Australia-Indonesia relations Totally Explained

Everything about Australia-indonesia Relations totally explained

Australian-Indonesian relations are characterised by their geographically close locations, and a wide ranging political, security, commercial, cultural and people-to-people links. Since Indonesian independence, the two countries have maintained mutual diplomatic relations, formalised co-operation (especially in the fields of fisheries conservation, law enforcement, and justice cooperation), a measure of security co-operation, broadening treaty relationships, co-membership of regional forums, and co-participation in several multilateral Treaties of significance. Both countries are Member States of the United Nations.
   The two nations differ in terms of religion and language: Indonesia is a largely Muslim country, whereas Australia possesses an Anglo-Saxon culture with a Judeo-Christian heritage. Both countries have good relations with the US Government, although Indonesia doesn't maintain a free trade agreement with the US or an ANZUS style security treaty. Recent years have seen a deepening of Australia's aid commitment to Indonesia, and Australia has become a popular venue for Indonesian students.
   Australia underwent a military confrontation with Indonesian during the Konfrontasi campaign (1965 - 1966) in Malaya. Pro-independence sentiment in Papua and East Timor has for decades been a source of diplomatic tensions between the two countries, as was East Timor's subsequent vote in favour of independence from Indonesia in 1999).
   Since 2002 a number of Islamist-inspired terrorist attacks in Indonesia have been directed at Western interests including the Australian embassy in Jakarta and the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings, which killed a total of 92 Australian nationals. Indonesian diplomatic and consular premises in Australia received a number of hoax and threat messages in 2005. Both the United States and Australian governments have issued warnings against travel to Indonesia, advising their citizens of a continued risk of attacks.

Public opinion

The proportion of those voters mentioning Indonesia as a threat reached one in five after the Dili massacre of 1991 and increased to three in ten after the atrocities in East Timor following its 1999 independence referendum. In 2004, a Australian Strategic Policy Institute survey showed 29% of those polled identified Indonesia as 'most likely' to pose a threat to Australia in the future, a slight decline from the figure of 31% recorded in 2001. In all surveyed periods, Indonesia was unambiguously recognised as the country representing the most likely threat to Australia.
In April 2004, Imran Cotan, the Indonesian ambassador to Australia expressed that while helping his country's Foreign Affairs Ministry assess applicants for diplomatic positions 'it emerged that 95% of the 6000 aspirants held anti-Australian views'.

History

Indonesian National Revolution

On 17 August 1945, Indonesian nationalist leaders Sukarno and Mohammed Hatta proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Indonesia. Australia cautiously withheld de facto regonition of the Republic until 9 July 1947, and then only over the regions of Java, Sumatra, and Madura Following frustrations over negotiations with Indonesian republicans, the Netherlands launched a major military offensive in Java and Sumatra on 20 July 1947. From that point and until Netherlands recognition of Indonesian independence in December 1949, Australian waterside workers banned Dutch vessels and vessels taking munitions and equipment to the Netherlands East Indies. On 30 July 1947 Australia referred the conflict to the United Nations Security Council naming the Netherlands as the violators of the peace. Later, Australia raised the matter of Indonesia's decolonisation in United Nations. On 1 August 1947 the UN Security Council ordered a cease-fire and established a committee to broker a truce and a renewal of negotiations. The Indonesian Republic nominated Australia to sit on that committee. The committee produced the Renville Truce Agreement of January 1948. The Dutch launched a second major military offensive, occupying Republican territory in Java. Following a Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference from August to November 1949, Republic of Indonesia sovereignty over Indonesia was officially recognised in December 1949.

The Sukarno era

The Menzies Government in Australia held strong reservations about Sukarno's flirtation with the Indonesian Communist Party continuing through to 1965.
In 1962, Sukarno and his communist allies began a propaganda campaign to seize Irian Barat. The Australian Joint Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs took the view that it was important that such a campaign should fail. However, the territory was transferred to Indonesia in 1963 and voted for its incorporation as such in 1969.
Australia victoriously conducted warfare in aid of Malaysia against Indonesia at the time of the Konfrontasi from January 1963 until August 1966. Australian forces in Sarawak were deployed across the border into Indonesia to ambush patrols moving towards Malaysian. Operation CLARET repeatedly annihilated the units conducting those patrols and prevented others from crossing such that Indonesia was humiliated into accepting the sovereignty of Malaysia in those areas it had coveted. Even during the course of the Indonesian defeat a number of Indonesian army officers were still receiving their military education in Australia.

The Suharto era and East Timor

On 11 March 1966, Suharto was installed as Indonesia's Acting President and then made President in March 1968. Robust anti-communism characterised his administration through until his resignation in 1998, and that proved to be a point of common cause with successive Australian administrations.
East Timor has been a central issue in Australian-Indonesian relations since the time of the territory's decolonisation from Portugal and its subsequent invasion and annexation by Indonesia in the mid-1970s. On 16 October 1975 at Balibo, Portuguese Timor, members of the invading Indonesian military murdered five Australian journalists who had been reporting events in the build up to Operasi Seroja. The circumstances of their executions is a matter of current coronial investigation in New South Wales, Australia. Prime Minister Whitlam made assurances of Australian non-intervention, and even encouraged the Indonesia action to take over East Timor in 1975. Subsequent killings and famine eliminated one-third, or 200000, of the territory's population. In subsequent years Australia became the only foreign government to afford complete recognition of the incorporation, even representing Indonesia's case in that regard to the UN.
Relations between the two countries reached one of their lowest points at the time of East Timor's secession from Indonesia in 1999. Following a United Nations agreement between Indonesia, Portugal and the United States, a UN-supervised popular referendum choosing between autonomy within Indonesia and full independence, was held on August 30 1999. The people of East Timor overwhelmingly voted for independence. An Australian-led and Indonesian-sanctioned peacekeeping force, INTERFET, was sent into the territory to restore order following a violent 'scorched-earth' policy carried out by pro-integration militia and supported by elements of the Indonesian military (see History of East Timor). International moral opinion forced Indonesia to withdraw tacit support, the militias dispersed. INTERFET was replaced by a UN force of International Police, the mission became known as UNTAET, and the UNTAET Crime Scene Detachment was formed to investigate alleged atrocities.

High-level visits and meetings

Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies visited Indonesia in 1959.
Australian foreign minister Paul Hasluck visited Indonesia to meet Suharto three times between August 1966 and January 1968, before Suharto's formal appointment as acting President. Suharto visited Australia in 1972 and met Prime Minister William McMahon.
Prime Minister Gough Whitlam has met Indonesian President Suharto at Central Java in 1974 on the occasion when he described East Timor as 'too small to be independent' and urged the Indonesian invasion of that country. The leaders again met at Townsville in 1975. Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser met Suharto in October 1976. Fraser offered de facto recognition of the Indonesian annexation of East Timor, which was followed by de jure recognition in 1979 Visits between Prime Minister Paul Keating and Suharto were exchanged in the 1990s. In 1994, Keating went as far as to declare that:

"No country is more important to Australia than Indonesia. If we fail to get this relationship right, and nurture and develop it, the whole web of our foreign relations is incomplete [and] ... the emergence of the New Order government of President Suharto, and the stability and prosperity which [it] has brought to [Indonesia] was the single most beneficial strategic development to have affected Australia and its region in the past thirty years".

President Yudhoyono visited Australia in April 2005.
   The Eighth Australia-Indonesia Ministerial Forum (AIMF) was held in Bali on 29 June 2006 and was attended by five Australian and eleven Indonesian ministers. A key outcome was support for the conclusion of a security agreement, later realised as the Lombok Agreement, to provide a framework for the development of the security relationship by the end of 2006. The AIMF, established in 1992, provides an important platform for the expansion of bilateral ties. Representatives of the Australian and Indonesian business communities also held a dialogue with ministers.
   The Sixth Australia-Indonesia Trade Ministers’ Meeting (TMM) was held in Canberra on 10 August 2006. The meeting focused on reviewing implementation of the Trade and Investment Framework. An inaugural Policy Dialogue was held concurrently with the Meeting to provide an opportunity for officials to meet with the business community to exchange views on business climate issues in both countries.
   Australia-Indonesia-East Timor Trilateral Ministerial Meetings have occurred three times to September 2006.

Contemporary relations

In January 2005, Prime Minister Howard and President Yudhoyono announced the formation of the Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development (AIPRD) under which Australia will contribute $1 billion over five years towards reconstruction and development in Aceh and elsewhere in Indonesia. All funds have now been allocated to projects.
   Finally, the relationship is characterised by people-to-people and commercial links. Over 16,000 Indonesian students were enrolled to study in Australia in 2005, some 400 Australian firms are operating in Indonesia and merchandise trade between Australia and Indonesia was valued at A$8.5 billion in 2005-06, making Indonesia Australia's 13th largest merchandise trading partner. Australia has programs of cooperation with Indonesia in the fields of counter-terrorism and combating people-smuggling.
The current travel advisory suggests travellers Australia travellers to reconsider the need to visit Indonesia because of the 'very high threat of terrorist attack', threat of kidnap, violence against the Australian Embassy, suicide attacks that have been known to target great numbers of Australians, a continuing 'stream of reporting indicating that terrorists are in the advanced stages of planning attacks', and that 'terrorist attacks could occur at any time, anywhere in Indonesia in particular targeting places visited by foreigners.'
   Both nations are members of APEC and the East Asia Summit.
   A total of 92 Australians died as a result of the Bali bombings in 2002 and 2005 in Indonesia. As of February 2007, Australian Government travel advisories suggest Australians 'reconsider their need to travel to Indonesia' due to the 'very high threat of terrorist attack'.

The Strategic Relationship

Indonesia's strategic significance to Australia is revealed by the circumstance that 60% of Australia's exports pass by its Northern approaches.Indonesia is also the most populous country neighbouring Australia, and is nearer by landfall to Australia than all countries excluding Papua New Guinea. Ahead of Indonesia, Australia's favoured trading partners include China, Japan, the US, New Zealand, South Korea, the UK, Taiwan, Singapore, and India.
The significance of Australia to Indonesia is firstly demonstrated by the existence of a maritime boundary between the two countries. Both countries have been concerned to definitively delimit that boundary for the purpose of protecting fisheries from encroachment, and determining the limits of responsibility for vessels found in that area. The significance of Australia to Indonesia is less than that of its ASEAN co-members, particularly its close neighbours in the Philippines and Malaysia. Indonesia's highest trade volumes are with Japan, the USA, Singapore, Germany and Saudi Arabia.

Defence cooperation

Under the Australian-Indonesian Defence Cooperation Program in place since 1995, the two governments have exchanged sensitive intelligence information and conducted exercises involving elite and special forces troops. Those ties were severed from Australia's involvement in the reconstruction of East Timor in 1999.
In 2003 Australia extended an invitation to resume but Indonesia refused Australian demands to exclude the participations of those of their soldiers bearing responsibility for human rights abuses.

Australian aid to Indonesia

In some areas, like education, development aid to Indonesia traces back to the early 1950s commencing with scholarships funded through the Colombo Plan.
   Under the Australia-Indonesia Partnership (AIP), which includes the $AUD1 billion committed by Australia following the Indian Ocean tsunami, Australia is providing funds to help rebuild communities in Aceh and in other disaster affected areas, and to promote economic growth across Indonesia. Combined with the pre-existing Australia-to-Indonesia program it boosts the value of the Australia-to-Indonesia aid over a five year period from 2005 to $AUD2 billion^{(figure includes at least $AUD500 million in concessional loans)}
   The AIP is governed by a Joint Commission, overseen by the Prime Minister of Australia and the President of Indonesia.
   Australia's aid program for Indonesia (including AIP) in 2006/7 amounts to a commitment of $AUD344.3 million.
   Some examples of the assistance given or to be given (all figures $AUD):

$50 million for restoration of services in ACEH
600 scholarships
$10 million for emergency response capacity building
$50 million for 'government-to-government partnerships'
$328 million loans/grants for road improvement
$300 million loans/grants for school construction and rehabilitation

Cultural ties

With the exception of participations in the Arafura Games, sporting ties are not significant. No Indonesian athlete or sporting team has achieved a high profile by visiting Australia. Popular Australian sports such as rugby, cricket, Australian rules football, swimming and netball raise little interest in Indonesia. Both countries maintain professional Football (soccer) leagues: see Liga Indonesia and A-league. The two leading teams from the Australian A-League and the champions of the Indonesian Liga compete in the Asian Champions League.
Since 1989, an Australia-Indonesia institute has funded youth exchanges, journalist fellowships, and artistic residences in Indonesia.

History of diplomatic and treaty relations

The two countries have maintained unbroken diplomatic relations since Indonesia's emergence as an independent state in 1949. At times, such as 1970-1972, most favoured nation trading terms have been allowed to lapse. The table below summarises the course of bilateral treaty relations, significant multilateral treaties of which one or both nations were party, and other noteworthy diplomatic events:

Date	Subject	Comments
1951	Refugee Rights	145 countries sign the UNHCR Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Australia signs. Indonesia declines.
1959	Trade	Afforded bilateral most favoured nation status in respect of trade and tariffs It was extended on a year-by-year basis beyond 1972 with a lapse in the period 1970-1972.
1959	Trade	Afforded bilateral most favoured nation status in respect of trade and tariffs It was extended on a year-by-year basis beyond 1972 with a lapse in the period 1970-1972.
1964	War Cemeteries	Grants two cemeteries in Indonesia for the graves of World War II veterans from Commonwealth countries
1967	ASEAN	Indonesia, a founding member. Amity and cooperation among nations in Southeast Asia
1968	Cultural Agreement	Voicing aspirations about fostering mutual language and cultural understanding through education. Vague and broad
1969	Air Services	Facilitation agreement
1973	Borobudur	Australia contributed one million dollars the preservation of the temple situated there
1973	Seabed Boundaries	For an area in the Arafura Sea from west of Cape York to a point South of West Timor, excluding points South of Portuguese Timor. Entry into force of two prior agreements
1974	PNG/Indonesia Boundary	Superseded an 1865 Agreement between Great Britain and the Netherlands. Followed up on the work of a Joint Survey in 1970. A further 1974 Agreement confirmed border policing arrangements including a measure of toleration for cross-border movements with 'customary and traditional purposes'
1976	ASEAN	Treaty of Amity and Cooperation among Southeast Asian nations. Australiaexcluded Both countries are now part of the ASEAN Regional Forum, and Australia has in more recent years been invited into numerous ASEAN Treaties.
1981	Fisheries Surveillance	Created a provisional 'Surveillance and Enforcement Line'
1991	Timor Gap	Provides for a 'zone of co-operation' in an area between Timor and Northern Australia, with a 'Joint Authority' responsible to the Ministerial Council for the zone until 2031. Contemplates joint exploration and exploitation of the petroleum resources on the continental shelf in the area between the two regions
1991	Cambodia Conflict	Provides for a 'Comprehensive Political Settlement' of the conflict. Both countries party In 1992-3, both countries collaborated with the involvement of military personnel comprising the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia.
1992	Taxation	Provides for the avoidance of double taxation on income tax, and co-operation to prevent fiscal evasion
1993	Fisheries Cooperation	Acknowledged certain boundaries as 'yet to be established'. Described the 1981 fisheries line as 'of provisional status'. Recalled the 1974 Understanding and 1989 Guidelines about the operation of Indonesian traditional fishermen. Enjoined cooperation on fisheries research
1993	Copyright	Reciprocal protection and enforcement of copyright, mutual admissions as most favoured nations in that regard
1995	World Trade Organisation	Both countries members. Prior trade agreements superseded
1995	Extradition	Double criminality required for extradition. Broad range of extradition crimes, excluding 'political crimes' except attempt attempted murder of a Head of State
1996	Nuclear Test Ban	Both countries members of the Disarmament Conference and parties
1996	'Agreement on Maintaining Security'	Bilateral. Provides for regular consultations at Ministerial level on 'matters affecting ... common security', and 'consult[ation] in the case of adverse challenges to either [country] or to their common security interests' as well as 'agree[ing] to promote ... mutually beneficial cooperative activities in the security field'
1996	Scientific Research and Technological Development	Provides for future cooperative activities. Each country to nominate an executive officer to responsible for coordination and facilitation of those activities
1997	Nuclear Science and Technology Cooperation	Each country identifies as a 'non-nuclear weapon State'. Enjoined 'cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy for social and economic development'
1997	Seabed Boundaries	Delimits boundaries with respect to Christmas Island/Java, deprovisionalises 1981 fisheries line. Completes the delimitation of the maritime boundary
1999	Mutual Assistance on Criminal Matters	Specifically addresses international drug trafficking and money laundering. Obliges both countries to mutually assist 'in the investigation and prosecution of serious crime'. Assistance is excluded in respect of political or military offences, attempts at racial etc. persecution, and offences not categorically excluding administration of the death penalty. Through this the Australian Federal Police and Indonesian Police co-operated to expose the Bali Nine drug trafficking syndicate and to investigate the 2002 Bali Bombing
1999	Development Cooperation	The focus of this was the sending of missions to Indonesia in respect of development projects, and the granting of professional study and training for Indonesians to study in Australia. No mention of reciprocated assistance from Indonesia
2005	Kyoto Protocol	Commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions trading regime. Australia signed and declined to ratify. Indonesia signed and ratified
2005	Amity and Cooperation with ASEAN	Australia a party. Pledge of nonaggression incorporating both countries Both countries are inaugural members of the East Asia Summit.
2006	Framework for Security Cooperation	Signed at Lombok, not yet in force pending ratification. Establishes a bilateral consultative mechanism. Scope of cooperation includes defence, law enforcement, counter-terrorism, intelligence, maritime security, aviation safety, WMD non-proliferation, and 'bilateral nuclear cooperation for peaceful purposes. Reiterated mutual respect for areas of sovereignty and territorial integrity

There is no existing protocol for prisoner transfer. Authorities in both countries have expressed the desire to seal such an agreement as a matter of priority to facilitate the repatriation of prisoners of either nationality residing in the others' jails.

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