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.