For those interested in the recent
diplomatic fracas between Australia and Indonesia I would like to offer some
perspective.
I was a youth ambassador to
Indonesia with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade AIYEP program during
the twilight years of the Suharto regime. One of the most important things
learned through that experience was the high value placed by Javanese society on
the concept of gotong royong. Indonesia’s civic values come from the reality of
village life – everyone is interdependent and everyone has to get along. Gotong
royong means coming a decision through respectful dialogue with the aim of
reaching the broadest possible consensus. The final decision may be made by the
village head (Pak Raja) and there may be strong disagreements along the way,
but once the decision is made everyone is expected to fall into line and get
along. It is rather different from the adversarial approach which developed in
the West as a way of mediating unresolvable conflicts between the monarchy, the
Parliament, and the different orders of society.
Under Suharto gotong royong was
used in a perverse way to stifle dissent (as I am sure the occasional Pak Raja
has done too) but although Indonesia is now a democracy gotong royong remains a core value of the society.
Indonesia doesn’t really care how
rude Australians are to one-another. Westerners can’t be expected to behave
properly, but Indonesia does expect maturity in international relations – which
is why you can’t announce that you are going to “turn the boats around” if the
country you are sending them back to hasn’t been part of that discussion as an
equal partner.
Abbott is the antithesis of gotong
royong. Indonesia had already rebuffed him over boat people. Revelations of
phone tapping simply added injury to insult. So what does SBY gain from ramping
up the rhetoric? After-all, the relationship is worth half a billion dollars in
aid money to Indonesia each year alone.
Well, actually SBY gains a lot. ASEAN
countries correctly perceive Australia as North America’s lap dog in Asia.
Indonesia is the world’s biggest Muslim country. By humbling America’s lap dog
in Asia Indonesia gains status within ASEAN. It says “we are here, we matter,
we are a player”. It sends a message to both Australia and the US that
Indonesia will not be dictated to. It also sends an important message to
Australia: “We matter. You may be Europeans in Asia but you are in Asia and you
must do things the Asian way. There is a big country to your North and you need
to consider it carefully.” There is also another, perhaps unintended message:
“you just elected an amateur for PM.”
In the nearly 20 years since I was
in Indonesia Australia’s understanding of that country has grown little. Doubtless
many Indonesian villagers still get their perception of Westerners from C grade
American television from which they learn that we are all rich, greedy and
promiscuous. However the Indonesian elite have grown to understand Australian
society very well, mostly by virtue of living and studying here, but also
through trade and diplomatic ties, and cultural exchange. They know our
pressure points.
Eventually we will return to a
reasonable dialogue, and we will all, like squabbling villagers, get busy
getting along. SBY will emerge as the Pak Raja who brought the consensus about.
Abbott will look foolish even though the spy scandal was none of his making.
In the longer term Indonesia
appears to be embarking on a policy of military and diplomatic containment of
its troublesome southern neighbour – but first it has to contain Abbott.
