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Session
on Politics and Foreign Policy
Let me first of all congratulate my good friend,
Wahid Supriyadi, Indonesia’s Consul-General in
Melbourne, and his colleagues in the Consulate-General for
their success in holding and organising the Festival
Indonesia Business Conference 2006.
This event is certainly very timely, especially in
the wake of strengthening bilateral relations and the
increasingly crucial role played by the business community
in these relations.
When the organisers approached me to explore my
readiness to speak before this forum, I welcomed the
opportunity because the subject—current
issues in Australia-Indonesia relationship—is an
important one and will become even more so.
I note that this forum will have sessions focusing
on business and economics as well as trade and investment
issues. Therefore, I will focus this presentation on the
broad-brush of bilateral relations, with a bit more
emphasis on, but certainly not limited to, politics and
foreign policy.
For the sake of simplicity and at the same time
comprehensiveness, I will present my views under the
rubric of government-to-government,
business-to-business,
and people-to-people
relations.
But before I set out into those issues, let me
stress one constant of bilateral relations: that while we
may be the two most different neighbouring countries in
the world, we are neighbours. As such, we have no
option but to cooperate and to build strong relations
across all sectors. And rather than be occupied with our
differences, we ought to search and focus on our
similarities and complementarities.
Government-to-government relation is arguably the
most visible barometer of bilateral relations, even though
it is not necessarily the most fundamental. Our colleagues
in the media, both in Australia and
in Indonesia, in their search of sound bytes, might make
the relations sound more dramatic than they actually are.
The truth is, however, relations are almost more friendly
and nuanced than portrayed.
Behind all the media clutter, it is important to
stress that relations between the Australian and
Indonesian governments are no longer those between
democratic and authoritarian regimes. Instead, relations
are now between two democracies, where all elements in our
respective political spectrum have a say and a role. They
include not only government dignitaries and officials, but
also politicians, members of parliament, interest and
pressure groups, community and religious leaders, the
intelligentsia, and of course the media. I foresee that
G-to-G relation will become stronger and healthier as it
becomes more broad based and deliberative.
As Indonesia has transformed into a pluralist
democracy, how is that affecting its foreign policy, and
in particular its policy towards Australia?
Indonesia’s foreign policy has remained
consistent over the years, based on the ‘independent and
active foreign policy concept first coined in 1948. Today,
this means a few things. They include:
Independence
of judgment and freedom of action, and a constructive
approach in the conduct of foreign policy;
Unwillingness
to enter into any military alliances, while seeking to
develop a posture that is non-threatening to Indonesia’s
neighbours and to the region;
Connectivity;
that is, stronger relations to the region, to wider world,
and to an array of international actors;
Developing
and projecting Indonesia’s international identity as the
fourth most populous nation in the world, home to the
world’s largest Muslim population, the world’s third
largest democracy, and a country where democracy, Islam
and modernity go hand-in-hand; and
Finally,
‘independent and active foreign policy’ must reflect
our true brand of nationalism, which is neither angry,
narrow, nor self-absorbed; rather, our nationalism is
open, confident, moderate, tolerant and outward
looking.
Our
priority with Australia is to build relations that are
stronger, closer, better. Relations with Australia have
always been special and unique and we have not forgotten
that Australia supported Indonesia’s struggle for
independence.
Relations
have since seen many ups and downs, but I see strengthened
relations in the long-term trend. Australia was one of the
first countries visited by President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono after his inauguration. To put this in
perspective, his visit was the third by an Indonesian
President, the previous ones being President Abdurrahman
Wahid’s visit in June 2001 and before that, 29 years
earlier, President Suharto in 1972.
During
this visit, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Prime
Minister John Howard agreed on the ‘Joint Declaration on
Comprehensive Partnership’. This partnership seeks to
strengthen economic and technical cooperation, security
cooperation, as well as people-to-people links.
With the
Comprehensive Partnership, both countries recognise their
different cultures and traditions, but also many common
objectives. In the field of security, they committed to
combating terrorism and other forms of transnational
crimes and non-traditional security threats, especially in
the areas such as people smuggling, narcotics, outbreaks
of disease and money laundering. Beyond that, they seek to
build defence relations, at a pace comfortable to both
sides, and see the value in concluding a security
agreement.
The
Indonesia-Australia Ministerial Forum that convened in
Bali last June supported the conclusion of a bilateral
agreement for security cooperation by the end of this
year. The agreement would provide a framework for the
existing and future development of the security
relationship. It would be a treaty-based expression of
strong support for each country’s sovereignty and
territorial integrity, including Indonesia’s sovereignty
over Papua.
Another priority is that we seek to gain from
Australia’s developed and advanced status. More
specifically, Australia’s economic prosperity and
developed system of governance offers many benefits to
Indonesia. It is no accident, for example, that the
majority of Indonesian officials who come to Australia for
comparative study are interested in the Australian model
of relations between the federal government and the state
and territory governments, reflecting Indonesia’s new
arrangement of otonomi
daerah that devolved power from the centre to the
regions.
We are
grateful for Australia’s assistance to Indonesia through
the Australian Agency of International Development
(AusAID). Australia’s development assistance that
focuses on strengthening good governance is in line with
our own efforts. Good governance is indispensable as
democracy must be able to deliver to the people.
Also a
priority for us is the development of a more mature
Australia-Indonesia relationship that does not become
hostage to any one issue. We think this is a very workable
proposition and it is not unique only to our relations.
Look at Canada and the United States, France and Germany,
Brazil and its Latin American neighbours, and in my own
region of Southeast Asia. And, of course, Australia and
New Zealand. In these instances, relations have matured
enough that issues are addressed on their merits.
There are
a number of issues in Australia-Indonesia relations, and
this brings me to our next priority, which is the
importance of continuing open and frank
government-to-government discussions.
Papua is
one of them. It was discussed when Prime Minister Howard
met with President Yudhoyono in Batam in June. We
understand the concerns of many in Australia about the
promotion and protection of human rights there. We too
share that concern because Papua is, after all, part of
Indonesia and we want to correct past mistakes. Therefore
we welcome inputs and support from our friends who want to
help us.
Indonesia
and Australia cooperate closely on regional issues and our
objectives in the region for the most part are similar,
such as to create or strengthen regional institutions.
That is why we cooperated closely in the establishment of
APEC and the ARF in the 1990s, and recently the
establishment of the East Asian Summit. We wish to
continue our discussions and we look forward to
Australia’s APEC chairmanship next year.
Our two
countries share the issue of illegal fishing that poses
significant risks and costs to our natural environments
and economy. It is a complicated issue involving not just
our two countries but also others in the region, and thus
should be addressed regionally. Australia and Indonesia
would convene a regional ministerial meeting to discuss
measures to address the shared problem of illegal fishing.
The
problem of Indonesian fishermen coming to Australian
waters is driven by primarily economic factors. We are
therefore grateful for Australian assistance in developing
alternative livelihood for them, such as seaweed and sea
sponge cultivation.
More is
needed, however, and I believe efforts for alternative
livelihood must have the participation of the private
sector. Ultimately, alternative livelihood is not only
about addressing the issue of illegal fishing but is an
economic endeavour to provide livelihood for Indonesian
costal communities. Primary responsibilities rest with
Indonesia, but Australia assist.
Australia
has much to offer in this endeavour. When making my rounds
of official visits to Queensland and South Australia, I
was very much impressed by the development of aquaculture
there and I am confident that the marine and fisheries
sector is a field of complementarity and mutual benefit
for Australia and Indonesia. We seek to promote and
strengthen relations in this sector.
I think
Australian investment in the marine and fisheries sector
will bring mutual benefits, which brings me to the business-to-business
or economic relations among our two countries.
Business-to-business will undoubtedly be alluded to
in next sessions. Suffice it for me to mention that B-to-B
is one of the many anchors of bilateral relations, but
obviously it is a crucial one. I can think of at least
three reasons of why business-to-business is essential.
The first
is that because through more exchanges in goods and
services there will be more job- and
wealth-creation—thus creating more prosperity, which is
of utmost importance in particular in the Indonesian case.
Secondly,
more people in our respective societies will have more at
stake to maintain strong and stable relations. Business
relations will help to bring maturity to overall bilateral
relations.
And
finally, business is ultimately about people and therefore
will also help strengthen people-to-people and
government-to-government relations.
Two way
trade relations in goods and services are quite
substantial, totalling almost A$9 billion last year.
However, in comparison to our respective global trade our
share in the other’s market is remarkably small. Our
respective goods and services exports to the other are
only between two and two-and-a-half percent. Indonesia’s
trade in goods alone in 2005 was over US$140 billion.
Last year
Indonesia approved around half a billion American Dollars
worth of Australian investment, which is around 3.8
percent of our overall approval of foreign investments.
The
upside to these figures is that our bilateral economic
relations have much room to grow, and events such as this
play an important role to promote stronger economic and
B-to-B relations. Our business communities ought to take
advantage of their proximity and of the fact that
Australia and Indonesia are two of the largest economies
in the neighbourhood.
I have
already alluded to complementarities in the marine and
fisheries sector. Food and agriculture is another area of
strong complementarity. Indonesia is one of the largest
importers of Australian wheat and is also one of the
largest producers of instant noodles. We import a large
amount of Australian cattle and beef, but have yet to
master the transportation of frozen meat across our
numerous islands. Our processed food market is vast and is
growing in terms of quality and purchasing power. These
are examples of opportunities for Australian and
Indonesian companies to collaborate, and they would be
mutually beneficial as well as beneficial for the
Indonesian population.
Fashion
and design are also an area that our business communities
should look into. There is currently an explosion of
design creativity in Indonesia that would surely attract
Australian designers and retailers. There is growing
popularity of designs similar to the Australian surf
culture, like Billabong and QuickSilver. We seek to
establish closer relations among our designers.
I believe
that we can help Australia in overcoming its skilled
workers shortages. I understand that already there are
concerns that high energy and mineral prices combined with
labour shortages may be hollowing out Australia’s
manufacturing capacity. I am confident that Indonesian
skilled workers can help sustain Australia’s robust
economy, while at the same time keeping a balance of its
productive sectors.
In the
field of health, we have nurses who are being trained in a
number of cities in Australia to help fill the vacuum of
registered nurses in Australia’s health system.
Business-to-business relations will ultimately
bring people together, and this brings me to my third
point of people-to-people relations. We must do more to
encourage people-to-people relations and for this reason I
encourage events like the Festival Indonesia because it promotes closer relations and
understanding among people.
People-to-people together with business-to-business
relations are a mainstay of a strong bilateral relation.
Prime Minister Howard and President Yudhoyono encouraged
the strengthening of these links. They recognised the
centrality of education in this and wanted to increase the
number of Indonesian students studying in Australia.
The number of Indonesian students studying in
Australia is significant. It has, however, been declining.
According to my figures, last year there were about
sixteen thousand Indonesian students in Australia. While
the number is quite substantial, it was an 11 percent
reduction since 2002 when there were about twenty-one
thousand students in all over Australia. This occurred
when overall foreign students in Australia increased by
seven percent.
Similarly, the number of Australian tourists going
to Indonesia has not grown substantially. Moreover,
Australian visitors are mainly focused on Bali. Bali is a
beautiful place, in all physical, cultural and spiritual
terms. However, there are many more beautiful places in
Indonesia beyond Bali. You will see in this event the
attractive places in Sumatera.
In one of the strange twists of fate, our relations
were drawn closer by one of the worst natural disasters in
living memory, the Boxing Day tsunami. We are forever
grateful for the quick and enormous assistance provided by
the Australian people and government to the people of
Aceh. The past few days, I have hosted a number of
Acehnese children in Canberra, who are here to thank
Australia and to show that the assistance extended are
worth every penny. This convinced me that overall
relations will remain strong because people-to-people
links will become stronger.
Let me
end my speech with that positive note. I wish all of you a
successful and productive business conference.
I thank you.
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