the discarded items have washed up on a remote group of
Australian islands in the Indian Ocean. Sen. Julian McGauran, a
member of the ruling conservative coalition, said the Cocos and
Keeling Islands were being inundated with discarded thongs, which
he said had been dumped into the ocean by Indonesian
manufacturers.
"The pristine image of the giant turtles on white sandy
beaches shaded by tropical flora being swamped by hundreds of
smelly old thongs is environmental vandalism," McGauran, a member
of Australia's upper house, was quoted as saying. "I hope our
relations with Indonesia haven't become so delicate and manicured
and sycophantic that we can't tell the truth -- and that is that
Indonesia is treating us like a rubbish heap."
An Australian Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman said an
investigation by his office found many of the thongs carried the
Indonesian Swallow and Alba brands, but he did not rule out the
possibility they were made under license in another country.
It is probably just as well that Australian Prime Minister
John Howard decided to reschedule his visit to Indonesia,
originally planned to start today, to September or October. The
thong affair could very well overshadow other more serious
matters if the visit had gone ahead.
While there is no sign that the boycott call has been taken up
by Australian importers and retailers, or that the affair could
blow over, we should not dismiss the floating thongs lightly,
amusing as the row may sound. Let's not forget that in a
community it is the little unexpected things -- or, in our case
the little unexpected thongs -- that often upset relations
between two neighbors.
If our neighbor complains about us, the least we ought to do
is look into the complaint. In the last seven years, Indonesia
and Australia have successfully weathered the turbulent times
that characterized relations in the previous 10 years, and
learned to live as two good neighbors in spite of our cultural
and historical differences.
We have not yet reached the stage of loving our neighbors, but
at the very least Indonesia and Australia have learned to respect
each other, which is a major improvement on the condition of say
10 years ago. Within this neighborly spirit, we believe that we
owe Australia an explanation, just as we would expect Australia
to answer to any concern that we might want to raise in the
future.
Who knows, by looking into the matter, we could learn a thing
or two about the weaknesses of our environmental laws, which Sen.
McGauran describes as "notoriously slack", as well as our poor
habit of trash disposal. Anyone who has visited any of the Seribu
Islands in Jakarta Bay can testify to the presence of plastic,
cans, bottles and other trash washed ashore, undoubtedly
discarded by affluent Jakartans.