Indonesia’s Role in the Region – An Australian Perspective

Abstract

The public rhetoric of the Abbott government suggests that Australia is presently comfortable with Indonesia’s rise, with the prime minister commenting in positive terms that “Indonesia is an incredibly important country to Australia given its proximity, its size and its potential.” In recent times, Abbott has welcomed the “wave of confidence and renewal sweeping Indonesia” with the hope that the country under Joko Widodo whom Abbott praised as a “charismatic and inspirational figure” will allow Australia “opportunities to take part in the renewal and the reinvigoration of this important neighbour and partner.” Such comfort stems in part from the relatively smooth and bloodless transfer of power from Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) to Jokowi despite the protestations of the defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto – signalling that Indonesia has become a significantly different country to what it was under Sukarno. Even so, Australia is well aware that Indonesia’s democratic transition is far from irreversible or permanent and that the future political direction of Indonesia is not assured or set in stone. In reality, Australia’s current comfort with Indonesia’s rise is also largely based on Canberra’s assessment that the preferred ‘Goldilocks’ point has been reached for the foreseeable future – that Indonesia is neither too strong to threaten Australia’s strategic interests nor too weak or divided a country to pose headaches for Canberra.