Indonesia Australia Report

The evolution of Australian foreign policy - from 'Three Strands' to 'Four Rs'

2025-12-06T20:21:00.000+08:00

Less than a week after Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto's dramatic two-day state visit to Sydney and the initialing of a new bilateral 'Treaty on Common Security', Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong delivered a key note address on refocusing Australian foreign policy. In this response, ANU's Darren Lim and Hannah Nelson identify a shift from the Gyngellian 'three strands' formula to a four-part doctrine that "embeds the US alliance within a wider network of partners". Further insights are shared at Dr Lim's related podcast conversation with former diplomat Richard Maude who warned against "placing too much weight on a Southeast Asia centred collective security".

Photo Credit: Dean Calma / IAEA

IN HER MAJOR foreign policy speech to the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA), Foreign Minister Penny Wong applied a four-part doctrine—region, relationships, rules and resilience—to suit a far more unstable world. The new formula embeds the US alliance within a wider network of partners while elevating regional focus and domestic resilience as essential tools for managing rising global risks.

Allan Gyngell wrote in Fear of Abandonment that Australian foreign policy since WWII has been based on three strands: alliance, regional engagement and rules-based order.

He showed how every government, Coalition and Labor, wove these strands together in different ways. The early years of the Albanese government were no exception. As recently as April 2024, Foreign Minister Penny Wong was framing “what it will take to secure our future” in terms of “alliance, region and rules”, echoing Gyngell’s trinity.

But in his closing chapter, Gyngell warned that in a world “whose largest components are propelling themselves erratically in uncertain directions”, this legacy formula now had to be reconceived.

That reconception is here.

Twice in the past week, Wong has outlined a new formula: region, relationships, rules and resilience. We label it “the four Rs”.

The Minister used this formulation when interviewed on Insiders on Sunday 16 November. The next evening, in her keynote at the AIIA National Conference, she employed the same sequence and built her whole speech around it.

The first hints of a new direction had come earlier, in the Australia in the World 2025 Snapshot, published by DFAT in February, which afforded region, relationships and rules respective chapters. Resilience was invoked throughout in relation to cyber, climate and economics.

Wong’s AIIA speech makes the emerging doctrine explicit, turning the Snapshot’s broader departmental treatment into a sharper ministerial statement.

What does each “R” mean? The first is “region”. Wong argued the Indo-Pacific is “where the world’s future is most being shaped” and “where we have the most on the line”.

The region is where Australia’s exposure and influence are both highest, justifying its listing first in the new formulation. As Wong put it, “it pays to look at a map” to understand the architecture Australia is building.

She described a regional strategy centred on Southeast Asia and the Pacific, investing in connectivity and development, and seeking a “region in balance, where sovereignty is respected”. The region is where events can most quickly harm Australia, but also where our choices can still shape outcomes.

Second is “relationships”. Note the clear departure with the alliance no longer getting its own category. Instead, the United States appears alongside China, Japan, India, ASEAN, Pacific Island countries and others in a wider web of ties.

Wong emphasised the building of an “architecture” of treaties and upgraded partnerships that create shared capacity and common ground. The logic of broadening and deepening ties with a wider range of partners is that security and prosperity never hinge on a single relationship, including with the US or China.

She described this as “amplified middle power diplomacy – pursuing new alignments to better pursue our national interests”. She offered examples of working with the UK, Canada and France on Palestinian recognition, or with Jordan and Indonesia on Gaza humanitarian assistance.

The approach extends beyond traditional allies. Wong highlighted unprecedented cooperation with India, Japan and South Korea. Even the stabilisation with China fits this framework – engagement without concession and maintaining dialogue at every level, including military channels.

The third R is “rules”. Wong was frank that “longstanding institutions and rules are [being] undermined and broken”, citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as exhibit A. Yet rules still matter, especially for a middle power. International law and institutions set expectations for behaviour and provide “organising principles for cooperation”.

Wong went further, arguing rules are “not merely a defensive interest” but “a vital avenue for Australia to prosecute what matters to us”. Rules don’t just help keep Australia safe; they offer “an avenue to promote and persuade”.

The fourth R is “resilience”. This is the most striking addition, because it brings domestic policy squarely into the heart of foreign affairs.

Wong emphasised the health of Australia’s democracy and trust in institutions, and a strong and diversified economy, as key pillars of resilience.

In the speech the Minister linked resilience directly to deterrence. A cohesive society, trusted institutions and robust defences against foreign interference make Australia a harder target and “raise the costs” for any state that might try to coerce it.

In setting out the four Rs with such clarity, Wong’s speech delivers the strategic coherence that some argued the Snapshot stopped short of providing.

The past year has marked a turning point for Australian foreign policy, driven by a rapidly changing strategic environment. Above all, President Trump’s return to office has reshaped the context in which Australia must navigate its place in the world.

While Australia has to date managed relations with the Trump administration effectively, the trajectory of US foreign policy makes keeping the alliance on its own as one of three foreign policy pillars, as in the old formulation, simply untenable.

Yes, the alliance remains vital. In her AIIA speech Wong went out of her way to stress the continuing value of US power, presence and engagement. But rather than framing the alliance as a foundational pillar on which everything else rests, the speech embedded the alliance within a wider logic of diversified relationships, regional priorities, and national resilience.

It is not that the alliance has receded in importance. Regional relationships have simply become equally important.

Australia now faces a world of heightened uncertainty and increasingly concentrated risks. Supply chains can be weaponised. Information systems can be hacked. Markets and militaries move faster than diplomacy. In this context, foreign policy becomes a form of risk management, reducing exposure where possible and preserving room to move when shocks arrive.

Seen this way, the four Rs become mutually reinforcing risk management tools. “Region” lowers the chance of dangerous escalation by working to keep the neighbourhood in balance. “Relationships” build multiple channels for cooperation and crisis management, so Australia is never left facing a problem alone. “Rules” provide shared expectations and forums that can constrain power and organise collective responses. And “resilience” means Australia and its partners can withstand pressure and keep making sovereign choices.

These principles cannot guarantee safety or certainty, but they offer a strategy to live with uncertainty rather than ignore it. They can help ensure that when pressure comes, Australia still has real choices about how to respond.

Gyngell always said that effective foreign policy ensures that no matter how international developments unfold, Australia will always have options to act.

The four Rs look to carve out that space in a more dangerous and fluid era. Allan would surely have approved.

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Dr Darren Lim is a senior lecturer at the Australian National University and is the host of the Australia in the World podcast. Hannah Nelson is a student and researcher at the Australian National University and researcher and editor for the Australia in the World podcast.

First published at the Australian Institute of International Affairs

Good neighbours are essential: USA-aligned Australia and non-aligned Indonesia to sign a watershed bilateral security treaty

2025-11-14T10:53:00.004+08:00

Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto flew to Sydney for a one-day state visit to meet with Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to jointly announce the "concluded negotiations" on a new bilateral treaty "on our common security". Prof Greg Barton of Deakin University Lancaster University Indonesia explains the background to an historic neighbourly agreement.

Indonesian President Subianto and Australian Prime Minister Albanese meet at the latter's official Sydney residence, Kirribilli House. on 12 November 2025. Photo: BPMI Setpres

AUSTRALIA'S Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was expansive in his sentiments about the “watershed” bilateral security treaty announced with Indonesia on Wednesday, 12 November 2025:

Australia’s relationship with Indonesia is based on friendship, trust, mutual respect and a shared commitment to peace and stability in our region. This treaty is a recognition from both our nations that the best way to secure that peace and stability is by acting together.

From the outset, Australia has enjoyed warm relations with its giant neighbour. Eighty years ago, when Indonesia declared independence in the wake of Japan’s surrender at the end of the Second World War, Dutch troops rushed back in to seize control of their former colony.

As a result, Australian wharfies launched a boycott of Dutch ships to Indonesia.

Australia’s early support for its neighbour is fondly remembered in Indonesia. However, in the decades since the war, the relationship has been marked by periods of mistrust and suspicion on both sides.

Prime Minister Robert Menzies made the country a cornerstone of his 1963 election campaign pledge to acquire long-range supersonic F-111 bombers to counter what he declared to be a growing threat from Indonesia.

The bombers came into service a decade later and, of course, were never used in anger. Nor was there ever any concrete threat from Indonesia to justify deploying them.

But Menzies’ fear campaign did come out of a genuinely dark moment during the Cold War. In the mid-1960s, President Sukarno’s Indonesia was tipping into the “year of living dangerously”, when the CIA and British intelligence backed a bloody push against the Indonesian Communist Party and the increasingly bombastic Sukarno. This saw General Soeharto replace Sukarno as president.

But even through the three decades of a right-leaning, military-backed government under Soeharto, Indonesia continued to hold fast to its foreign policy of bebas dan aktif – or, “free and active”.

From the outset, Indonesia saw itself, in the evocative words of Prime Minister Mohammad Hatta, as “sailing between two reefs”.

Becoming independent just as the Cold War commenced, the new republic was determined not to run aground on the dangerous shoal of aligning with the US-led “first world”, or side with the Soviet-led “second world”.

In the historic 1955 Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung, Indonesia led the Global South in articulating a framework of mutual cooperation while remain firmly unaligned with global powers. Indonesia has remained resolutely unaligned ever since.

The Asian–African Conference at Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, in April 1955. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

‘No relationship is more important’

When Albanese visited Indonesia after his federal election win in May this year, it was striking the extent to which he chose to echo the words used by his predecessor Paul Keating when he made his historic visit in 1994:

I am here in Indonesia because no relationship is more important to Australia than this one.

The new treaty, too, is modelled closely on another agreement signed by Keating and Soeharto in 1995.

This groundbreaking treaty ran aground four years later when violence broke out in East Timor in the wake of the independence referendum called by President BJ Habibie, at the encouragement of Prime Minister John Howard.

But even in the dark months that followed, when Australian troops landed in East Timor to lead a peacekeeping mission, conflict between Australia and Indonesia was avoided. This was in no small measure because of the personal relationships and level of trust between the individual commanders on the ground.

The broader relationship recovered to a large extent under President Abdurrahman Wahid, who made an official state visit to Australia in mid-2001 – the first by an Indonesian leader since 1975.

When the region was rocked by the Bali bombings in 2002, the Australian Federal Police were able to lead the investigation in partnership with their Indonesia counterparts. Again, this was made possible because of existing relationships of cooperation and trust.

This success paved the way for the establishment of the Jakarta Centre for International Law Enforcement Cooperation to build Indonesian capacity in police counterterrorism operations. And this led to a flourishing relationship between both police forces and the establishment of Detachment 88. With Australian and international help, the counterterrorism unit quickly grew to become one of the most effective in the world.

Two decades of successful cooperation in countering the security threat posed by terrorism has done much to build trust and confidence between the two neighbours.

At a time when the Trump administration has ended eight decades of global confidence in predictable American leadership, the importance of finding security in regional cooperation has never been clearer.

Good neighbours are essential

This is not a case of Indonesia and Australia choosing between the United States and China.

Australia is not stepping away from its long-standing security alliance with the US, even if confidence in it has never been lower. And Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has gone out his way to build relations with the Trump administration under difficult circumstances.

Yet, Chinese trade and investment is vitally important to both Indonesia and Australia, and any rupture with China could have devastating consequences.

But this is not to say that there are no concerns about China. ASIO chief Mike Burgess warned this week of an escalating campaign by China to penetrate critical networks in Australia.

It is fair to assume this, too, will be a key area of quiet security cooperation between Australia and Indonesia.

At its base, the agreement is about continuing to be good neighbours to one another. As Prabowo said while signing the treaty this week,

“Good neighbours are essential. […] In Indonesian culture, we have a saying: when we face an emergency, it is our neighbour that will help us. Maybe our relatives will remain far away, but our neighbours are the closest to us and only good neighbours will help us.

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Greg Barton is Rector (academic head) of Deakin University Lancaster University Indonesia (DLI). and Chair in Global Islamic Politics, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation at Deakin University

First published at The Conversation.

Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto's first address to the UN urged fairness, justice and respect for sovereignty

2025-09-24T14:32:00.001+08:00

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto's first speech at the General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly's 80th session, on 23 September 2025, rejected the dominance of global powers. He declared that “might cannot be right”, urging fairness, justice, and respect for sovereignty in resolving conflicts.

President Prabowo Subianto addresses the UN General Assembly’s 80th session at United Nations Headquarters in New York, USA, on 23 September 2025. (ANTARA/Kuntum Riswan)

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

Assalamu'alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

Shalom,

Salve,

Om swastiastu,

Salam kebajikan,

Rahayu, rahayu.

His Excellency, Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations. Her Excellency, Madame Annalena Baerbock, President of the United Nations General Assembly. His Excellency, Mr. Morses Abelian, Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Management. Excellencies, Heads of States, Heads of Governments, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is indeed a great honor to stand in this august General Assembly Hall, among leaders who represent almost all of humanity.

We differ in race, religion, and nationality, yet we gather together as one human family.

We are here first and foremost as fellow human beings — each created equal, endowed with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The words of the U.S. Declaration of Independence have inspired democratic movements across continents — including the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the Mexican revolutions, the Chinese Revolution, and Indonesia’s own struggle and journey to freedom.

It also gave birth to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN in 1948.

"All men are created equal" was the creed that opened the way to unprecedented global prosperity and dignity. And yet, in our own era of scientific and technological triumphs — an era capable of ending hunger, poverty, and environmental ruin — we also continue to face today' s grave dangers, challenges, and uncertainties.

Human folly, fueled by fear, racism, hatred, oppression, and apartheid, threatens our common future. My country knows this pain. For centuries, Indonesians lived under colonial domination, oppression, and slavery. We were treated less than dogs in our own homeland.

We Indonesians know what it means to be denied justice and what it means to live in apartheid, to live in poverty, and to be denied equal opportunity.

We also knew what solidarity can do.

In our struggle for independence, in our fight to overcome hunger, disease, and poverty, the United Nations stood with Indonesia and gave us vital assistance.

Decisions made here based on human solidarity — by the Security Council and this Assembly — gave Indonesia international legitimacy, opened doors, and supported our early development through the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and many, many other United Nations institutions.

And because of that, Indonesia today stands today on the cusp of shared prosperity and greater equality and dignity.

Madam President, excellencies,

Our world is driven by conflict, injustice, and deepening uncertainty.

Every day we witness suffering, genocide, and a blatant disregard for international law and human decency.

In the face of these challenges, we must not give up, as the United Nations’s Secretary General said, “we cannot give up”. We cannot surrender our hopes or our ideals. We must draw closer, not drift apart. Together we must strive to achieve our hopes, our dreams.

The UN was born from the ashes of the Second World War that claimed scores of millions of lives. It was created to secure peace, security, justice, and freedom for all.

We remain committed to internationalism, multilateralism, and to every effort that strengthens this great institution.

Today, Indonesia is nearer than ever before to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals of ending extreme poverty and hunger — because years ago this very chamber chose to listen and uphold social and economic justice. We will never forget.

And today we must never be silent while Palestinians are denied that same justice and legitimacy in this very Hall.

Excellency's, Thucydides warned: “The strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must.” We must reject this doctrine. The UN exists to reject this doctrine. We must stand for all, the strong and the weak. Right cannot be right. Right must be right.

Indonesia is today one of the largest contributors to United Nation Peacekeeping Forces. We believe in the United Nations, we will continue to serve where peace needs guardians — not with just words, but with boots on the ground.

If and when the Security Council and this Great Assembly decide, Indonesia is prepared to deploy 20,000 or even more of our sons and daughters to secure peace in Gaza or elsewhere, in Ukraine, in Sudan, in Libya, everywhere when the peace needs to be enforced, peace needs to be guarded, we are ready.

We will take our share of the burden, not only with our sons and daughters. We are also willing to contribute financially to support the great mission to achieve peace by the United Nations.

Madam President, excellencies,

I propose to this assembly a message of hope and optimism — grounded in action and execution. Today we heard the speech of Madam President, the President of the United Nations General Assembly. It is true what she said. Without the International Civil Aviation Organization, will we be here today? Will we sit in this great Hall? Without the United Nations, we cannot be safe. No country can feel secure. We need the United Nations, and Indonesia will continue to support the United Nations. Even though we still struggle, but, we know the world needs a strong United Nations.

The world’s population is growing. Our planet is under strain. Food, energy, and water insecurity haunt many nations. We choose to answer these challenges directly at home and to help abroad whenever we can.

This year, we recorded the highest rice production and grain reserves in our history. We are now self‐sufficient in rice and we have exported rice to other nations in need, including providing rice to Palestine.

We are building resilient food supply chains, strengthening farmer productivity, and investing in climate‐smart agriculture to ensure food security for our children and for the children of the world. We are confident, in a few years time, Indonesia will be the granary of the world.

As the world’s largest island state, we testify before you that we are already experiencing the direct consequences of climate change, particularly the threat of rising sea levels. The sea level on the north coast of our capital city is increasing by 5 centimeters every year. Can you imagine in ten years? In twenty years?

For this, we are forced to build a giant sea wall, 480 kilometres in length. It will take us maybe 20 years, but we have no choice. We have to start now. Therefore we choose to confront climate change — not by slogans, but by immediate steps.

We are committed to meeting our 2015 Paris Agreement obligations. We aim to achieve net zero emission by 2060 and we are confident we can achieve net zero emission much earlier. We aim to reforest more than 12 million hectares of degraded land, to reduce forest degradation, and to empower local communities with quality green jobs for the future.

Indonesia is shifting decisively from fossil fuel based development towards renewable based development. From next year, most of our additional power generation capacity will come from renewables.

Our goal is clear: To lift all of our citizens out of poverty and make Indonesia a hub for solutions to food, energy, and water security.

Madam President, excellencies,

We live in a time when hatred and violence can seem like the loudest voices. But beneath this loud noise lies a quieter truth: that every person longs to be safe, to be respected, to be loved, and to leave a better world to their children.

Our children are watching. They are learning leadership not from textbooks, but from our choices.

Today, still, a catastrophic situation in Gaza is unfolding before our eyes. At this very moment, the innocent are crying for help, are crying to be saved. Who will save them? Who will save the innocent? Who will save the old and the women? Millions are facing danger at this very moment, as we sit here, they are facing trauma, and irreparable damage to their bodies, they are dying of starvation.

Can we remain silent? Will there be no answer to their screams? Will we teach them that the human family can rise to the challenge?

Madam President, we must act now. Many speakers have said that. We must stand for multilateral order where peace, prosperity, and progress, are not the privilege of a few but the right of all.

With a strong United Nations, we can build a world where the weak do not suffer what they must, but live the justice they deserve.

Let us continue humanity’s great journey of ideals — the selfless aspirations that created the United Nations.

Let us use science to uplift, not use science to destroy. Let rising nations help others to lift themselves.

I am convinced that the leaders of the great world civilisations: Civilisations of the West, of the East, of the North, of the South. Leaders of America, Europe, of India, China, the Islamic world, the whole world. I am convinced they will rise to their role demanded by history.

We are all hopeful that the leaders of the world will show great statesmanship, great wisdom, restraint, and humility, overcome hate, overcome suspicion.

Madam President, Distinguished Delegates,

We are greatly heartened by the events of the last few days, where significant leading countries of the world have chosen to side with history—the path of the moral high ground, path of rectitude, path of justice, humanity, and to shun hatred, to overcome suspicion, and to avoid the use of violence.

The use of violence will beget violence. Not one country can bully the whole community of the human family. We may be weak individually, but the sense of oppression, of injustice, has proven in the history of mankind, will unite with a strong force that will overcome this oppression, this injustice.

To close, I would like to reiterate again Indonesia's complete support for the Two-State Solution in Palestine. We must have an independent Palestine, but we must also recognize and guarantee the safety and security of Israel. Only then can we have real peace: peace without hate, peace without suspicion.

The only solution is this two-state solution. Two descendants of Abraham must live in reconciliation, peace, and harmony. Arabs, Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, all religions. We must live as one human family. Indonesia is committed to being part of making this vision a reality.

Is this a dream? Maybe. But this is the beautiful dream we must work toward together. Let us continue humanity’s journey of hope, a journey started by our forefathers, a journey that we must complete.

Thank you. Terima kasih.

Wassalamu'alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

Shalom,

Om shanti shanti shanti om.

Namo Budaya.

Thank you very much.

May God bless us all, may peace be upon us.

Thank you very much.

(ANTARA)

A Bridge Across Eight Decades – Celebrating the Australia Indonesia Association's 80th Anniversary

2025-09-05T19:07:00.011+08:00

Since it was formed in Sydney in 1945, almost two months before nationalists in Djakarta declared the independence of the Republic of Indonesia just two days after Japan’s surrender, the Australia Indonesia Association has lived up to its aim of cultivating “friendly, cultural, social and trading relations” between the close neighbours. Geoffrey Gold examines how the AIA’s 80th anniversary was celebrated in Sydney and Jakarta:

Front cover photograph of Jan Lingard’s book Refugees and Rebels: Indonesian Exiles in Wartime Australia, published by the Australia Indonesia Association. It was presented as a gift to Indonesian President Prabowo by visiting Australian Prime Minister Albanese as a reminder of shared struggles.

ON A WINTER’S NIGHT in Sydney, Australia, in 1945, as the final months of World War II played out in the Pacific, a crowd packed the Oddfellows Hall in Castlereagh Street. Those gathered, a mix of unionists, academics, community members, and returned servicepeople, had a shared purpose. They voted to create a new organisation dedicated to promoting friendship and understanding with their near neighbour: Indonesia, still under Dutch colonial rule but on the cusp of declaring independence.

That night, 3 July 1945, the Australia Indonesia Association (AIA) was born. Its founding objectives were clear and uncompromising:

“In order to promote friendly relations with a region of which Australians have little knowledge, yet a region that will play an important part in Australia's sphere of foreign affairs in the post-war world:

“This Association believes that to implement the spirit of the Atlantic Charter including the principle of freedom of determination of their own future in a democratic way is the surest guarantee of a progressive and prosperous Indonesia.

“The Association meets Indonesians on the same basis as it does all the peoples of the freedom-loving world, and on this foundation of equality, the Association aims to cultivate friendly, cultural, social and trading relations.

“Important work in this regard will be carried out by public lectures, publication of pamphlets and books, exhibitions of Indonesian art, music, and dancing; by an interchange of visits between cultural, sporting, public and other bodies, by an interchange of students, lecturers and technicians; and by the encouragement of parallel Indonesian activities.”

1945-2025 80th anniversary years of the Australia Indonesia Association and the Republic of Indonesia

In the decades that followed, the AIA would live out that mission through cultural exhibitions, school prizes, Indonesian language promotion, academic exchanges, people-to-people visits, and an unbroken record of hospitality to visitors from across the archipelago. Its members have supported scholarships, run historical walking tours of Sydney highlighting places linked to Indonesia’s independence movement, published books and online newsletters, and raised funds for health, education, and development projects in eastern Indonesia and Papua.

Eighty years on, the AIA chose to mark this rare milestone with a three-part celebration - a gala dinner in Sydney, the 2025 Australia Indonesia Awards, and an international seminar in Jakarta. Together they honoured the past, celebrated individual contributions, and set out an agenda for the years ahead.

Sydney Gala: Honouring History and Connection

The main event in Australia, held on 4 July 2025 in Sydney, was a formal gala dinner bringing together AIA members and veterans, community leaders, diplomats and officials from both nations.

The guest list reflected the depth of the AIA’s reach: the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales; His Excellency Dr Siswo Pramono, Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Australia; The Hon Matt Thistlethwaite MP, Assistant Minister for Immigration and for Foreign Affairs and Trade, representing the Prime Minister; Acting Indonesian Consul-General in Sydney, Mr Andos Manggala Lumban Tobing; and representatives from diaspora and community organisations such as the Indonesia Community Council, the Nusa Tenggara Association, and the Manly Manado Society.

AIA President Patrick Hanna opened with a reminder of that wartime meeting 80 years earlier:

“Tonight, we celebrate AIA’s achievements over the past 80 years in their unwavering efforts to bring Indonesians and Australians together. In particular, not only will we give recognition to current day achievers tonight, but we will also honour those who walked before us in wartime Sydney to support the endeavour to bring Independence to Indonesia.”

Governor Beazley, in a message read to the gathering, praised the AIA’s foresight:

“Over the past eight decades, the AIA has been outstanding in its pursuit of the aims of the Association enshrined in the first minutes of the inaugural meeting held on 3 July 1945 at the Odd Fellows Hall … How prescient those words have turned out to be. In 2024, Indonesia was Australia’s 9th largest two-way trading partner by value, the leading international destination for Australian tourists, and home to over 100,000 Indonesian-born people, nearly 40,000 of whom live in NSW. I remember with great fondness the Vice-Regal visit undertaken by Dennis and I in May of 2023 … Congratulations on your anniversary and all that has been achieved in fostering friendship, understanding, and good relations between the people of Australia and Indonesia.”

Representing the Prime Minister, Matt Thistlethwaite MP placed the AIA’s formation in context:

“Australia looked a little different eighty years ago. World War Two had ended in Europe and would soon end in the Pacific … It was in this environment, and still in wartime, that the inaugural meeting of the Australia Indonesia Association was held in Sydney in support of Indonesian independence … Eighty years ago, this was a visionary mission. And we have come a long way since then.”

He detailed the breadth of contemporary cooperation, from trade and investment to climate change, defence, and cultural programs, and pointed to the doubling of two-way trade since the Indonesia–Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA–CEPA) entered into force in 2020. The new Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, he said, would further “unlock opportunities for economic cooperation and grow our economic resilience.”

The Minister emphasised people-to-people links as the living embodiment of the AIA’s mission. These include the thousands of Indonesians who have studied in Australia since the Colombo Plan, the 20,000 Indonesian students in Australia today, young Australians undertaking New Colombo Plan placements, and the forthcoming Professional Placements and Internships Program in Indonesia.

Left to right: AIA President Patrick Hanna, Federal Minister Matt Thistlethwaite, Indonesian Ambassador Dr Siswo Pranomo

He also recalled moments of shared assistance: “We remember the thirty-eight Indonesian military personnel who came here to help our local firefighters battle the Black Summer bushfires … just months later, it was Australia that stepped up to help Indonesia manage the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.” These instances, he said, “demonstrate the friendship we share.”

Paying tribute to individual trailblazers, he highlighted Molly Bondan, Indonesia's inaugural President Sukarno’s “English voice” and a founder of the AIA, and Koesmarihati Koesnowarso, the first president of Telkomsel, who continues at 83 to support women in telecommunications and promote bilateral engagement.

The evening’s cultural performances, the shimmering sounds of gamelan played by the Mano Mora Balinese Gamelan, graceful traditional dance and Indonesian song performed by Tari Bali Saraswati Sydney, brought the room to life, embodying the cross-cultural warmth the AIA has nurtured for eight decades.

2025 Australia Indonesia Awards: Celebrating Individual Contributions

The second feature of the Sydney celebration evening recognised those who have made exceptional contributions to the relationship. Established by AIA in 2014, the Australia Indonesia Awards honour both Australians and Indonesians whose work has strengthened mutual understanding.

AIA’s special 80th anniversary edition of the awards focused on two categories – an Open Award for nominees over 35 years of age, and a Youth Award for those up to 35 – with both reflecting the diversity and depth of engagement between the two countries.

An independent selection panel of four brought their own deep bilateral credentials:

• Chris Barnes (Chair) – Head of trade policy and international relations at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Australia’s first Consul General in Surabaya.

• David Reeve – Scholar, author, historian and Hon Associate Professor at UNSW with over 45 years of engagement with Indonesia and appointments at six Indonesian universities.

• Robbie Gaspar – Former professional footballer in Indonesia, sports diplomacy advocate, and current President of the Indonesia Institute.

• Suliyanti Sunaryo – Entrepreneur and community leader whose food import business has brought Indonesian flavours into Australian homes while supporting cultural exchange.

The Open Award finalists were:

Toni Pollard — An educator who has taught Bahasa Indonesia for over 50 years in both Australia and England. She has translated numerous works of Indonesian literature, attended all 20 years of the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, and founded the IndoLit Club in 2018 to give readers a forum to discuss Indonesian writing in translation. Video profile here

Vicki Richardson — First visiting Indonesia in 1983 to learn the language and culture, she studied Anthropology and Indonesian Language at Curtin University. After a distinguished career in education, including as Dean of Languages at Tranby College, she now spends six months each year building partnerships between schools in both countries, fostering deep connections between teachers and students. Video profile here

Ambassador Siswo congratulated both Open Category finalists for their “outstanding and enduring contributions” to education, cultural exchange, and community engagement, before announcing Vicki and Toni as joint winners.

Indonesian Ambassador Dr Siswo congratulated 2025 Australia Indonesia Awards Open Category joint winners, Vicki Richardson and and Toni Pollard.

The Youth Award finalists were:

Brigitta Gunawan — Founder of 30x30 Indonesia at just 17, she is a National Geographic Young Explorer and High Seas Youth Ambassador. Her organisation engages communities in ocean conservation through science education, policy advocacy, and habitat restoration. She has been honoured internationally for environmental leadership and is studying ecology and conservation biology at Monash University. Video Profile here

Matthew Hasjim — Australian-born of Indonesian heritage, he has served as President of AIYA NSW and is currently Operations Director of AIYA nationally. He has led the “Indonesia in Action Day” for NSW school students studying the Indonesian Language, expanding it from Years 11–12 to Years 7–12, creating new opportunities for young Australians to engage with Indonesian culture and language. Video Profile here

Minister Thistlethwaite congratulated the Youth Category finalists as “a new generation of emerging leaders dedicated to deepening bilateral cooperation and understanding” and announced Matthew Hasjim as the Youth Award winner.

Australian Minister Thistlethwaite congratulates Youth Category winner, Matthew Hasjim

A Deeper Tribute – Indonesians in Wartime Sydney

A particularly moving part of the evening was the expanded Tribute to Indonesians in Wartime Sydney (1941–45). The AIA honoured members of the Indonesian diaspora who, alongside Australian allies, played pivotal roles in the Black Armada movement - the boycott by Australian waterside workers of Dutch ships carrying arms and supplies intended to re-establish colonial control in Indonesia. This act of solidarity was instrumental in delaying Dutch military operations and drawing international attention to Indonesia’s fight for independence.

Indonesian Ambassador Dr Siswo (far left) and AIA President Patrick Hanna (far right) present special Wartime Tribute plaques to the families of AIA veterans

Those honoured were:

• The late Mr Timotius Luntungan — A young activist in wartime Sydney whose organisational skills helped sustain the Indonesian independence network. Represented by Ms Cathy Luntungan.

• The late Mr Vic Paath — Known for his eloquence in public meetings and his role in liaising between Indonesian seamen and Australian unions. Represented by Ms Thia and Ms Marina Paath.

• The late Mr Paul Umpel — A merchant seaman who became a key figure in maintaining morale among Indonesian crews stranded in Australian ports.

• The late Mr Andries Sorongan — Remembered for his tireless advocacy and work to connect the Indonesian community with Australian supporters. Represented by his daughter Ms Isla Winarto.

The tribute not only recognised personal sacrifice but reaffirmed the AIA’s direct link to this critical period in Indonesian and Australian history.

Jakarta Seminar: Dialogue Across the Decades

The anniversary celebrations in Jakarta were conducted two weeks earlier on 19 June with an international seminar at Universitas Nasional co-hosted by AIA’s Indonesia Chapter and the university’s Australian Studies Centre. Titled “The History of Australia–Indonesia Relations from the 1940s to the Present”, the event brought together 150 in-person participants and 96 online viewers from government, academia, business, and the community.

The day began with a welcome from UNAS Vice Rector Prof Dr Ernawati Sinaga, who emphasised the importance of academic partnerships in deepening bilateral understanding. AIA Vice President Isla Winarto followed, highlighting the significance of holding the seminar in Indonesia during the association’s anniversary year.

AIA Vice President Isla Winarto

Australia's Ambassador to Indonesia, His Excellency Mr Rod Brazier then delivered a keynote address that traced the long arc of Australia-Indonesia relations, well before the formal establishment of diplomatic ties. He described the AIA as having “played an important role fostering friendship, understanding, and good relations between the peoples of Australia and Indonesia” for eight decades.

“Last year we celebrated 75 years of diplomatic relations between Australia and Indonesia,” he said. “Of course, ties between Australia and Indonesia stretch back further than 75 years. Hundreds of years ago, Macassan traders engaged with the Indigenous people of Northern Australia.”

While 2024 marked the diplomatic milestone, he noted, 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of Indonesian independence - a moment in which Australia was “one of the earliest and strongest supporters.”

“President Sukarno chose Australia to represent Indonesia in the UN discussions that led to independence,” he reminded the audience. “Grassroots support also came from the people of Australia … the Black Armada boycott by Australian workers of Dutch ships … and the many individual Australians who volunteered to assist the independence movement. Some of those Australians, and the Indonesians they stood with, were founders of the AIA.”

Australia's Ambassador to Indonesia, Mr Rod Brazier

Both Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, he observed, are “students of history” who understand the importance of that early solidarity. When Albanese visited Jakarta the previous month, he presented Prabowo with a copy of Jan Lingard’s book Refugees and Rebels: Indonesian Exiles in Wartime Australia - a reminder of those shared struggles.

Looking to the future, the Ambassador said: “Even more than our shared past, it is our two countries’ futures that are tied together. As neighbours, partners and friends, Australia and Indonesia are embracing opportunities to work more closely together.”

He pointed to the Defence Cooperation Agreement signed in 2023, the fifth anniversary of the IA–CEPA in 2025, and joint efforts on climate change, energy transition, and regional stability.

“It is connections between our people - such as the members of the AIA - that are at the heart of our relationship,” he said, noting the more than 200,000 Australian alumni in Indonesia and the transformative role of educational exchange.

In closing, he struck an optimistic note: “In this uncertain world, we need to continue to build our shared prosperity and advance our national and regional security. And I’m convinced we will do this, because of our history, partnership, and determination to stand together.”

The program continued with Jan Lingard, speaking via Zoom from Sydney, who explored the experiences of Indonesians in Australia during World War II - stories central to her book Refugees and Rebels. Her presentation underscored the formative role of wartime exchanges in establishing people-to-people connections that predated diplomatic recognition.

Professor Greg Barton, Rector of the Deakin University–Lancaster University Indonesia campus, then presented “Lumayan – Why Australia’s 80-Year Walk with Indonesia Has Been Good but Needs to Be Much Better”. He acknowledged the achievements in trade, security, and education, but urged both nations to commit to greater ambition and deeper engagement over the next decades.

A youth panel moderated by Dr Shannon Smith included Aryandri Amalda Artono, Bryan Nathanael, Clarice Campbell, Wisnu Muhammad Trianugeraha, and Yafa Maisya Putri. They spoke frankly about career opportunities, the role of social media in shaping perceptions, and the urgency of addressing climate change together.

Dr Smith reflected: “I enjoyed moderating a panel made up of young Australians and Indonesians who talked about their hopes and aspirations for the future … and offered a range of tangible ideas for improving the bilateral relationship.”

Prof Barton praised it as “a stimulating panel discussion … masterfully moderated by Shannon Smith,” while Isla Winarto called the format “engaging” and representative of young aspirations for the future.

The day ended with Dr Hendra Maujana Saragih outlining future scenarios for the relationship, a Q&A session, and closing remarks from Dr Aos Yuli Firdaus, Acting Dean of UNAS’s School of Social and Political Sciences, with thanks from Isla Winarto on behalf of the AIA.

Australia Indonesia Association: The Future

From the music and speeches of the Sydney Gala, through the recognition of individual excellence at the Awards, to the rigorous debate of the Jakarta Seminar, the AIA’s 80th anniversary was not only a commemoration but a reaffirmation of purpose.

For eighty years, the AIA has been a living bridge between two close neighbours. In a region facing change and challenge, that bridge - built on friendship, respect, and mutual endeavour - will remain as important in the decades ahead as it was on that July night in 1945.

AIA invites participation in two more significant 80th Anniversary public events in 2025:

On Sunday 21 September, AIA Committee Member (and President of Blacktown Historical Society), Neil Smith, will guide a two-hour Sydney Cultural Walk. explaining Sydney's history from colonial times to present, including stories of its role in Indonesia's independence struggle from 1945.

On the weekend of 8–9 November, AIA members, friends and dignitaries, will hold a formal wreath-laying ceremony in the NSW rural city of Cowra to honour Indonesian freedom fighters laid to rest in Cowra’s Prisoner of War Cemetery. In 1943, political prisoners from Boven Digul, a notorious Dutch prison in Papua, were sent to Australia by the retreating Netherlands East Indies government and wrongly interned in the Cowra POW camp. They were later joined by Indonesian seamen who had refused to return to Dutch ships. Around 1,200 Indonesians were held in Cowra; before their release, 13 had died, and they now lie together in the Indonesian section.

Details of AIA’s activities in Australia and Indonesia and free registration to its weekly events newsletter are available in its website: www.australia-indonesia-association.com.

Information on AIA’s very low cost of annual membership is available here.

Contact AIA’s President, Patrick Hanna, at president@australia-indonesia-association.com.

Geoffrey Gold is founder of Gold Communications, publisher of the Indonesia Australia Report, and author of business guides to Indonesia, A former resident of Jakarta, he is now based in Australia where he is Chair for Minerals, Energy and Industry for the Australia Indonesia Business Council, a member of the national board of the Australia Indonesia Association, and Ambassador to Australia for AFL Indonesia.

He thanks AIA leaders and the participants of the AIA’s 80th Anniversary for contributing their papers and comments to this article, and congratulates them and the AIA’s Sydney and Jakarta volunteers – including Eric de Haas, Neil Smith, Steve Khouw, Romie Sofiati, and MC Andrea Purnomo - for delivering these historic events.

Election-focused Australia reacts anxiously to report on Russian bombers in Indonesia

2025-04-16T17:06:00.004+08:00

A Janes report claiming Russia sought access to an Indonesian airbase just 1,200 km from Darwin has jolted Australia’s 2025 election campaign. Within hours, the claim triggered political accusations, diplomatic clarification, and a categorical denial from Jakarta. Geoffrey Gold unpacks the timeline, political reactions, and what it reveals about Australia’s security anxieties in a volatile global environment.

ON 15 April 2025, Janes, a globally renowned defence and security publication, published a report by its Singapore-based journalist Ridzwan Rahmat, that Russia had requested permission to base long-range military aircraft, including strategic bombers, at Manuhua Air Force Base in Biak, Papua, Indonesia, approximately 1,200–1,400 km from Darwin, Australia.

Founded in 1898, Janes is widely regarded as the gold standard for open-source defence intelligence. Its reputation for accuracy and privileged access to high-level sources lent significant weight to the claim, despite the report remaining unverified at the time.

According to Janes:

"Jakarta has received an official request from Moscow, seeking permission for Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) aircraft to be based at a facility in Indonesia's easternmost province. Separate sources from the Indonesian government have confirmed with Janes that the request was received by the office of Minister of Defence Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin following his meeting with Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Sergei Shoigu in February 2025. In the request, Russia seeks to base several long-range aircraft at the Manuhua Air Force Base, which shares a runway with the Frans Kaisiepo Airport, documents that have been presented to Janes reveal."

The Biak airbase serves as the operational hub for the Indonesian Air Force’s Aviation Squadron 27, which operates a fleet of CN235 surveillance aircraft. In 2017, the base hosted two Russian nuclear-capable bombers during a patrol mission believed to involve intelligence gathering.

Military ties between Jakarta and Moscow have strengthened in recent years. In July 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Prabowo Subianto, then Indonesia’s Defence Minister and president-elect, to Moscow, where the two discussed defence ties. According to REN TV, a Russian media outlet, “special attention” was given to military cooperation.

In October 2024, ahead of joint naval drills between Russia and Indonesia in the Java Sea, Russia’s ambassador to Jakarta, Sergei Tolchenov, described military cooperation as “integral” to the bilateral relationship in an interview with Russian state-run news agency TASS. “For obvious reasons, I probably will not name any specific topics and projects now,” Tolchenov said. “But we are working quietly in this direction. Business, diplomacy, and especially the military-technical sphere love silence. I am sure that there will be substantive agreements.”

Following Sergei Shoigu's visit in February, when the controversial military request was alleged to have been made, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, is visiting Jakarta with a business mission and met President Prabowo in Jakarta on Tuesday, the president's office said in a statement.

A Rapid-Fire Timeline

The Janes report immediately ignited a media controversy in Australia, amplified by a heated 2025 federal election campaign only a week away from early voting leading to election day on 3 May. This timing heightened the stakes, as both the governing Australian Labor Party and the opposition Liberal-National Coalition had largely focussed on domestic issues, rather than details of the broadening implications of global tensions, the tariff war, and regional security concerns.

Early on Wednesday, 16 April, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles told media that the Australian government had not been aware of the alleged Russian interest in an Indonesian base before the report had been published by Janes but was making inquiries. "Last year, we signed a defence cooperation agreement with Indonesia, which is the deepest level defence agreement we've ever had with Indonesia, and we are seeing increasing cooperation between Australia and Indonesia at a defence level. I expect all of that to continue in respect of this particular issue," Marles told journalists.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, leveraging his experience as Minister for Defence (March 2021 – May 2022) and six-year tenure on the National Security Committee, told ABC-TV:

“This would be a catastrophic failure of diplomatic relations if Penny Wong and Anthony Albanese didn't have forewarning about this before it was made public. This is a very, very troubling development and suggestion that somehow Russia would have some of their assets based in Indonesia only a short distance from the north of our country. We need to make sure that the government explains exactly what has happened here. Did the prime minister know about this before it was publicly announced by the president of Indonesia and what is the government's response to it?”

By mid-morning, the Albanese government responded firmly. At a press conference, Albanese confirmed Australia was still seeking clarification from Indonesia but criticised Dutton’s claim about President Prabowo making the announcement as “extraordinary overreach.” Foreign Minister Penny Wong reinforced this, saying the government was “reaching out to confirm” the reports and accusing Dutton of “fabricating” Prabowo’s statement, calling it “unbelievably reckless.”

Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson, also the Coalition’s campaign spokesperson, later issued a statement welcoming Indonesia’s subsequent clarification and defending Dutton’s early remarks, saying they were a response to “media reports in a breaking news story,” which was appropriate given the election’s stakes.

The Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, David Coleman, and Shadow Minister for Defence, Andrew Hastie, made no public comments, likely due to Indonesia’s swift rebuttal quelling the issue. However, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Julian Leeser’s support for Paterson’s defence of Dutton was cited by party statements.

Indonesia’s Resolute Denial

"Government sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity, said the Janes report had perplexed some parts of the Indonesian system, with confusion over just how advanced or serious the Russian bid was," the Australian Financial Review reported.

But, by the afternoon of 16 April, Indonesian Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin had assured his Australian counterpart Richard Marles that the Janes report was “simply not true” and that basing Russian aircraft was a non-starter, although he did not explicitly deny that a request had been made at some earlier stage.

Indonesia’s Defence Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Freda Ferdinand Wenas Inkiriwang stated separately that the “report is incorrect.”

Indonesia’s swift dismissal of the report underscores its steadfast adherence to a non-aligned foreign policy, a principle rooted in its diplomacy since the 1955 Bandung Conference. By maintaining equidistance from major powers such as the United States, China, and Russia, Indonesia avoids entanglements that could compromise its neutrality.

Yohanes Sulaiman, a defence analyst and lecturer at Jenderal Achmad Yani University, highlighted the improbability of Indonesia permitting a Russian military presence, given its commitment to this balanced stance: “Even if Russia is proposing to use an Indonesian airbase, I doubt that the government will allow it. There will be very significant blowback,” he said. “The Indonesian military is very averse to having other countries build military bases in Indonesia.”

Retired Major General TB Hasanuddin, a member of Commission I (Defence, Foreign and Information Affairs) of the Indonesian House of Representatives, stressed that allowing foreign military bases on Indonesian soil would also contravene national law. “Our constitution and various laws and regulations expressly prohibit the existence of foreign military bases,” he declared in a statement.

This episode highlights both the strategic sensitivities of Australia’s northern approaches and Indonesia’s enduring commitment to its non-aligned foreign policy — a stance likely to remain unchanged, regardless of any Russian or Chinese overtures.

Geoffrey Gold is editor of the Indonesia Australia Report and an Industry Chair at the Australia Indonesia Business Council.

Regional drift: an indifferent Australia-Indonesia relationship beyond defence?

2025-02-10T19:42:00.006+08:00

Since Indonesia is now seen by Australia as a friendly power worth cultivating, Hamish McDonald, a former foreign editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and regional editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review, writes, the question being asked is, what’s in it for Indonesia, to go beyond the relationship it already has with Australia? And why is there a desultory interest in Indonesia among Australians outside the defence forces, and fewer Australians studying the Indonesian national language?

IN JUNE LAST year one of our best-known international affairs analysts, Sam Roggeveen of the Lowy Institute, floated a striking proposal in the journal Australian Foreign Affairs: a formal military alliance with Indonesia that would vastly extend the ambit of the “echidna” defence strategy he has advanced as an alternative to Canberra’s deeper alignment with the United States.

The idea highlighted a shift in Australian views that has gone largely unnoticed. No longer do strategists in Canberra see Indonesia as a potential enemy. With its population stabilising at around 280 million and no sign that its people are eyeing off Australia’s arid lands — indeed, its government sees the sparsely populated Kalimantan as the place for expansion — Indonesia is now seen as a friendly power worth cultivating. Roggeveen took this shift even further.

The commentary from various specialists in the journal treated his idea sympathetically. Nor, beyond some mention of its military’s human rights record, did they seem fazed by the idea of greater closeness. But they posed the question: what’s in it for Indonesia, beyond the relationship it already has with Australia?

Among the friendly critics was Melissa Conley Tyler, former national director of the Australian Institute of International Affairs, who ran four sessions of a “track-two” dialogue with Indonesian representatives between 2011 and 2018. “My clearest memory is the shift I saw over the decade: a clear sense of Australia becoming less and less relevant to Indonesia,” she commented. “While we were working hard to get Australia’s key sector leaders to see the emerging giant on their doorstep, you could almost see the Indonesians’ attention drifting away.”

A leading Indonesian strategist, Evan Laksmana, said Indonesia was unlikely to see Australia as one of the cornerstones of its foreign policy, ranking it below ASEAN, the United States, China, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia as priorities. For Jakarta, the question was whether it was wise, within its long tradition of formal non-alignment, to lean closer to the West. Australia was seen simply as the West’s local branch office.

The point that Jakarta now has bigger fish to fry was emphasised last month when Prabowo Subianto, the former army general elected president last year, was guest of honour at India’s annual Republic Day parade in New Delhi. On the sidelines he was negotiating purchase of the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile developed by India and Russia. Earlier in January, Indonesia became a full member of the BRICS association of powers uncomfortable with the America-centred global financial system.

On the other side of the relationship, Conley and others point to a desultory interest in Indonesia among Australians outside the defence forces. The country is Australia’s most popular holiday destination, with 1.37 million visits there in 2023. Beyond holidays in Bali, though, interest doesn’t run very deep.

Trade is well down the list for both countries, at a total of $26.7 billion two-way. Investment is paltry, with only $1.27 billion invested by Australians in Indonesia (and $2.22 billion here by Indonesians). A report commissioned in 2023 by foreign minister Penny Wong from banker Nicholas Moore outlined steps to build up investment in Southeast Asia, but Australian businesses don’t seem to be jumping back into Indonesia, especially as that means to put themselves at the mercy of its corrupt judicial machinery. The recent arrest of Jakarta’s popular former investment board chief Thomas Lembong on a murky corruption charge hardly builds confidence.

In a wider setting, the decline of Indonesian studies in Australia continues. This was emphasised at the end of last year when two big private schools announced they were shutting down Indonesian-language studies. One was Scotch College in Melbourne. The other, much more surprisingly, was the Essington School in Darwin, where Bahasa Indonesia has for many years been a compulsory subject in primary grades and in Years 7 and 8 in senior school.

This is Darwin, a forty-minute flight from Kupang in West Timor and closer to Denpasar than to Sydney. And it’s in the Northern Territory, which has long tried to position itself as Australia’s front door to Southeast Asia.

The federal member for the Darwin region, Labor’s Luke Gosling, an Indonesian-speaker from his army career, says it is a “huge backwards step for government and private schools to be ignoring our huge and strategically important neighbour.” Indonesia was expected to be in the world’s largest five economies by 2040, he said.

“Only half of Darwin and Palmerston schools currently teach Bahasa Indonesia,” Gosling tells me. “In the past, NT governments have prioritised the Indonesia relationship and almost every school taught Bahasa. We also had teacher exchanges between Darwin and eastern Indonesia.” He also sees potential to teach Bahasa in Eastern Arnhem land.

Paul Nyhuis, Essington’s principal, told me the decision was made after long consultations with staff, parents and students, and had aroused little controversy in the school community. None of last year’s Year 8 students had elected to continue with Indonesian. “The student voice had spoken, and the engagement in the recent language has really waned.” The school would now be looking at a more “global” language such as Chinese, French or Spanish for in-school tuition, as well as investigating online language options.

The story is pretty similar elsewhere in Australia. Enrolments in any language at Year 12 dropped from 11.3 per cent of total enrolments in 2010 to 8.2 per cent in 2022. Enrolments in every one of the major languages are down with the exception of Spanish, which is coming up from a low base. Indonesian showed the sharpest fall (47 per cent) from 1161 enrolments to 619. In New South Wales the decline is drastic: from 439 sitting Indonesia in the higher school certificate in 1991 to just seventy-nine last year, despite a small 6.6 per cent bounce in language studies overall in 2024 (which is still only an extra 363 students).

Statistics for study below Year 12 are patchy. Most states have what could be called a token requirement for foreign-language study. In New South Wales, it’s optional at primary schools, and at state secondary schools the only requirement is one hundred hours over one twelve-month period between Years 7 and 10.

“Any teacher that happens to speak a foreign language tends to be designated to teach that language — and that becomes the language policy for that school,” says Sarah Richardson, executive director of Asialink Education at Melbourne University. “It’s almost impossible for a student to start studying a language in primary school and then to continue to study that language into high school, so kids end up with a bit of an introduction to various languages. This feeds into university Asia studies that are also struggling.”

The big exception is Victoria, where in 2011 Ted Baillieu’s Liberal government instituted a policy mandating foreign language study in all schools from foundation year to Year 10. The uptick was immediate. By 2020, 339,124 government primary school students — almost nine in every ten — were learning at least one language. At secondary level, some 43 per cent of all state school students (103,824 of 242,884) were learning a language. Some 181 primary schools and seventy-four secondary schools offer Indonesian.

Why is Indonesian losing popularity? It’s partly evidence of a shrinkage of options at university level. Only twelve universities have an Indonesian studies program, down from twenty-two in 1992. In the 1980s and 1990s, leaders like Bob Hawke and Tim Fischer talked up the importance of Indonesia, recalls David Reeve, a historian and former professor of Indonesian. “At UNSW we were turning students away.”

Then, from 1998, came turmoil and catastrophe in Indonesia: the fall of Suharto, the violent exit from East Timor and resulting Indonesian hostility to Australia, the Bali bombing, explosives at the Australian embassy and a Jakarta hotel, the Aceh tsunami. “Parents didn’t want their kids to study Indonesian because they didn’t want them to go there,” Reeve said. Schools couldn’t get insurance at reasonable cost for study tours and immersions. “Suddenly at uni, the Indonesian department was a charity case,” he said. “We weren’t earning enough to stay open.”

The gap at higher education has partly been filled by the multi-university Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies and the New Colombo Plan, which since its start in 2014 under foreign minister Julie Bishop has placed more than 12,700 students and young professionals in Indonesia. Fortunately, Indonesian is a language that can be acquired relatively easily for everyday purposes at that age.

At schools, Reeve views the current curriculum content as a bit boring for young Australians: too much classical Javanese dancing and theatre and not enough contemporary popular culture, in contrast to the anime and Murakami novels in Japanese or Gangnam Style and stylish films in Korean.

“Indonesia doesn’t market itself, except as a tourist destination,” he says. And along with Essington’s Nyhuis, Reeve thinks a foreign-language capability hasn’t been pushed as an opportunity-enhancing adjunct to other study majors and professional qualifications, rather than as an uncertain pathway on its own to a job.

What all this means is that an initiative started under the Menzies government in the 1950s to prepare Australians for dealing with the tumultuous new neighbour that had suddenly emerged from the Dutch empire, then was kicked along by the Hawke and Keating governments, is now faltering badly, save in Victoria where a Liberal state government partly stemmed the tide.

“While many in government realise that a lack of Asian-language learning is a major problem, there is a lack of political courage to really address this issue properly,” says Asialink Education’s Richardson. She suggests each state could pick one Asian language for study from Year 1 to Year 12, or require students to learn a language consistently through high school, or mandate language study online moderated by teachers.

For Melissa Conley-Tyler, the fate of language teaching helps explain why Roggeveen’s alliance proposal would fail to attract support. “Defence ties alone — no matter how logical or valuable — cannot create the closeness of relationship required,” she commented. “For Australia to matter deeply to Indonesia, it needs to engage in the whole range of issues that preoccupy Indonesian leaders… the health, education, skills, social infrastructure, digital economy, green energy transition and other challenges Indonesia needs to surmount to escape the middle-income trap.”

Strategic analysts need to broaden their horizons, she said. “Australia’s security requires the use of many tools of statecraft, not just defence. National security advocates can be a powerful constituency for whole-of-nation international engagement, which has flow-on security effects. Australia lacks the political will to do something as simple — yet as game-changing — as making Indonesian language a compulsory school subject.”

And why not Indonesian? It uses the Roman alphabet, is spelled phonetically, has no tones, is accepted at all levels of fluency (kids could try it out in Bali with their parents, then later on while surfing in Nias or seeking spirituality in Java), and offers pathways notably to Hindi/Urdu and Arabic. Nor does country study imply endorsement of the government involved, as ANU China specialist Amy King was recently at pains to point out. If West Papuans do manage to break loose from Jakarta, their common language would be Bahasa Indonesia, not Tok Pisin.

But compulsory? Politicians quick to insist students study more maths, science, English, computer coding or patriotic history have so far baulked at making a choice that would mean facing down the entrenched teacher cohorts of non-selected languages and the ethnic lobbies. Still, this is surely something federal education minister Jason Clare and his Coalition shadow Sarah Henderson should be thinking about.

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First published at Inside Story.

Indonesian and Australian investment and trade agencies, and digital industries get closer

2024-06-30T08:49:00.002+08:00

The signing of a MoU between the Indonesian Investment Authority and the Australian Embassy in Jakarta capped a busy week during which initiatives announced by Prime Minister Albanese in September 2023 and March 2024, to bring more Australian investment and trade to Southeast Asia to tap the "exponential growth" of the ASEAN region, were highlighted in Jakarta: the new Australian Embassy Jakarta Investment Deal Team, the first business delegation under the new Australia Southeast Asia Business Exchange program, and a digital sector Launching Pad.

A MoU to support Australian investment into Indonesia was signed by Dr Ridha Wirakusumah, CEO of INA, and Australia's Ambassador to Indonesia, Ms Penny Williams and witnessed by Australia's Special Envoy for Southeast Asia, Mr Nicholas Moore, Business Champion, Prof Jennifer Westacott, and Members of the INA Executive Board / 27 June 2024

THE Indonesia Investment Authority (INA), Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Australian Embassy in Jakarta to enhance collaboration and boost Australian investment in Indonesia.

Witnessed by Australia’s Special Envoy for Southeast Asia, Nicholas Moore, Australia’s "Business Champion for Indonesia", Jennifer Westacott, and INA Executive Board members, the MoU was signed by Ridha Wirakusumah, CEO of INA, and Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Penny Williams.

“This MoU represents a key advancement in attracting and fostering Australian investment in Indonesia. Through this collaboration, we can catalyse significant Australian investment in key sectors vital to Indonesia's growth and development, enhance our economic ties, and deliver substantial benefits for both our countries,” Mr Wirakusumah said.

According to Ambassador Williams, the relationship with INA builds on the Invested: Australia's Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 prepared by Special Envoy Nicholas Moore and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's policy announcement in 2023, which aims to increase Australian investment into Indonesia.

Special Envoy Nicholas Moore

“Southeast Asia’s fast-growing economies present a major opportunity for Australian business, but we haven’t kept pace with their exponential growth, Mr Albanese said at the time. "Our economic future lies with Southeast Asia. This strategy outlines how we can harness this growth, and seize the vast trade and investment opportunities our region presents".

Of the 10 priority sectors identified by the Special Envoy as offering the most potential for growth, the Prime Minister committed to immediately support three initiatives "that go to the heart of the strategy and are an investment in Australia’s economic future":

Investment Deal Teams (A$70.2 million over four years) based in the ASEAN region who will work with Australian investors, Southeast Asian businesses and governments to identify and facilitate investment opportunities.

Southeast Asia Business Exchange (A$19.2 million over four years) to boost two-way trade and support Australian exporters to enter, compete and grow in the fast-growing markets of Southeast Asia. This will include a trade and investment campaign to promote opportunities in Southeast Asian markets to Australian business and consumers.

Placements and Internships Pilot Program for Young Professionals (A$6 million over four years) which will help to build enduring links between Australia and Southeast Asian businesses.

"This strategy reinforces our intent and priorities to expand and diversify trade and investment between Australia and Southeast Asia," added Trade Minister Don Farrell, and "charts a pathway to help Australian exporters, investors, tourism businesses, higher education providers, and creative sectors."

Delegates 'landing' in Jakarta

The new Australian Embassy Jakarta Investment Deal Team, which " blends private sector, government, and financing services to support outward investment from Australia to Indonesia", will work with INA to identify assets and appropriate structuring, so that opportunities are investor-ready for Australian participants.

The Deal Team brings together experts from the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade), the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and Export Finance Australia (EFA), and has access to the also newly announced A$2 billion Southeast Asia Investment Financing Facility, administered by EFA, and other trade and investment initiatives to facilitate and crowd-in Australian private sector investment across Southeast Asia.

In Australia, the Australia Indonesia Business Council’s Chair for Investment, Finance and Infrastructure, Peter McGregor agreed these initiatives represent concrete steps in implementing practical and workable arrangements within the framework established by the Nicholas Moore ‘Invested’ report.

“These deepening relationships and agreements to communicate and cooperate more closely should underpin meaningful growth in bilateral investment and trade opportunities between our two economies,” he said.

Accompanying visiting Australian technology companies, the inaugural delegation of the A-SEABX program to Indonesia, Austrade launched its Jakarta Landing Pad, which will help Australian technology businesses expand into Indonesia as part of Indonesia's ongoing digital transformation.

Australia Southeast Asia Business Exchange program

The investment MoU signing coincided with the first visit to Indonesia of a trade delegation under the new Australia Southeast Asia Business Exchange program. A-SEABX aims to increase two-way trade between Australia and Southeast Asia as well as raising awareness of business opportunities and possible investments between Australian and Indonesian companies.

The inaugural delegation, Australian technology companies showcasing their capabilities across cybersecurity, fintech and agtech, participated in the launch of an Austrade 'Landing Pad' in Jakarta

“The Landing Pad program will help market ready Australian technology scale ups to develop an effective go-to market strategy and secure partnerships in Indonesian markets, contributing to Southeast Asia’s continued digital transformation,” said Daniel Boyer, Austrade Deputy CEO.

An MoU was also signed between Austrade and Asosiasi Fintech Indonesia (AFTECH) to establish closer institutional cooperation and support Australia’s first Landing Pad cohort to Indonesia.

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- Geoffrey Gold, editor and curator, Indonesia Australia Report

Prabowo maps the road ahead for Indonesia, one of Asia's fastest growing economies

2024-06-17T13:43:00.009+08:00

The final count of Indonesia's 2024 presidential election retired most complaints against conduct of the polls, the winning of 59% of the vote, or more than 96 million votes, by Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto and his vice presidential running mate, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, too decisive for dispute. However, his slow wait for inauguration in October has commentators and critics lining up to review his record and hypothesise about his priority policies. Now the retired general has outlined his vision through international media:

Indonesia's President-elect Prabowo Subianto / https://prabowosubianto.com

I WAS HUMBLED and honored by the decision of the people of Indonesia to elect me as their new president; it was one of the greatest moments of my life.

The factor that forged our landslide victory was that we have a tangible vision for the future of our country, representing the people of Indonesia, their trajectory, offering accomplishable solutions to the most pressing issues we are together facing.

The vision I speak of resonated with Indonesians—with everybody that truly believes in Indonesia and its future, just like I do.

After such a victory, there is a feeling of pride and enthusiasm. But there is little time to celebrate.

I feel the weight of the hopes and expectations of tens of millions of people; not just those who voted for me, but also those who supported our rival candidates. We have to govern and deliver for everyone.

While we may belong to different political affiliations and may differ on policy issues, I believe all Indonesians agree that we need to transform Indonesia into the developed economic powerhouse, and the respected international actor, it deserves to be.

Under the enlightened leadership of my friend and colleague, President Joko Widodo, Indonesia has undertaken a host of reforms that have set the country on the path of dramatic transformation. I intend to carry forth this mission, building upon the foundations laid behind me, but also deepening the transformation by charting a dynamic course forward.

The key priority of my presidency will ultimately be quality of life for the Indonesian people.

Our people, not our minerals, are Indonesia's No. 1 resource. This is why everything I will do must contribute to affording our people better lives, higher employment, more education, new opportunities to succeed and thrive.

I have several ambitious policies, especially when it comes to children; to provide free meals to pupils at schools across the country, for instance. I am optimistic that through such policies, we will increase school attendance and performance and will be showing our support and solidarity to children most in need.

I do not see Indonesia's development as a zero-sum-game competition with the rest of the world. We are open. We welcome economic partnerships and cooperation with other countries and fellow economic powers. What we ask for is for our partners to understand that for us, Indonesia's sovereignty and national interest will always come first. Indonesia ultimately cannot be aligned to any one power.

I have also made a commitment to ensure Indonesia's food security and build a modern, sustainable agriculture sector in the process. While I understand the difficulties and the challenges our country has inherited in the agriculture arena, I think it is unacceptable that a country like Indonesia, ascending to the forefront of the G7, is not able to provide complete food security for its people. There is no objective justification why we should not be able to reform our agriculture and food production sectors and I will work hard from day one of my tenure in office so that we achieve this objective.

One of Indonesia's greatest assets is also its mineral wealth, which we will use to ensure the country's long-term economic development and modernization is actualized. Industrial down streaming policies will continue and will expand, ensuring more revenue, more investment, and more employment. The strengthening of Indonesia's industrial capabilities, especially in industries that depend on Indonesia's mineral resources, will continue, will intensify, and the sector will scale. I am committed to advancing Indonesia toward achieving its objective of becoming a fully-developed country by 2045.

Diversification is of crucial importance. This happens to our economy by supporting the sectors that hold the greatest promise—innovation and high-tech industries in which Indonesia already has huge potential, a deep pool of a talented and highly skilled workforce. I will work hard to provide additional training opportunities in these areas, pursuing STEM education accessible for all who desire it, but also to support them in advancing their ideas and out of the box solutions in the industries of the future.

To tourism—Indonesia is already a major travel destination, with a long tradition of hospitality and tourism. How could it be otherwise, if you consider the amazing geography and natural beauty of Indonesia, with its majestic islands and amazing diversity of ecosystems, of cultures, of ethnic groups and above all, a sense of warmth and generosity?

We have an important role to play in building a modern, developed economy, by pursuing the right policies and creating a proper business climate. But ultimately, the success of our economic development depends on our entrepreneurs and businesses, on how we support successful established businesses and how we also create the right conditions for new and promising start-ups to flourish.

We have conceived of a number of initiatives that will improve Indonesia's business climate; measures, such as the digitalization of our public services for instance, which will go a long way toward ease of doing business and fighting corruption, the bane of economic development.

In keeping with this vision for our country's geopolitical position, we will continue our strong cooperation with China as an important power in our region, an important economic partner, and a people with whom we have a long, shared history. But at the same time, we will work to expand and deepen our close partnerships with the U.S. and the West.

I have big plans for the country I love, but I do not see Indonesia's development as a zero-sum-game competition with the rest of the world. We are open. We welcome economic partnerships and cooperation with other countries and fellow economic powers. What we ask for is for our partners to understand that for us, Indonesia's sovereignty and national interest will always come first. Indonesia ultimately cannot be aligned to any one power.

In keeping with this vision for our country's geopolitical position, we will continue our strong cooperation with China as an important power in our region, an important economic partner, and a people with whom we have a long, shared history. But at the same time, we will work to expand and deepen our close partnerships with the U.S. and the West. This is important for us, underwritten not just by shared interests and cooperation in a number of areas, but also by shared values, as we shape some of the biggest democracies in the world.

Lastly, there will be a special focus on Africa, a continent close to my heart and today, just like Indonesia, a land of opportunity. We can support each other, sharing our experiences and by building synergies and partnerships, work to transform our countries.

My country finds itself on the cusp of opening a new chapter in its future. I feel fortunate that through my work, I can contribute to Indonesia realising its true potential as a country and as a people.

I can only hope that by working closely with all our friends and partners, I will be able to pave the way for a prosperous and harmonious Indonesia for generations to come.

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The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

Sound of Silence - the decline of Indonesian language literacy in Australia

2024-05-04T15:50:00.001+08:00

The Australian Government "understands the immensity of the commercial opportunity in Indonesia" but the number of Australian high school students studying Indonesian has fallen by a massive 80% since 2002. Jack Allen suggests the Indonesian government and its diplomats and trade and investment agencies in Australia should now "emphasise that continued collaboration must entail language learning".

Photo by Lynn D. Rosentrater from Flickr.

REMEMBER Simon & Garfunkel’s ballad “The Sound of Silence”? It bemoans those who enter a conversation to advance their own views without genuinely attempting to understand the ideas expressed by another.

As student of Bahasa Indonesia for over ten years, it’s something I’ve frequently observed within the Australia-Indonesia bilateral relationship. Australian captains of industry and government ministers expect they can speak to Indonesians in English – rarely do Australians show any commitment to speaking with Indonesians.

In in my view, a commitment to speaking with someone – entering a genuinely reciprocal conversation – requires a basic preparedness to hear them in their own authentic voice. That is, in their own language. On this, Australia has failed.

Australia’s declining Indonesian proficiency

Indonesia is one of Australia’s nearest neighbours. And yet, despite this proximity and the attendant opportunity for intercultural and commercial exchange, the rate of Indonesian language fluency in Australia has stagnated. In fact, it’s in freefall.

According to a paper published by the University of Western Australia, the number of Australian high school students studying Indonesian has fallen by a massive 80% since 2002. Even those who do finish high school with Indonesian have only 12 universities to choose from should they wish to continue their studies, down from as many as 22 at the turn of the century.

While the opportunity cost of low Indonesian literacy rates is uniquely significant, Australia’s linguistic malaise is not confined to Indonesian. The number of Australian students studying any language other than English now sits well below 10%. Contrasted with the average European or Southeast Asian – who typically speaks 2-3 languages – Australians seem a parochial bunch.

Why is this the case in a nation of immigrants otherwise proud of its multicultural heritage? It’s a simple by-product of history. For Australia, the post-war liberal democratic world was underpinned by the strength and sway of the American hegemon and, before that, the British Empire. Having the good fortune of being raised with the language spoken by the guarantors of the global world order – English – Australia could speak at the tables of global decision makers without consulting a bilingual dictionary.

Indonesia is finding its voice

But that paradigm is rapidly changing. Many see the US as retreating from Asia, despite President Obama’s once-feted “pivot” to the Asia-Pacific. That retreat would probably only be accelerated should Trump be elected again later this year.

While America retreats, other Asian powers – China most obviously – are rapidly moving to assert their dominance through a mix of soft and hard-edged diplomacy.

Economically, established economies like Australia, South Korea and Japan are saddled with crippling amounts of debt and a rapidly shrinking tax base as their populations age and birth replacement rates plummet. In contrast, ASEAN nations are surging.

More than 50% of Indonesia’s population are millennials and Gen Z, compared with just under 40% of Australia’s population. A steady fertility of 2.19% (compared with Australia’s sub-replacement rate of 1.63%) ensures a burgeoning economy will enjoy a steady pipeline of increasingly educated and productive citizens.

"As Indonesia’s stature grows, Australian ears will need to attune themselves to Indonesian voices on the global stage – and be able to talk with them"

With clear whole-of-economy pathways for further growth outlined in the “Golden Indonesia” strategy, it’s no wonder Indonesia is expected to become the 4th largest global economy by 2045.

On the geopolitical front, Indonesia is also emerging as a global leader capable of filling a void left by increasingly isolationist established powers. Through his attempted mediation in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, Defence Minister and President-elect Prabowo Subianto has shown that an unaligned Indonesia may emerge as an active proponent of realpolitik solutions to global conflicts.

In combination, these realities demonstrate that Indonesia is becoming a nation that will want to speak – not be spoken to – on the global stage. And like major economic and geopolitical powers before it, Indonesia has a right to demand that it be heard in its own authentic voice. Australians and others in the community of English-speaking nations must wake up to this reality.

Where to from here?

What is the solution? I see two pathways forward.

At a nation-to-nation level, the Indonesian government and its representatives in Australia – including the Embassy, Consuls-General, Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) and the Indonesian Investment Authority (INA) – should nominate Indonesian language literacy as a strategic priority for the bilateral relationship.

The Australian government’s eagerness to conclude the comprehensive economic partnership (IA-CEPA) is proof that Australia understands the immensity of the commercial opportunity in Indonesia. But the Indonesian government should emphasise that continued collaboration must entail language learning. This would show that Australia really does take the relationship seriously and is committed to maintaining and even building it. Such an expectation, if communicated tactfully, might be the prod that Australia’s governments and policy makers need to revitalise our woeful rates of language learning.

Nations in the European Union have enjoyed the closest form of economic cooperation, namely a shared currency and economic customs union, for close to 30 years. But that doesn’t mean a French person expects to build meaningful ties in Germany by speaking French. On the contrary, the polylingual mentality of Europeans preceded and then strengthened the development of economic collaboration.

But it is people and not parliaments that build lasting relationships. The second pathway is for Indonesian thinkers, creators, innovators, and start-up entrepreneurs. Be it apps, business or professional exchanges, education centres, or any other idea – Australia needs you. There are people here who want to grow Bahasa Indonesia, who better to guide and help us than native-speakers? In return, Australia can add value to the Indonesian economy, especially in education and services.

It doesn’t matter how, but change needs to happen. As Indonesia’s stature grows, Australian ears will need to attune themselves to Indonesian voices on the global stage – and be able to talk with them. The time to act is now, because if Australia does not, a once-promising friendship and conversation may be nothing more than – in the words of that song – the sound of silence.

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Jack Allen is a policy and communications expert with years of experience across politics, financial services, trade and the law. Majoring in Indonesian within his law and arts degree from Monash University (during which he completed an NCP placement in Indonesia), He has an ongoing interest in trade issues across the ASEAN region.

First published at Indonesia at Melbourne.

Comprehensive MOUs link Canberra ACT with DKI Nusantara and City of Melbourne with Kota Bandung

2024-04-27T14:19:00.006+08:00

The Australia-Indonesia relationship has seen strong ties developed between provinces and states, notably DKI Jakarta and New South Wales, East Java and Western Australia, and Central Java and Queensland, and city links such as Brisbane with Semarang and Darwin with both Ambon and Denpassar. Comprehensive MOUs have now been signed between Australia's federal capital, Canberra ACT and Indonesia's emerging capital Nusantara, and between the powerhouse cities of Melbourne and Bandung:

(l-r) : Canberra-Nusantara MOU in Feb 2024; Bandung-Melbourne MOU in April 2024

AUSTRALA'S City of Melbourne (capital of Victoria state) and Indonesia's Kota Bandung (capital of West Java province) have been negotiating a formal agreement for many years.

Architect Ridwan Kamil, Bandung Mayor (2013-2018) and subsequently West Java Governor (2018-2023), was a great enthusiast for the connection and succeeding Mayors continued the work.

In 2019 a Letter of Intent (LOI) was signed as an initial commitment to formulate the aims and objectives of the cooperation, and the benefits, and these plans were approved in 2023.

Due to the international connection, following the Bandung City Council's ratification, approval was also needed from the national Regional Representative Chamber, Dewan Perwakilan Daerah (DPD).

Bandung Mayor Yana Mulyana said at the time that the agreement focussed on cooperation in five sectors: smart cities, economy and trade, human resource capacity-building, child-friendly cities, and start-up companies.

Megan Cockroft, International Business Development & Partnerships for the City of Melbourne concurred:

"After six years working to foster the City of Melbourne and Kota Bandung relationship, I'm so excited and proud that the partnership has finally been formalised through an Memoradum of Understanding (MOU)!

"More than just a piece of paper, we want this MOU to be a catalyst and a commitment that helps us deliver greater innovation, education, and business ecosystem connections between Melbourne and Bandung that can be accessed by startups, businesses, students, universities and other organisations for collaborations, knowledge-exchange, investment and R&D.

"I'm looking forward to the next steps as we bring this MOU to life through a range of new and innovative projects," she announced in LinkedIn.

Indonesia is expected to hold 2024's independence day ceremony on 17 August in Nusantara and thousands of civil servants are expected to move there by end of this year - Reuters

The Bandung-Melbourne MOU announcement closely follows the signing of an MOU between the planning authorities of Indonesia's new national capital Nusantara, which is emerging from the jungles of East Kalimantan province, and Australia's national capital city Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory (which was created out of NSW state in 1911) where the federal parliamentary building was first opened in 1927.

“The Australian Government is working with the Indonesian Government towards the development of Ibu Kota Nusantara,” said Australia's then Deputy Ambassador to Indonesia, Steve Scott at the signing ceremony on 27 February.

“We continue to work together by developing a masterplan to guide affordable, sustainable and safe urban mobility and by undertaking an environmental assessment to minimise environmental impacts. This MOU is the latest step in our efforts to support Nusantara’s development.”

The MOU was signed 'virtually' by Indonesia’s Nusantara Capital City Authority Chairman, Bambang Susantono, in Jakarta, and Australia’s National Capital Authority Chief Executive Officer, Sally Barnes, in Canberra.

Under current rules, Jakarta will remain Indonesia's capital until the president issues a decree officially naming Nusantara as the new capital, which is expected sometime this year, Reuters reported. The government is expected to hold 2024's independence day ceremony on 17 August in Nusantara and thousands of civil servants are expected to move there by end of this year.

Melbourne, Bandung City Governments Sign MOU - SEA Today News, 25 April 2024

The Indonesia–Australia Skills Development Exchange Pilot #2 program explained to business

2024-04-27T08:40:00.003+08:00

The Indonesia-Australia Skills Development Exchange Pilot is a scheme developing between Indonesia and Australia to enable short-term exchanges to share skills and practical work place experience in specified sectors. It was introduced under the Indonesian Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) which came into force in July 2020, and minerals sector veteran Ian Wollff attended the recent socialisation of the second edition of the program to the bilateral business community:

The “Indonesia – Australia Skills Development Exchange Pilot” workshop held in Jakarta on 24 April 2024 was well-attended with about 80 delegates and a large online audience. The breakfast event was hosted by the Indonesia Australia Business Council (IABC), Australia Indonesia Business Council (AIBC) and IA-CEPA ECP Katalis (Katalis) and featured Katalis director Paul Bartlett, IABC president George Marantika, AIBC president Jennifer Mathews, the Indonesian Ministry of Manpower's Raith Rullyani, and the Australian Embassy's Councillor for Economic Trade and Investment Simon Anderson.

SDE Pilot slide presentations were provided by Feitty Pandjaitan of Legal and Regulatory Reform Advisor KATALIS (SDE MOU Flow), and Daniel Simson of FTA Sectoral Services Section, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The fundamentals of the program are to allow tertiary educated level full time workers from companies/entities, that have a presence in both Australia and Indonesia, to be sent to work in the other country for up to 12 months.

Created alongside IA-CEPA, SDE was relaunched in Sep 2023, and to date this scheme has been taken up by only one company that sent 12 professionals to Australia (Bowen Basin coal mines) and no people have been sent from Australia to Indonesia.

Processing of documentation by various government agencies for this special visa program should take only around seven weeks, (assuming all documents are correct).

The relaunched SDE has widened the Special Sector Requirements to now include.

o Financial & Insurance services, Mining

o Engineering and related technical services

o Information media and telecommunication services

o Tourism and travel related services

o Creative economy

o Agri-business and food processing

o Green economy

o Other sectors may be considered.

The approved occupation should comply with the ANZSCO Skill Level 1 to 3. The “worker” should comply with local tax and employment regulations, and where these require specific certification, then perhaps the professional may work as an assistant until achieving formal certification.

There was generous time for questions from audience (present and on-line) to the discussion panel and presenters. These questions included exploring the scope of the program in areas of education and health, plus looking at the nature of associations between Australian and Indonesian business entities. Another raised concerns about certification that may be associated with this specific program.

PDF digital versions of the slide presentations and the SDE guidebook in English & in Indonesian can be downloaded from http://www.bit.ly/MateriSDE_24April2024

Watch the full event recording

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Ian Wollff is a veteran principal geologist based in Jakarta. He provides independent observations on the Indonesian minerals sector at LinkedIn .

Australian and Indonesian airforces building sky-high relationships

2023-10-05T08:32:00.003+08:00

For the first time, the Royal Australian Air Force's premier 5th Generation F-35A fighters have operated out of neighbouring Indonesia, and alongside the F-16s of the Indonesian Airforce (TNI-AU); a landmark milestone for the Indonesia-Australian partnership celebrating 30 years of fighter communities exercising together.

Two RAAF F-35A Lightning II's from 75 Squadron fly with two TNI-AU F-16 Fighting Falcons during Exercise Elang Ausindo 2023. Photo: Corporal Kieren Whiteley / Department of Defence

Royal Australian Air Force aircrew built confidence sharing knowledge and developing tactics with their Indonesian Air Force (Tentara Nasional Indonesia – Angkatan Udara, or TNI-AU) counterparts during this year's Exercise Elang Ausindo, the Australian Department of Defence reported

Held at Manado in North Sulawesi from 18 to 28 September 2023, the Elang exercise planned and executed air combat exercise missions including offensive and defensive counter air missions; basic fighter manoeuvres and air combat manoeuvres and air-to-air refuelling with a RAAF KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport.

First conducted in 1993, Elang is one of three annual bilateral exercises between the RAAF and the TNI-AU. Tactical air exercises are also conducted as part of the Albatross (for maritime surveillance) and Rajawali (for tactical airlift) exercises.

Some 150 Australian personnel supported the RAAF F-35A Lightning IIs from the 75th Squadron stationed at Tindal alongside 160 Indonesian personnel supporting the TNI-AU’s F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 3rd Squadron, normally based at Iswahyudi Air Base in East Java.

RAAF pilot Flying Officer Nicholas said conducting basic fighter and dissimilar air combat maneuveres has further strengthened the partnership.

“The experience working with the Indonesian Air Force has been incredible. During Elang Ausindo, the Australians and Indonesians have been integrating into the same formations, working together through briefing, flying and debriefing all to make it as realistic as possible,” he said.

This is the first time RAAF F-35As have operated out of Indonesia, a landmark milestone for the Indo-Australian partnership celebrating 30 years of fighter communities exercising together.

Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU) Pilot Captain Yanuar Widyantoko (left), Captain Taufik Prianda (right) and Flying Officer Nicholas after a mission during Exercise Elang AUSINDO 2023. Photo: Corporal Kieren Whiteley / Department of Defence

75 Squadron was on the road for five weeks, participating in Exercise Alon in the Philippines and Exercise Bushido Guardian in Japan, before coming to Indonesia for Exercise Elang Ausindo.

Commanding Officer 75 Squadron Wing Commander Martin Parker said these five weeks have enhanced interoperability and confidence within international and unfamiliar air spaces.

“We’ll be walking away from the exercise having operated this highly technical platform on the road in Asia, with limited support for five weeks, and this has given us a great sense of confidence,” he said.

RAAF fighter combat instructor Squadron Leader Paul Anderton said it was rewarding to train both TNI-AU and RAAF pilots.

“We setup the exercise to be able to share foundational air tactics. This enabled us to learn from each other in the air and on the ground,” he said.

TNI-AU F-16 pilot First Lieutenant Akbar said the fifth and fourth-generation platforms worked together highly effectively, drawing upon the strengths of each platform to complete their missions in Manado and prepare aviators for the future.

“The benefit of the F-35A and the F-16 flying together was the F-35A has advanced technology, which gives them much more situational awareness for the larger area,” he said.

“The F-16 performs very well in the medium to short-range environment.”

Immediately prior to the commencement of Exercise Elang, RAAF KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport from 33 Squadron conducted air-to-air refuelling with F-16A Fighting Falcon aircraft of the Indonesian Air Force.

At the commencement of the exercise, Air Vice-Marshal Glen Braz, Air Commander Australia, described Elang as building "mutual cooperation, trust and understanding, both at the aviator-level and more broadly between the Australian Defence Force and Indonesian National Armed Forces.

“We are fully committed to a strong bilateral partnership with Indonesia; this important exercise allows our air forces to develop deeper relationships and enhance cooperation.”

In its review, Indonesia's TNI-AU also described the exercise as an opportunity for both countries to "strengthen their defense diplomacy and build trust between the two air forces. Airmen from both countries exchanged information and experiences to help strengthen their strategic relationship.

"It is hoped that Elang Ausindo 2023 will make a positive contribution to security and stability in the region, while strengthening the ties of friendship between Indonesia and Australia. This exercise shows that military collaboration between countries can create strong synergy and provide benefits for both parties in growing 'Confidence Building Measures', mutual trust between the two countries."

Diaspora business champions add spice to Indonesia's export trade with Australia

2023-07-05T18:05:00.005+08:00

On the sidelines of the high-level meetings in Australia between Indonesian President Joko Widowo and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, senior members of the Indonesian ministerial delegation attended a special warehouse function in Sydney with representatives of the NSW Indonesian business community, known to them as 'diaspora'. Geoffrey Gold highlights their reports:

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto together with Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi, during a face-to-face meeting with Indonesian businessmen and entrepreneurs at the Livingstone Warehouse, Sydney Australia

INDONESIA'S COORDINATING Minister for Economic Affairs, Mr Airlangga Hartarto, accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms Retno Marsudi, and the Indonesian Ambassador to Australia Mr Siswo Pramono, were hosted by Mr Ivan Paulus, Vice President of Livingston International at his premises in Sydney on Monday 3 July 2023, where they met local Indonesian business representatives, including members of the Indonesian Business Council of NSW.

Members of IBC and other Indonesian diaspora businesses

Coordinating Minister Airlangga, who is also Chair of the Golkar Party, acknowledged that it isn’t easy "building a business from below in a foreign country" that can "survive and be sustainable", calling those at the gathering "Indonesian champions".

According to Golkar Indonesia, the businesses represented – ranging from culinary, Indonesian food and beverage products, property consultants, furniture made from natural materials such as bamboo and rattan to digital contract technology – “are committed to promoting Indonesian products in Australia, replacing the market share of products from China with Indonesian products”.

At her official Menlu ministerial Twitter account, Ms Retno also thanked the participants for “supporting efforts in increasing Indonesian exports to Australia.”

Another senior Indonesian government official, Trade Minister Mr Zulkifli Hasan, affirmed that the government is, according to the official Antara news agency, “ready to facilitate young members of the Indonesian diaspora to embark on entrepreneurship in Australia” and expressed hope that “young diasporas can promote Indonesia and everything it has to offer”- including food, arts, and tourism.

"The Trade Ministry is open to facilitating those works and efforts through the help of our trade representatives. In Australia, you can seek assistance from our trade attaché in Canberra and the Indonesian Trade Promotion Centre in Sydney," the Minister suggested.

Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan at Garam Merica in Sydney

On Tuesday, 4 July, Mr Zulkifli met separately with Indonesian diaspora at Sydney's Garam Merica Indonesian restaurant which “is owned by an Indonesian diaspora cooperating with Australian importers, and all products used by the restaurant come from Indonesia”.

ITPC Sydney Deputy Director, Ms Annisa Puspasari, added that Indonesia’s “Spice Up the World” program could be implemented by opening Indonesian restaurants in Australia.

"The Indonesian Trade Promotion Centre in Sydney is always encouraging and supporting Indonesian diaspora who open Indonesian restaurants, including using spices made in Indonesia," she said.

Confronting strategic choices to future-proof the Australia–Indonesia relationship

2023-07-03T10:40:00.004+08:00

As Indonesia's President Jokowi arrives in Sydney, Australia, Professor Peter Drysdale and Ambassador Rizal Sukma discuss the future-proofing of the Australia-Indonesia relationship "as the balance of economic and diplomatic heft between the two nations continues to shift rapidly in favour of Indonesia, destined ... to join the world’s top four economic powers"

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with Indonesian President Joko Widodo

INDONESIAN PRESIDENT Joko Widodo’s visit to Australia this week, likely his last while in office, comes at a time when Indonesia and Australia confront their biggest strategic choices for decades.

Through the visit, Widodo aspires to frame a bilateral relationship fit for the times and cement his legacy as a global statesman. The visit follows the success of his administration’s hosting of the G20 in 2022 and its leadership — as the Chair of ASEAN — in implementing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement in 2023.

The ambition of both countries should be no less than to reframe the bilateral relationship into an effective global partnership.

This will future-proof the relationship as the balance of economic and diplomatic heft between the two nations continues to shift rapidly in favour of Indonesia, destined by the success of Indonesia’s development trajectory to join the world’s top four economic powers.

Indonesia and Australia share vital interests in defending a free and open global economy and securing prosperity and stability in their region — all of which are being undermined by the reassertion of great-power rivalry in Asia. Governments on both sides of the Pacific have resorted to traditional security responses — unwinding economic interdependence, prioritising military deterrence as means of preventing conflict, weaponising economic interdependence for coercive purposes and threatening military force to achieve political ends.

These dynamics risk global political and economic fragmentation, or worse, that would have a huge impact on the Southeast Asian economy, especially that of Indonesia. An early OECD estimate suggests that the impact of decoupling on ASEAN economies would be an 11 per cent drop in their incomes, wreaking regional economic and political havoc.

The bottom line is that neither the political and economic bifurcation of Asia nor its dominance by a single power are acceptable outcomes for the vast majority of Asia’s states.

Against this backdrop, smaller and middle powers like Australia and Indonesia have the incentive to articulate together an alternative to the zero-sum logic of great-power geopolitical competition. Renewed commitment to an open, pluralistic and cooperative regional order will reinforce regional political stability and economic prosperity.

Both countries need to be united in their commitment to safeguarding the international rules-based order and achieving global goals that address climate change and realise sustainable development.

These foundational interests supply the rationale for bringing the Australia–Indonesia relationship into a new phase, elevating the coordination of national policy strategies bilaterally and in regional and global forums to respond to heightened uncertainty caused by geopolitical tensions.

Climate and technological change in the coming decades will also force massive transformation in their economies and the structure of trade and investment between Australia and Indonesia.

These structural changes are disrupting and rewiring economies all over the world, where the transition to a new international economy is being shaped by megatrends such as decarbonisation, technology transformation, digitalisation and demographic challenges. The scale of these changes presents opportunities and challenges in both countries’ approaches to economic policymaking and for realising the full potential of the Australia–Indonesia bilateral relationship.

In both countries, there is a growing gap in the alignment of high-level economic policy strategies with actual policy delivery on the ground — with a miscellany of ill-directed export embargoes and investment distortions in Indonesia, and the drift towards inward-lookingness, trade protectionism and a deteriorating foreign investment climate in Australia. Getting the strategic objectives right is the first step in closing these gaps, as was evident in 2022 when Indonesia confronted the inconsistency in its bans of palm oil exports and its G20 responsibilities.

Australia and Indonesia can deepen ties through a better integrated strategy in pursuing their common domestic and international policy priorities. The strategy can build upon the bilateral relationship’s existing foundations, including the flagship Indonesia–Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, RCEP and the ASEAN–Australia–New Zealand Free Trade Agreement. Indonesia seeks closer consultation in response to the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and to leverage new plurilateral mechanisms, including initiatives that it is now taking within ASEAN and towards dialogue partners.

"The agenda for the meeting between President Widodo and Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is ambitious"

As the 2023 ASEAN Chair, Indonesia is seeking to reinforce arrangements with the group’s dialogue partners that will anchor ASEAN centrality as the institutional basis of regional security.

President Widodo made clear in a pre-departure interview with the Australian Financial Review that the warmth of the political relationship is contingent on Australia’s understanding that its AUKUS initiative and participation in the Quad arrangement ‘must be supportive of efforts to build peace and stability in the region. [And that the] spirit must be engagement, not containment’.

The agenda for the meeting between President Widodo and Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is ambitious.

The agenda should upgrade the annual bilateral economic policy dialogues that were put in place after the last presidential visit to Australia and charge the dialogues to set out strategies for long term investment and trade cooperation in managing energy and sustainable industrial transformation.

The agenda should also seek to develop a program that dramatically lifts personnel exchanges, particularly for young people, between both countries.

It should revitalise collaboration in international economic forums, identifying common actions and initiatives to shape regional and global governance reforms. This will help the region to actively shape global rule-making.

And it should strengthen knowledge partnerships between universities and think tanks, including to reinforce evidence-based best practice economic policymaking to guide the relationship’s trade and industrial transformation towards a sustainable carbon-neutral future.

This bilateral agenda should begin to lay the foundations of a step up in the relationship that expresses both countries’ shared and equal ambitions for a partnership that makes their region and the world both more secure and more prosperous.

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Peter Drysdale is Emeritus Professor and Head of the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research at the Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University and Rizal Sukma is Senior Fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta and former ambassador to the UK.

First published by East Asia Forum

Grassroots confidence boosts a new Indonesian diaspora association in rural Australia

2023-05-29T12:05:00.001+08:00

Just as Indonesia is showing new diplomacy skills in presenting itself as a global leader through its chairing of G20 last year and regionally as ASEAN chair this year, Indonesia's far-flung diaspora are also emerging with confidence. The following video documents the start of a new grassroots Indonesian community organisation in rural Australia.

Copyright Indonesia Australia Association of Greater Shepparton and Region Inc and Gold Communications

ON SUNDAY 21 May 2023. the Indonesian community and friends in north-east Victoria, Australia, gathered to officially launch IndOzShepp - the Indonesia Australia Association of Greater Shepparton & Region Inc - and "to celebrate Kartini Day for the first time in the Goulburn Valley", one of Australia's most important agricultural districts, about 200 km from Melbourne.

Master of Ceremonies, Meitty Tentua, welcomed the nearly 200 guests, acknowledged the region's Yorta Yorta people and thanked all Australians for their hospitality to Indonesian residents and visitors.

The first speaker was Titik Ningsih, Convenor of IndOzShepp, and Vice President, who works in fruit packing. She explained how the Shepparton Community Leadership Program, which she highly recommends, gave her the confidence to bring the community together through founding a new association.

Next was Kiki Darajat, Treasurer of IndOzShepp who works for Greater Shepparton City. She explained the importance of Kartini Day for recognising women heroes and emphasising women's education, empowerment, and equal rights.

Cr Shane Sali - Mayor for Greater Shepparton City Council, congratulated IndOzShepp for contributing to the multiculturalism of the region and building the connection between Indonesia and the Goulburn Valley.

Kim O’Keeffe MP for Shepparton District in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Victoria, said she is sure that IndOzShepp will provide a space for Indonesians to gather and communicate and share problems and celebrations.

Donna Baldwin continued the Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District's great support to IndOzShepp through advice and sponsorship.

The official ceremony concluded with the famous Indonesian yellow rice-cutting tradition known as Nasi Tumpeng. (l-r) Kiki Darajat, Titik Ningsih Gold, Mayor Shane Sali, Christiano Dery Theodorus, Kim O'Keeffe MLA, Consul General Kuncoro Giri Waseso, Donna Baldwin, Geoffrey Gold, and Peter McGregor (AIBC).

The keynote speaker was Kuncoro Giri Waseso, Consul General of the Republic of Indonesia to Victoria. He expects IndOzShepp to enrich the relationship between Australia and Indonesia through people-to-people contact and increasing economic relations.

He was accompanied by consular staff and a PPLN delegation providing registration details for voters in Indonesia's 2024 elections.

The final speaker was Christiano Dery Theodorus, President of IndOzShepp and a local retailer and popular painter and public muralist. He explained his passion to lead this community organisation as the result of the support he received from others as a newcomer.

The official ceremony concluded with the famous Indonesian yellow rice-cutting tradition known as Nasi Tumpeng. It was followed by group photographs, delicious Indonesian food, music and very happy singing.

Follow IndOzShepp at at LinkedIn and Facebook or contact indozshepparton@yahoo.com

How can Australia and Indonesia work together on the energy transition?

2023-05-01T10:00:00.001+08:00

As neighbours, Australia and Indonesia should work together to make the energy transition as rapid and efficient as possible, argues Richard Mathews of Diplomats for Climate Action Now: "Both countries would benefit economically from a comprehensive partnership through increased investments in zero-carbon manufacturing and mining industries, energy transition education and training, and export of green products"

An Australian business delegation visit one of Indonesia’s first wind energy projects in Jeneponto in South Sulawesi in 2018. Photo by Rahmat Idris.

A RECENT report claimed the planet has entered the “beginning of the end of the fossil fuel age” with 12% of electrical energy globally generated from renewables. In our region the energy landscape is also changing rapidly, with our biggest neighbour, Indonesia, beginning its own energy transition.

Indonesia is one of the most climate-vulnerable nations in the world. According to a USAID report, over 42 million people in Indonesia live on low-lying land less than 10 meters above sea level, and over 2,000 of the archipelago’s islands will be submerged by 2050. Close to 6 million people will be displaced by annual flooding by the end of the century.

At the international level, Indonesia has committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 32% by 2030, or, with international assistance, 43%. Its long-term strategy is to reach net-zero emissions by 2060 or sooner. Domestically, the president has set a target of 23% new renewable energy in its national energy mix by 2025.

This should be feasible: Indonesia, like Australia, has an abundance of solar, wind and geothermal power potential. However, it is also an important oil producer, and, like Australia, a major coal and gas producer. Powerful fossil fuel business interests have been important supporters of key political leaders. Climate change is yet to become a major domestic political issue, and renewable energy deployment in Indonesia has been slow.

But now, this is likely to change. Indonesia recently secured significant international financing commitments to support its energy transition from the Asian Development Bank’s Energy Transition Mechanism and the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). The JETP, funded by the G7 plus Denmark and Norway, will mobilise US $20 billion over three to five years to help Indonesia phase down fossil-fuel energy and accelerate the transition to renewables.

Many leaders in government and the private sector also hope the nation can benefit from the economic opportunities offered by the energy transition. President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) recently launched the Kalimantan Industrial Park Indonesia (KIPI) in the province of North Kalimantan, which he said will be a centre of production for “electric-vehicle batteries, petro-chemicals and aluminium”, all powered by green electricity supplied from new hydro-power plants.

Likewise, Indonesia’s Minister for Investment and Maritime Affairs, Luhut Panjaitan, recently said that Indonesia plans to build its own EV battery industry. He added that Indonesia needs a partner for this and Australia is its best candidate. The new leadership of the state-owned monopoly electricity supplier (PLN) is increasingly open to renewables, as are senior government officials from the Ministry for Energy and Mineral Resources.

Working together on energy transition

As neighbours, it is in both our countries’ interests to work together to make the energy transition as rapid and efficient as possible. Both countries would benefit economically from a comprehensive partnership through increased investments in zero-carbon manufacturing and mining industries, energy transition education and training, and export of green products. The $A200 million climate and infrastructure partnership announced by Prime Minister Albanese in June last year (details of which are still being worked out), is a small, welcome step. But a comprehensive partnership should ideally involve all levels of government, the private sector, universities, and civil society. City-to-city and state-to-province exchanges focused on how to meet the challenges of climate change and the energy transition, would be very helpful to both sides.

Indonesia’s leadership see the potential of a partnership: in 2020 President Jokowi addressed the Australian parliament during his state visit and invited Australia to work with Indonesia on the challenge of climate change. As noted above, Minister Panjaitan has said Australia and Indonesia should work together in the manufacture of EV batteries using Australia’s abundant sources of lithium and Indonesia’s rich deposits of nickel.

Indonesian industries are also interested in securing relatively cheap green hydrogen and ammonia from Australia. Australia’s expertise and capacity in the provision of small to medium scale renewable energy projects in isolated communities could help PLN meet its goal to “de-dieselfy” island communities across eastern Indonesia (currently most island and isolated communities are powered by diesel engine generators).

Australia could also share its experience of maximising solar rooftop PV installation, development of renewable energy zones and the regulations needed for the energy transition.

Energy transition education and training

In both countries there is rapidly growing demand for newly skilled people as the energy transition gathers momentum. Australia could offer major training programs at scale in:

electrical engineering, trades and technologies; solar and wind power installation; battery storage and grid integration; community battery and renewable energy power development; EV servicing and management; and EV charging rollout and development;
renewable energy policy at the national, regional and community levels; energy transition and renewable energy advocacy skills; and community awareness and education programs on the energy transition; and
emergency management training and planning for climate change events; flood mitigation and community preparedness for climate change; and city planning for climate change.

It would benefit both countries to negotiate reciprocal working visa arrangements for graduates in these fields, to meet growing employer demand.

Our regional energy landscape is changing fast. Australia and Indonesia have a golden opportunity to build a comprehensive partnership that takes us towards a vibrant, zero-carbon future.

...

Richard Mathews is a retired diplomat, having served from 2016-20 as Australia’s first Consul-General for eastern Indonesia based in Makassar. He is the coordinator of the group Diplomats for Climate Action Now, and a volunteer with the Australian Conservation Foundation. He is the founder and president of the advocacy group Diplomats for Climate Action Now.

This article was first published on the Indonesia at Melbourne blog hosted at the University of Melbourne.

Enhanced defence cooperation between Australia and Indonesia does not mean sharing a strategic outlook

2023-04-26T14:07:00.006+08:00

Enhanced defence cooperation between Australia and Indonesia does not mean the two countries share a strategic outlook, argues Evan A Laksmana: "it would be healthier for officials from both countries to embrace and work with key strategic divergences"

MANY POLICYMAKERS tend to ignore the points of fundamental strategic divergence between Indonesia and Australia. Public disagreements – say, over the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine deal – are seen as a communication problem. But it would be healthier for officials from both countries to embrace and work with key strategic divergences.

First, Indonesia is unlikely to view the United States as a benevolent provider of regional security in the way Australia does. Indonesia’s troubled past with the United States – and its geo-strategic vulnerability and domestic fragility – means that Jakarta will from time to time view the United States as another interventionist great power. Senior policymakers still recite how the United States kicked Indonesia while it was down during the Asian financial crisis, or how the disastrous Iraq War and the non-ratification of the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea undermined the rules-based order.

Defence policymakers privately cite instances where the United States was seen as intruding into Indonesian airspace as one of the rationales for Indonesian defence modernisation. The prospect in 2019 of the US sanctioning Indonesia under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) as the country was finalising its purchase of Russian arms brought back the bitter experience of the US military embargo in the 1990s and 2000s. Cold War memories, of US support for regional rebels in the 1950s, have not faded either.

Despite this history, Indonesia-US defence ties remain strong. In the past two decades, more than 7,300 Indonesian students trained in some 200 different US military education and training programs. Indonesia has held more than 100 major military exercises with the United States and imported close to $1 billion in arms and equipment.

Australia’s dilemma is not just being caught between the United States and China, but at times, between the United States and Indonesia.

But stronger defence ties do not necessarily correspond or lead to “further alignment”, as was implied in a meeting between the US and Indonesian defence ministers late last year. Defence cooperation with the United States may fulfil specific needs – from professional readiness to modern arms – but Jakarta does not always see American military presence as a net positive, nor will it accept that its security can only be guaranteed by it.

Australia, meanwhile, is doubling down on its American alliance. Given its geography and history, Australia is unlikely to handle its strategic vulnerabilities without a strong ally like the United States. Yet as an ally, Australia would have to carry water for America’s agenda, whether joining its ill-advised wars or hosting its forces and assets. The myth of Australia as the “deputy sheriff” has enduring resonance in Indonesia because of a persistent perception that Australia is simply an extension of the US in the region.

Australia’s dilemma then, is not just being caught between the United States and China, but at times, between the United States and Indonesia. The more the Australia weds itself strategically to the United States, the more entrenched its strategic divergence with Indonesia could be.

Indonesia is unlikely to see China the way Australia does. China is certainly a long-term strategic challenge and one of the most polarising foreign policy questions in Indonesia today. But given Indonesia’s own bloody anti-communist past, bilateral historical acrimony, domestic political sensitivities, and elite-led economic interdependence, there isn’t going to be a consensus that China is an existential threat.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations was supposed to be one possible answer to this dilemma. Instead, it has become a second strategic divergence with the arrival of US-anchored minilateral groupings such as the Quad and AUKUS as a response to China’s push for regional hegemony.

During the Cold War, Australia may have seen Southeast Asian multilateralism as one way to anchor the United States to the region. Since then, ASEAN has become an important pathway to anchor Australia in Southeast Asia and the broader region. But ASEAN is not going to be the antidote to Australia’s strategic anxieties over China today. The group’s internal divisions and inability to manage great power politics or major problems such as the South China Sea means that Canberra policymakers see a strong US military presence as a preferable option.

While both Australia and Indonesia preach ASEAN centrality, ASEAN is more central for one than the other.

For Indonesia, ASEAN is more than second-best. From an initial “self-binding” exercise following the disastrous Konfrontasi years to restore the stability necessary for economic growth, ASEAN became a strategic buffer during the Cold War. Since then, ASEAN has evolved into Indonesia’s panacea for most of its foreign policy challenges, from Indo-Pacific security, the US-China competition, to the South China Sea or Taiwan. The group has even turned into the country’s “golden cage”, argues Indonesian strategic thinker Rizal Sukma.

While both Australia and Indonesia preach ASEAN centrality, ASEAN is more central for one than the other. This is the context through which we should understand the concern over whether new minilateralism will side-line ASEAN. To be clear, ASEAN members have had their own security minilaterals, such as the Malacca Straits Patrol or the Sulu Sea Trilateral Security Cooperation. But these arrangements where each have equal veto power came from and further strengthened ASEAN-led mechanisms.

For Indonesia, US-anchored minilateral groupings are seen as exclusionary and highlighting power imbalances. They amplify the security goods provision by non-ASEAN alternatives; given the strategic resource constraints, regional countries will put more energy on some institutions and not others. In other words, Indonesia sees a contradiction in the public rhetoric about ASEAN centrality when investments and commitments are going to non-ASEAN mechanisms.

The final set of divergence is paradoxically perhaps the most successful part of bilateral relations – defence cooperation. Indonesia-Australia defence ties today are perhaps at their strongest in more than a decade. Despite occasional hiccups, the post-Lombok Treaty dynamic has grown from strength to strength, from personnel exchanges to major exercises and arms transfer. Indonesia and Australia are even upgrading their Defence Cooperation Arrangement.

Cadets from the Australian and Indonesian armies during shared training at Puckapunyal, Victoria, in November 2022 (Michael Kiting/Defence Department)

The risk is that Australia wrongly interprets strong defence ties as meaning that its strategic outlook will converge with Indonesia’s. Some Australian officials may believe that Jakarta and Canberra view China in the same way, that the Five Power Defence Arrangement and the US military presence are seen as a net positive, or that the Indonesian defence establishment no longer hold grudges over the 1999 independence of East Timor. These are at best untested assumptions.

Defence ties rest heavily on education and training exchanges as well joint exercises, rather than arms sales or collaboration, let alone joint war-fighting or operational history. With such personnel-centric defence engagements, Australia seeks better understanding, closer ties, and presumably stronger influence within the Indonesian defence establishment.

Indonesia needs the engagement activities and programs to improve its own readiness and professionalism, especially given its under-resourced educational, exercise, and training infrastructure. In some cases, such as during the US military education embargo in the 1990s and 2000s, Indonesian defence officials also saw Australian programs as both a necessary stopgap and a way to back-channel some messages to the United States.

But in general, Indonesia-Australia defence ties are unproven. In the event of a war, say over Taiwan, is Australia expecting Indonesia to do nothing or even facilitate its assets including nuclear-powered subs to go through Indonesian waters on their way to the first island chain? What if China seeks to prevent that? If Papua becomes another East Timor-level fiasco, will Australia be ready to do nothing and support Indonesia no matter what?

Flushed with optimism, defence policymakers and analysts may have yet to seriously debate these questions. Not to mention the fact that the Indonesian military today is not as influential in strategic policymaking as it was during the New Order years under Suharto. Bottom line, defence ties cannot provide the strategic ballast many assume.

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Evan A. Laksmana will join IISS-Asia as Senior Fellow for Southeast Asia Military Modernisation in May 2023 from the Centre on Asia and Globalisation of the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. He was previously Senior Researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Indonesia. He has held research and visiting positions with the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, the National Bureau of Asian Research, Sydney University, the Lowy Institute for International Policy, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

This article first appeared in The Interpreter, published by the Lowy Institute.

Australia's biggest state, New South Wales, and Indonesia's special capital province, DKI Jakarta, sign a new edition of their often disrupted sister-region MOU

2022-11-17T10:38:00.005+08:00

By Geoffrey Gold

THE GOVERNMENT of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) has confirmed the renewal of its sister-region Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Indonesia’s Special Capital City province of Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta (DKI Jakarta).

According to the announcement the MOU focuses on “four key areas across agribusiness, food and beverage, technology, innovation and startups, tourism and education to increase collaboration to generate commercial outcomes for NSW and Indonesian businesses”.

A focus of the agreement is to help increase links in tourism and education with 55% of Indonesian students currently studying in Australia choosing to study in NSW.

DKI Jakarta’s Caretaker Governor, Heru Budi Hartono, welcomed the renewal which had been negotiated with his predecessor, former Governor Anies Baswedan, over the past two years: “Jakarta is continuously progressing to be a smarter city and better living environment for its residents. We hope the cooperation built with NSW can help to improve our resilience against future challenges, including climate change and healthcare. Furthermore, this relationship can be a platform for mutual learning and benefit in the effort to develop our city or state.”

NSW Minister for Enterprise, Investment and Trade Alister Henskens emphasised the timeliness of the new agreement: “Indonesia boasts an economy growing at 5% per annum that has already passed US$ 1 trillion and by 2030, Indonesia is projected to be the seventh largest economy in the world. There are many exciting opportunities for NSW businesses to expand into Indonesia and Jakarta is home to a growing consumer market eager for high-quality food and health products, growing infrastructure needs and a thriving technology sector.

NSW’s oldest connected organisation, the Australia Indonesia Association of NSW founded in 1945, congratulated both administrations: “We look forward to working with the NSW and DKI Jakarta governments to ensure the key objectives of the MOU are implemented. AIA believes this MOU will develop the relationship between the people of our states closer in the future on both commercial and cultural levels,” its President Patrick Hanna told the Indonesia Australia Report.

The business community concurs. "The Australia Indonesia Business Council is extremely pleased to see the MOU signed between NSW and DKI Jakarta and see it as strategically significant," Di Robinson, Chair of the AIBC's NSW Chapter explained to the Indonesia Australia Report. "We welcome stronger relationships between NSW and Jakarta and see many opportunities for growth on both sides. It is a significant step forward."

According to NSW Minister Henskens, the updated MoU strengthens the already “28-year Sister State-Province agreement NSW has with Jakarta”. But it has not all been smooth sailing.

The first edition of the MOU was signed on 30 May 1994 during the euphoria of Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating’s month-long ‘Australia Today Indonesia 1994’ program of sports, cultural displays and education seminars and the ‘Expanding Horizons’ trade and investment conference and exhibition in Indonesia.

Unfortunately, the NSW-Jakarta collaboration ended abruptly in mid-2007 during an official tour of Sydney, at the NSW state government's invitation, by then Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso. While he was otherwise engaged, NSW police “let themselves into” the Governor’s Sydney hotel room “to seek his appearance at the Balibo inquest into the deaths of five Australian newsmen in East Timor in 1975”.

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso (2007)

Mr Sutiyoso departed Australia immediately and, while he later accepted a letter of apology from the office of then Labor Premier, Morris Iemma and did politely receive a personal peace-making mission to Jakarta by NSW state Governor, Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO, DKI Jakarta did not pursue further initiatives with NSW and Indonesia seemed to fall completely below the NSW radar.

The frostiness began to melt in April 2013 with the release of a new NSW International Engagement Strategy which identified Indonesia as a priority market with “considerable opportunity to further develop our economic relationship based on the proximity and complementarities of our economies.” The report also recommended the opening of a NSW trade and investment office in Indonesia.

By October 2013, then NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Stoner led a five-day trade and investment mission to three Southeast Asian countries and notably mentioned he was the “first NSW Government leader from the current administration” to visit Indonesia where he would go on to meet with Indonesian government leaders, including the Vice Minister of Trade, and senior business leaders.

The 2015 MOU signing by Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events Stuart Ayres and Djarot Saiful Hidayat, Vice Governor of Jakarta

The second edition of the agreement was thus signed in October 2015 by then NSW Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events Stuart Ayres and Djarot Saiful Hidayat, Vice Governor of DKI Jakarta, with the aim to grow trade in areas of agriculture, education, technology and infrastructure services. The two governments also agreed to focus on “mutually beneficial cooperation” in:

Infrastructure - urban sustainability and transport connectivity for smart cities': to exchange knowledge and share experience in city planning, smart infrastructure delivery and environmental engineering:
Education and training: to link training providers to support skills development vital to Jakarta's needs;
Trade and economic development to assist industry cooperation in food safety and security: and logistics for agribusiness;
Public servants', to share international experience in the areas of management finance, public administration, e-procurement and one-stop customer services: and
Zoological Parks: to support the cooperation between Taronga Zoo and Taman Margasatwa Ragunan in the areas of exchange of animals and training for animal keepers and managerial staff.

For the first time, NSW Trade and Investment established a presence in Jakarta with the 2015 appointment of local marketing staff within the Austrade Trade Commission’s offices at the Australian Embassy. But it was not until October 2020 that a “NSW Trade and Investment Director" for Jakarta was advertised widely.

An Indonesia Australia Report news Tweet and link

Mr Yonathan Wijaya took up his role as NSW Trade and Investment Director, Indonesia, also co-located with the Australian Trade Commission, in November 2021. With prior private sector experience, he moved to the NSW position after four years at the UK Embassy to Indonesia as a trade and investment specialist including Head of Private Sector Engagement.

Mr Wijaya described the new NSW-Jakarta MOU as “a renewed spirit for Jakarta and Indonesia” and said he was “looking forward to the implementation tapping into the opportunities in both economic centres.”

Andrew Parker, Senior Trade & Investment Commissioner, ASEAN at Investment NSW, also commented: “For those of use fortunate enough to have been involved in B20 Indonesia this week, we saw up close a country that is growing in confidence and most assuredly on the move. NSW has a lot to offer as Indonesia sets about achieving its economic goals and … Investment NSW will be working with Pemerintah Provinsi DKI Jakarta to develop some specific activities under the MOU. We will also be engaging with businesses to gather implementation ideas and explain how NSW businesses can benefit from the MOU.”

See also:

NSW Trade and Investment Directer Jakarta (16 October 2020)

The 1994 integrated Australian business-cultural promotion in Indonesia and Paul Keating's call for a closer relationship (18 September 2013)

Australia's regions accelerate trade missions to Indonesia and official offices (13 August 2013)

Indonesia highlights an 8% increase in trade with Australia at its 2022 Trade Expo: via IA-CEPA the world's 13th-largest economy "an attractive market for Indonesia"

2022-10-23T12:21:00.008+08:00

Indonesia anticipated the return of record numbers of international trade visitors to its annual Trade Expo Indonesia held at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition in BSD City, Tangerang near Jakarta, from 19-23 October 2022, where 100 trade deal transactions worth US$1.19 billion were recorded on the first day.

At the official opening, Indonesia’s President Mr Joko Widodo emphasised the theme "Strengthening Global Trade for Stronger Recovery" and his hope that TEI 2022 “will encourage a trade balance surplus in the future."

Minister of Trade Mr Zulkifli Hasan said it was necessary to accelerate Indonesia’s economic recovery, especially in the trade, tourism and investment sectors. He noted that as of September 2022, 27 international trade agreement negotiations had been signed and implemented and, “in addition, there are 17 agreements that are ongoing and 18 agreements in the exploration stage."

Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan said he appreciated the enthusiasm of exporters and trading partners attending TEI 2022 and thanked Indonesia's trade representatives, Trade Attachés and the Indonesian Trade Promotion Centers (ITPC), for their marketing work.

For the first time a parallel ‘virtual exhibition’ was also available on-line, staying open until 19 December 2022, and with hybrid access available, Indonesia’s Ministry of Trade continued to promote the TEI 2022 until its eve with late consultations with foreign businesses through the country’s diplomatic posts.

For instance, Indonesia's Embassy to Australia and Consulate General to Victoria held a business briefing in Melbourne on 5 October to promote the TEI for direct or online participation. It was attended by Ambassador Mr Siswo Pramono, Consul General Mr Kuncoro Waseso, the trade ministry’s Director of Export Development of Primary Products, the Victoria Chair of the Australia Indonesia Business Council and local businesspeople.

Australian interest in trade with Indonesia was reciprocated at the TEI by the Trade Ministry's Director General of National Export Development, Mr Didi Sumedi, through his presentation to the “Understanding the Australian Market" business forum, also attended by Australia’s Ambassador to Indonesia and Indonesia’s Ambassador to Australia.

Trade Ministry's Director General of National Export Development, Mr Didi Sumedi

"With the 13th-largest economy in the world, and geographic proximity to Indonesia, Australia is an attractive market for Indonesia," Mr Sumedi explained, adding that he viewed the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) as the "most complete and deepest" international trade agreement as compared to others.

He noted that the increasing implementation of IA-CEPA has opened opportunities for Indonesian exporters to explore Australia's market. In addition to removing tariffs on imports to Australia, IA-CEPA also encourages potential "powerhouse" partnerships between Indonesian and Australian business sectors.

“For Australia, Indonesia is the hub in Southeast Asia and the main gateway in accessing the Asian market. As for Indonesia, Australia has a special position as the gateway to the wider Pacific region," he said.

"According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), during the period between January and August 2022, the total trade between Indonesia and Australia increased by more than 8% as compared to last year."

However, Antara reported that in August Indonesia's trade with Australia "experienced a deficit of US$678.6 million, with the main commodities contributing to the deficit being cereals and mineral fuels."

By optimising the IA-CEPA, existing opportunities can be used to bolster Indonesia’s exports to Australia, including through small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which are the backbone of the country's economy, Indonesian Ambassador to Australia Mr Pramono remarked.

IA-CEPA also offers an opportunity for Australian and Indonesian businesses to expand and diversify existing partnerships, Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Ms Penny Williams noted. “This agreement strengthens productive capacities and builds export capabilities to support economic growth and job creation in both countries.”

The IA-CEPA is more than just a trade agreement and is an important framework for the next phase of Indonesia-Australia economic relations, she said.

Indonesia & Australia: Together we can achieve a recovery that’s sustainable (21 February 2022);

After a bumpy gestation, the Indonesia-Australia enhanced free trade agreement - IA-CEPA - is now on its way to ratification (4 March 2019);

Emerging challenges in Indonesia and their impact on business with Australia (20 January 2016);

After the IABW 2015: Growing Australia’s business with Indonesia’s middle class (4 December 2015);

Maximising joint Australia-Indonesia opportunities to create competitive advantages & selling into third markets (17 November 2015);

Activating business as a constituency for the relationship means getting more Australian companies into the Indonesian market – not just exporting to it (7 September 2015);

Eating Friends: How Australian companies fared in ‘New Order’ Indonesia, 1990-97 (10 February 2015).

AFL Indonesia's Expats and Indonesians combine to take two men's and the first women's teams to Australian Rules Football's 2022 Asian Champs

2022-10-21T07:02:00.009+08:00

By Geoffrey Gold

“Erupt! Erupt! Erupt!” is the hot message coach Rick Olarenshaw is repeating to the three AFL Indonesia Volcanoes teams – two men’s and first-time women’s - representing Indonesia at the AFL Asia 'Asian Champs' in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday, 22 October.

The Asian Champs is Australian Rules Football’s premier regional event in Asia and was held annually between 1999 and 2019. After lockdown postponements in 2020 and 2021, this year’s carnival has attracted 21 teams from 11 countries.

Top: The AFL Indonesia Volcanoes (Men's) winners of the 2018 Asian Champs Division 1. Lower Left: The AFL Indonesia Volcanoes Men's team in 2022 in preparation for their first international game since the two-year lockdowns. Lower Right: The inaugural AFL Indonesia Volcanoes Women's team in 2022 in preparation for their first-ever international game.

The Volcanoes bring together the men’s and women’s playing squads of the senior Aussie Rules footy clubs in Jakarta, Bali and Balikpapan and includes more than 20 Indonesian players eligible to wear their country's Garuda indigenous guernsey at the 2024 AFL International Cup in Queensland.

Teams representing Indonesia have won the Asian Champs three times – 2000, 2002 and 2018 - and 2022 is looking good. “All of our teams will be chasing the same glory we achieved in 2018 when our men's team won the 1st division,” said Jakarta President Ben Giles. “We're all looking forward to pulling on the Volcanoes jumper once again!”

AFL Indonesia was established in June 2009 under the auspices of the Australian Football League, the world governing body for Australian Rules Football, by three Indonesian-based amateur clubs - the Jakarta Bintangs (formed 1995), Bali Geckos (f. 1996) and the Balikpapan Borneo Bears (f. 2008) - to nationally promote the playing of 'Aussie Rules' football in Indonesia. The Melbourne-based, multicultural, Krakatoas Football Club is an Australian-affiliate.

AFL Indonesia's junior development aims to raise awareness of the importance of health and nutrition through enjoying well-organised and mentored footy.

The national team, the AFL Indonesia Garudas, has since participated in the 2014 and 2017 AFL International Cups in Melbourne, Australia, and were the inaugural winners of the AFL Asia All-Asian Cup in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in October 2016.

20 Years Ago: A historic video prepared by the Jakarta Bintangs Football Club about their splendid 2002 season which included representing Indonesia and winning that year's Asian Champs, numerous inter-club matches, and insights into the club's junior development program with young Indonesians that has since become a national Aussie Rules legacy mission through AFL Indonesia.

The full Volcanoes squads for the 2022 Asian Champs are:

A-Grade Men's | Coach: Rick Olarenshaw

Bali Geckos: Alex Noles, Leigh Semmens, Braden White, Brodie Grumley, Bryce Critch, Damian Hoo, David Stanford, Gerard Oak, Glenn Fernee, Jack Ahearn©, Lachlan Langwell, Rory Callaghan, Tim Richter, Tim Schibli, Troy Luff

B-Grade Men's | Coach: Mat Jolly

Medi-sub A Grade

Bali Geckos: Cam Howell, Joshua Pasaribu, Rick Olarenshaw, Tim Tracy

Borneo Bears: Gilang, Timbul

Jakarta Bintangs: Mat Jolly

B-Grade Squad

Bali Geckos: Arn Susanto, Andrew Murdoch, Dirk the Diggler, Dominic Strambolini, Janu Arta, Jordan Grumley, Mark Eskridge, McCoy Turner, Nick Royan, Nyoman Sutena, Paulus Kupu, Putu Darmawan, Reuben Raymondo, Tony Camiller

Borneo Bears: Harry Commerford

Jakarta Bintangs: Ardiansyah Widiyanto, Johannes Vorfeld, Skyler Howeth, Adrian Skimming, Clarke Finn, Luke Nasir, Sam Shearer, Simon Murphy

Women's Squad | Coach: Tom Sullivan

Bali Geckos: Dawn Herring, Ananda Kurnia Fitri, Emma Urban, Henrietta Brouwer, Lauren Camilleri, Lindsay Oliver, Manon Janin, Miranda Semmens, Nora Yugueros, Rimma Robinzonovich, Sarah Stanford, Sophie Bennett, Summer Fernee, Nadzyra Calonius

Jakarta Bintangs: Alison Linforth, Alvina Gracia, Erin Dowle, Michelle Tallon, Prastika (Tika) Utami, Sophie/Ulrike Nitzschke, Yohana (Anna) Gebze, Alex Smith, Scarlett Molly Mathieson

AFL Indonesia pioneers local 'Aussie Rules' and expands the game in Asia (15 August 2013)

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Market knowledge key to building on Australia's Goulburn Valley's pear exports to Indonesia

2022-09-03T10:23:00.000+08:00

By Geoffrey Gold

A new Australian Pear Promotion Campaign under the branding “Grown in Good Nature” has been launched in Indonesia to build on the 1,000 tonnes of pears exported from Australia to Indonesia in 2021.

According to Ms Hannah Wade, agriculture-focused commissioner of the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) in Jakarta, “a range of premium quality fresh Australian pears which will be available now from August to October at retail stores across Indonesia. We think that the different taste profiles of the new varieties of pears like Rico, a red blush pear, will appeal to a broad range of consumers”.

New Australian Pear Promotion Campaign launch on 2 Sep 2022 at The Ayana MidPlaza Jakarta Hotel

Mr Ayub A Fina, Chair of Indonesia's fruit and vegetable importers association ASSIBISINDO, concurred. While Indonesia is a large and growing market for pears, it is competitive, he said, and the best opportunities for Australia are "(1) new red pear varieties, (2) Packham-branded promotions at modern retailers, and (3) instore merchandising and retailer support".

About 90% of Australia’s pears, and almost 50% of Australia’s apples, are grown in the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria, about 200 km north of Melbourne. Often referred to as Australia’s ‘Food Bowl’, the region is a major exporter of fruits, vegetables, dairy and processed foods.

“This region has just the right climatic conditions for producing sweet and firm pears,” explained Dr Irawan Budianto, Trade Director at the Victorian Government Trade and Investment Southeast Asia office in Jakarta, in a statement. ”We are delighted to be able to provide fresh pears direct from Victoria orchards to customers in Jakarta. The short shipping times from Australia to Indonesia means our pears get to market quickly and in top condition, ensuring consumers can enjoy them at their best”.

While major GV businesses have traded with Indonesia for decades, big investments in automation have increased the region’s production capacity at lower costs and focused attention on expanding exports to broader markets.

In March, a workshop on increasing trade with Indonesia was held in the region’s main city, Shepparton, by the Australia Indonesia Business Council (AIBC)’s Food & Agriculture Group in partnership with Global Victoria and the Consulate General of Indonesia in Melbourne. Subsequently the Greater Shepparton City Council has included Indonesia as a highlighted market in its International Engagement Strategy “to broaden exploration of trade opportunities from a previous emphasis on … predominately China”.

Greater Shepparton’s new mayor, Cr Shane Sali has welcomed more contact with Indonesia for new opportunities for regional businesses and industry groups.

Business seminars highlighting opportunities of the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

2022-05-17T16:12:00.004+08:00

The Australia Indonesia Business Council (AIBC) is conducting a series of industry-based workshops examining and responding to the 'Blueprint for Trade and Investment' (download here), a special report developed by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to provide practical advice to Australian businesses looking at new opportunities through the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IACEPA).

All events of the AIBC's “Indonesia: It’s Time To Take A Fresh Look” program are produced as a free in-person seminar in a state capital with free national streaming. Each feature sectoral business leaders and key government agencies from Australia and Indonesia:

The Blue Economy (Hobart and streaming), 18 May 2022 (1:30 pm - 3:45 pm) AEST / GMT+10

Energy and Resources Transition (Perth and streaming), 31 May 2022 (7:30 am - 9:15 am) AWST / GMT+8

Agriculture and Food (Melbourne and streaming), 15 June 2022 (2:00 pm - 4:00 pm) AEST / GMT+10

Education & Training (Darwin and streaming), 23 June 2022 (12:00 pm - 2:00 pm) ACST / GMT+9:30

Healthcare (Brisbane and streaming), 28 June 2022 (12:00 pm - 2:30 pm) AEST / GMT+10

Digital Economy (Sydney and streaming), 28 July 2022 (12:30 pm - 2:30 pm) AEST / GMT+10

Full details and free registration: https://www.aibc.com.au/events

#business #education #training #health #healthcare #training #education #digital #investment #trade #energy #minerals #food #agriculture #economy #indonesia #australia #internationaltrade #foreigndirectinvestment #austrade

Bersiap: a shared history of mass violence that haunts Indonesia and the Netherlands

2022-03-22T11:57:00.001+08:00

From 'Memories of Camp Barongan' by Han Mouthaan, www.theindoproject.org

By Ariel Heryanto, Monash University

A recently opened exhibition on the Indonesian Revolution at the Dutch Royal Museum (Rijksmuseum) in Amsterdam could represent another step towards enhancing friendship between two former foes.

The Indonesian government lent support with loans of materials for display, while the museum invited two Indonesians to join the team of four curators.

Alas, before it even opened, the exhibition suffered a backlash. The curators faced two opposing legal complaints in the Netherlands.

The incident was sparked by debate over the use of the word “Bersiap”, following a strong objection from one of the Indonesian curators – historian Bonnie Triyana – via an opinion article that appeared in the local press.

Bersiap (literally “get ready”) is commonly used with a narrow political sense, referring to “anti-colonial” mass violence inflicted by the colonised against Dutch colonisers and their assumed allies.

Indonesians during the country’s revolutionary period in the 1940s. (Wikimedia Commons), CC BY

Adopting a similarly narrow sense, Bonnie argues that the use of the word is racist. However, with detailed evidence, other historians show such a narrow view of Bersiap is deeply problematic.

Although, the Dutch public prosecutors dismissed all the legal complaints last week, the incident demonstrates how major violence in the past continues to haunt the two nations. It can neither be completely erased from public memory, nor discussed openly without stirring emotional reactions.

Bersiap: a complex and muddled history

Key to understanding the protracted problem is examining a powerful but dangerous dichotomy that paints the Indonesian-Dutch history as “good versus evil” or “us versus them”.

The dichotomy oversimplifies the period of chaos and violence between the end of the Japanese occupation (1945) and the establishment of social order in independent Indonesia (1950). It erases important events and people in this period that do not fit either of the two opposing categories.

A troop of Dutch East Indies soldiers in Melbourne, April 17 1943. When Japan occupied the East Indies (what is now Indonesia), the East Indies authorities continued their governance efforts in exile in Australia. Argus/State Library of Victoria

One of the clearest examples of this problem is the fate of Eurasians (children of mixed European-local parents), often called Indo in Indonesia and Indisch in the Netherlands. This community was a primary target of the violence of Bersiap, yet are often forgotten amid the Indonesian-Dutch blame game.

To this day, such a remarkably strong nationalist sentiment prevails in Indonesia.

In reality, the perpetrators of Bersiap, along with their motives and victims, are diverse and not always easily identified.

In addition to political acts, there appears to be a mix of many things: racial hatred, sexual violence, looting of valuable items, along with social and class tensions, instead of purely political or racial sentiment.

Most accounts of the incident identify “Indo” as the main targets of Bersiap. Others suggest the number of victims among local Indonesians might be greater.

As in other contested politics, there are open-minded Indonesian and Dutch citizens who are aware that human history is never a caricature of good and evil. However, as with most controversies around the world, those with extreme views often dominate the public debate.

The Dutch public is also diverse in its responses to the Bersiap controversy. Yet such diversity of views often gets lost in most Indonesian media reports and the discussion they generate.

A group of Sundanese-Indonesians are deported to Yogyakarta during the tumultuous period. (Wikimedia Commons), CC BY

Bersiap is only part of a bigger story of mass violence during the 1940s. The latter itself is part of a bigger story of centuries-old colonialism and decolonialisation.

What makes Bersiap slightly distinct is its absence in the official histories of both the Netherlands and Indonesia.

Diverse Indo communities

As long as the dichotomy of Indonesia/Netherlands dominates public discussion, the Indo people will once again become victims.

Their distinct identities of being in-between, as well as partially both Indonesian and Dutch, are either erased or oversimplified and misrepresented.

The Indo community has always been politically and culturally diverse in orientation.

The mass violence in the 1940s dispersed them globally and made their sense of identity even more diffuse.

Despite such diversity, memories of Bersiap remain one of their painful but unifying points of reference and sources of identity. This is in addition to their nostalgic memory of the good old days (dubbed “Tempo Doeloe”) in the Dutch East Indies.

The cover of a newsletter by a group of Indos in Melbourne, Australia. (Author provided)

Fleeing from Indonesia during Bersiap, about 300,000 people with “European” status, mostly Indos, sought refuge in the Netherlands. Some remained in Indonesia either by their own free will or lack thereof.

Those landing in the Netherlands did not feel warmly welcome. They and their descendants were neither “Indonesian” nor accepted as “adequately” Dutch. Later, some of them migrated to the United States (US) and Australia.

Neither the Netherlands nor Indonesia has managed very well to get rid of the colonial legacies of racial politics and the modern fantasy of ethnic or racial “purity” and “authenticity”.

In Indonesia, nationalist nativism renders Indos as categorically “Dutch”. Within the widely held dichotomy of “us/them”, they are seen as belonging to the coloniser camp.

Individual Indos appear in public life in Indonesia in various fields, although they are most prominent in the advertising and entertainment industry.

Apparently, however, they are not formally organised, unlike those in the Netherlands, the US or Australia. Also in contrast to Chinese, Indian or Arab ethnic communities in Indonesia and neighbouring countries, Indonesian Indos do not hold public events or celebrate their distinct cultures.

From interviews with some Indonesian Indos before the pandemic, I get the impression that the trauma of Bersiap, plus a nationalist militancy in the country, make it nearly impossible for them to do much about their history and cultural heritage. I sense a kind of resignation as most of their children and grandchildren have neither the knowledge nor curiosity about their past.

Lessons for the next generation

Every nation has its own dark past, and their younger generation must bear the consequences.

Only some nations have boldly made attempts to look back and start learning to come to terms with such pasts. Despite the pain and noise it has caused, the Netherlands has taken overdue steps to confront its past wrongdoings. The world is watching.

Hopefully, important lessons will be learned from the Netherlands’ endeavours, its challenges and achievements.

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Ariel Heryanto, Professor emeritus, Monash University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Sad death of Indonesian basketball star Jacklien Ibo who had won the hearts of Australians in sports diplomacy

2022-03-17T04:50:00.001+08:00

Instagram Jeckliniboo

Very sad sports news has been received from Indonesia that former National and Papua province women’s basketball team member Jacklien Ibo died today at the age of 32 years. According to media reports, the popular 177 cm tall athlete from Sentani suffered from pneumonia for the past year and, due to limited funds, was treated at home. A widow, Jacklien was looking after her three-year-old child.

Jacklien was a member of the Papua Women’s U23 Basketball squad that was brought to Melbourne in May 2008 by Geoffrey Gold's Sports Dynamics for a two-week intensive training program mandated by KONI Papua after they had qualified for the Indonesian National Games (PON).

The 'Papuan Angels' billeted with families of the Diamond Valley Basketball Association, trained under the direction of Basketball Victoria and played friendlies against the Maribyrnong Secondary College, Box Hill Senior Secondary College and the Diamond Valley U16 girls’ team.

As part of their program, they were introduced to Melbourne's love of sports: they met professional basketball players of the NBL's South Dragons and WNBL's Dandenong Stingrays, were guests of the AFL at the Australian Rules Football 'Dreamtime at the MCG' where they met Aboriginal footballers from all around Australia, and they attended the A-League's Melbourne Victory's friendly game against Italian club Juventus at the Dockland Stadium.

The leader of the accompanying Papuan officials, Mr John Ibo - concurrently a basketball dad, head of Basketball Papua, and Speaker of the Papua Provincial Parliament - and the representative of KONI Papua, Mr Henk Rumbewas were received by both the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in the Victorian Parliament, Ms Jenny Lindell, and Cr Carl Jetter representing the Lord Mayor of Melbourne.

Jacklien and her teammates won the hearts of all the Australians they met, through their deportment as ambassadors of their country and province, and their deep passion for basketball which they played with stirring physicality.

On their return to Indonesia and their participation in the PON tournament in Samarinda, the Papuans won the silver medal in the final against the home side, East Kalimantan.

Jacklin stood out in talent, personality and aptitude. Her later achievements included being voted Most Valuable Player in the WNBL in 2012 and winning a silver medal for Indonesia in the 2015 SEA Games.

Rest in Peace young Jacklien. Papua's famous #12.

'Zero Point' of Indonesia's new Capital City Territory called Nusantara

2022-03-15T04:46:00.002+08:00

This marks "Titik Nol IKN Nusantara" - or 'Zero Point' of Indonesia's new Capital City Territory called Nusantara - where representatives of all 34 provinces have brought symbols of land and water from their regions, marking a milestone in the development of this big national goal.

It is anticipated that the presidential palace, legislative buildings and key national government departments will be opened in the new capital, to be built within East Kalimantan province on Borneo Island, sometime before the next presidential handover in 2024.

During his historic pre-pandemic visit to Australia to address Australia's federal parliament in February 2020, Indonesia's President Jokowi visited sites around Canberra to get a vista of the Australian Capital Territory's creation in 1908, its opening in 1927 and its development over the next five decades.

Is any Australian expertise involved in Nusantara, Indonesia's own 'bush capital', being designed as a Smart Green City of the Jungle?

https://twitter.com/jokowi/status/1503305479157559297