RI-Australia ties: Are we emotionally mature?

RI-Australia ties: Are we emotionally mature?

Bilateral relations between Indonesia and Australia are again
heating up after raids on Indonesian residents in the neighboring
country. Former Indonesian ambassador to Australia Wiryono
Sastrohandoyo talks to The Jakarta Post's Muhammad Nafik and Emmy
Fitri about this issue.

Question: Will the current situation in Indonesia-Australian
relations subside?

Answer: Terrorism is the enemy of every country. Recently, we
had a conference co-chaired by Indonesia and Australia on
transnational crimes, in particular addressing the issue of
illegal migrants. The two countries have shown that they can work
together, so the current terrorism issue should not cause
friction and instead, should be a challenge for the two nations.

The reason the terrorism issue has become the cause of
slander, condemnation and hatred, is a matter of communication.
People communicate through both rational and emotional modes of
communication; the first uses our heads, the second comes from
our hearts. Tone, diction and expression are all important in
good communication, and we need people with strong abilities in
cross cultural communication to deal with this issue.

Could you please give an example?

The way they (the Australian intelligence) raided the houses
of Indonesians there. Was it necessary for them to wear masks and
black uniforms, brandish handguns and then smash doors and chairs
like in action movies? Such an incident will raise reactions here
because these raids are perceived to be overreactions, overkill
or an excessive invasion of privacy.

Indonesians must still remember how Australia reacted when
violence broke out in East Timor. They reacted adversely to the
situation and criticized Indonesia. I don't see any healthy
communication between our government and its Australian
counterpart, or it could be that communication between our
countries is at a low.

So do you think such raids are acceptable?

As the Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said, any
government has the right to launch an investigation into
suspicious activities which may pose a danger. That's normal.

It seems there has always been a love-hate relationship
between Australia and Indonesia. How can we find ways to improve
relations?

Diplomacy is not exclusive to diplomats, and the media should
play their part, too, because you provide information and shape
perceptions. The government must often respond to these
perceptions, so in some ways, policy is media-driven. If I were a
state official, what I say in response to a journalist's question
can then become policy.

Back to the communication gap. We have shown our sensitivity
toward Australia after the Bali bombing, when many of our leaders
paid courtesy visits to the Australian Embassy here to deliver
our condolences and sympathy, which was a good gesture.

Some people, including our own party leaders, regarded
Australian Prime Minister John Howard's visit to Bali as too
much, that he was overreacting. However, his visit was quite
normal because a head of state should make a showing when so many
of your citizens have been killed, similar to when illegal
Indonesian workers were shipped back from Malaysia.

Many also disliked what happened when President Megawati
Soekarnoputri did not make a clear statement of her concerns,
because we expected her to do so. Those who make emotional
comments on Howard's visit are not really addressing the issue,
and are only playing up to the public. The media should also
learn the psychology of these kinds of people.

How do you see the future situation?

Again, diplomacy is not exclusive to diplomats. The relations
between people, students, tourists and journalists of both
countries must be intensified through healthy communication
because we are destined to be neighbors. We can't relocate
Indonesia, and we will be here permanently unless there's a
massive earthquake and Australia is pushed away somewhere. As God
has determined that we be neighbors, Indonesians and Australians
must get to know each other better in an effort to build stronger
ties.

How do we achieve this?

With more interaction.

Many Indonesians study in Australia, about 18,000 people, but
that's out of a population of 200 million. Many Australian
students study in Indonesia, too. Several Australian universities
have even created courses of study on Indonesia, for example at
ANU (Australia National University).

Following the Bali bombing, Australian students who were
studying at Gadjah Mada University should not have left Indonesia
because they are the people who should maintain relations between
our two countries.

In your opinion, which country generates more problems?

There is no need to look into the factors that cause the
friction because we must realize that Indonesia and Australia are
complementary. Australia is an advanced country, so we need them.
If you check the trade figures, our exports to Australia are
increasing because our goods are cheap for Australian consumers,
with our inflation and rupiah depreciation.

Businesspeople don't care about political bickering, and
although investment is not on the rise, it's not on the wane,
either, and remains steady.

Money is the biggest coward. It will remain in a safe location
and will easily depart from a disturbed one. Why has 80 percent
of investment gone to China instead of to ASEAN countries? It is
because many investors consider ASEAN countries to have no
guarantee of security.

Indonesia is a country that has progressed from an
authoritarian to a democratic state, but it's not enough just to
have general elections. The way the executive and the legislative
bodies interact and cooperate is also important, but they are
fighting each other instead of sitting down to develop laws to
build the country. What was that comment by U.S. Ambassador Ralph
Boyce: "Yes, we are supporting Indonesians but we're waiting
until the reform measures have been implemented."

Upon hearing this comment, many people got mad and then made a
big fuss out of it, when actually it is only to be expected.
Indonesians must be mature in the way they think and adjust their
attitudes from the spirit of centralization to one of
decentralization.

Is it because we are too sensitive?

We are sometimes too emotional and we need to show our
maturity. There are many kinds of people here, from level-headed
people to high-tempered and emotional ones.

If there is a problem, then fix it. International relations is
becoming more complex because it no longer involves only state
players, but also non-state players. And you people of the media
have an important role to play in this.

As a nation we need Australia. In the 1945-1950 period when
young Indonesians were attacked by the Dutch, the UN set up a
three-member commission, comprising of the United States, Belgium
and Australia. It's us Indonesians who chose Australia. We could
have picked India because it supported our independence, or the
Philippines, but we didn't. Why? Because we trusted Australia.

We wanted a Western country and Australia, which was still
reigned by the white Australian policy, was a suitable choice. We
trusted Australia and there was never any prejudice between the
two countries at that time.

When Bung Karno (founding president Sukarno) was arrested by
the Dutch colonial government, the person who alerted the UN was
Australian diplomat Tom Critchley. His (letter) prompted the UN
Security Council to hold a meeting during which they condemned
the arrest and ordered the Dutch to leave Indonesian territory.
We owe Australia for that, and the event should have been written
in gold in our history books. Do not generalize things, but try
to look at valuable historical insights.

How does historical insight fit today's context?

It is the differences in culture, political style, history and
economic level that widens the gaps between the two countries.
Again, history tells that it was Australia who came up with the
Colombo Plan to help Indonesian students to study abroad. In the
Sukarno era, only 50 people graduated from university from a
total of 70 million to 80 million people. After Sukarno's fall,
there were still less than 200 university graduates and in
Soeharto's era, there were five million to six million university
graduates.

For improvements in the economy, education and technology,
Indonesia needs Australia. For Australia, geopolitically located
south of Indonesian territory, our country is equally important
to them.

(Australia) has never seen wars before, even though it has
sent its soldiers to many wars. They only experienced minor air
raids in Perth and Darwin during World War II. Their White Paper
Defense Document says that threats to Australia come through and
from the North. "Through" means from Japan or China through
Indonesia, and "from" is obviously Indonesia.

During Paul Keating's Labour Party administration, Keating
stated that no relationship was more important than Australia's
ties with Indonesia, but this has changed under Howard, who does
not rank bilateral relations by order of importance. He does,
however, mention four countries with which Australia has to
improve relations in particular. They are the U.S., Japan, China
and Indonesia. His orientation is different from Keating.

What's important right now is how Indonesia and Australia can
manage the relationship in a cooperative manner.

Is interaction hindered by our weakening diplomatic capacity
or is it due to internal conditions in our respective countries?

Diplomacy surely needs leadership, but how do you co-manage
the relations? You need champions for that, champions we don't
have. It used to be Keating and Soeharto or Garret Evans and
Alatas. However, internal situations in our respective countries
are also contributing factors.