West meets East: resolving conflict by understanding thy neighbour

In what appears to be a climate of increasing religious extremism and transnational crime, there is a renewed interest in understanding the importance of cultural sensitivity in international affairs. Not only is there interest among politicians and law-makers, but also within government organisations, businesses, pedagogical institutions and the general community. 

An understanding of cultural and social nuance plays a critical role in maintaining regional stability; especially so if factors such as civil unrest, human rights violations, and ethnic conflict exist. While this sentiment makes sense, it appears there is nonetheless a divide between the way conflict is perceived by commentators from the country in which it takes place, compared to the perception of external commentators. This is clear in the case of Indonesia, where ethnic conflict throughout the archipelago is understood differently by Indonesian commentators than to Western conflict scholars and international relations theorists external to Indonesia. Politicians, Defence Ministers and strategic thinkers may perhaps wonder if tying Indonesia into an 'arc of instability' isn't the best approach to conflict resolution in the region, after all?

Instead, understanding the way Indonesian commentators view ethnic conflict in their own country provides a deeper and more culturally nuanced understanding of conflict situations in Indonesia. This will better inform non-Indonesian commentators on how to frame approaches thereto.

From a preliminary reading of Indonesian language commentary (that ordinarily wouldn't/couldn't be included in the dominant narrative for various reasons), it seems that an Indonesian point of view sees ethnicity, in many instances, as a superficial cause of 'ethnic' conflict. In fact, there are a number of other catalysts that play a much larger and more significant role as catalysts to ethnic conflict than ethnicity does. Political and economic issues - problems of representation - where the fiscal or legal rights of groups of people are transgressed, appear to be the main causes of ethnic conflict manifest throughout Indonesian commentary.

What does this mean - for the conversation on today's climate of religious extremism and transnational crime? For understanding and preempting terrorist organisations such as ISIS and how/why they take root in countries such as Indonesia? For creating a practical approach to meaningful dialogue with our neighbour? 

These questions require us to understand our neighbour; a place where the West meets the East. 

Are We Letting Terror Take Hold?

Greg Curtain in his article entitled Media, not the judicial system, to blame for soft-on-crime view quotes George Orwell reflecting on how "murders reported in the mass media had certain dramatic and tragic qualities that made them memorable and newsworthy". In this way it's not surprising that various studies such as that by the Australian Psychological Society and the Australian Institute of Criminology report that while official crime statistics show most crimes are non-violent, media reports often suggest the opposite and sensationalise the truth. While it may be no surprise that things in the media are not really as bad as they seem, an article written recently commemorating the 09 September 2004 bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta reminds us not of the threat of terrorism we are told is imminent, but that it is important to take a reality check, and to seek effective and meaningful courses of action against the root causes of our fears.  

A story of violence, suffering, determination and unthinkable forgiveness was published recently by the Adelaide Independent news website "In Daily". It was called Bomb Survivor Fights Terror With Humanity and what may be even more remarkable than the powerful story of Sudirman Thalib and his willingness to forgive those who terrorise - those who bombed the Australian embassy in Jakarta ten years ago this month - is the fact this story was published at all, considering the demand for news of the terrible, the horrific, the terrifying and the unrelenting; crimes that force you to reconsider your need to leave the house. Sudirman's story by no means is a bed time tale, in fact he describes looking around him after the bomb went off, seeing people near him dead on the ground and thinking that he himself would die there too. What is extraordinary is that this is not a story to make you fear strangers and public places, instead it illuminates another approach to solving conflict - through compassion, understanding and humanity. It is an article which presents a solution - albeit at the micro level - to what would seem an intractable problem of world wide terrorism.

As a supply and demand industry, perhaps the media is not to blame for the atmosphere of fear - the constant terror, violence and crime updates on the news. Maybe we want to hear stories of intractable conflict, of martyrs and victims - surely it only sells because we buy it?

Does this mean we are responsible for what we read in the news? If this is the case - does this mean we are letting terror take hold?  

Rethinking Australia’s Indonesia Policy to Build Real Relations

"INDONESIA looms as the most important strategic reality in Australian defence thinking. We forget that fact when relations between Canberra and Jakarta are broadly positive." 

Peter Jennings (2013)

Executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Peter Jennings in his October 2013 article in the Australian explained why we need deeper ties with Indonesia, since the past decade of Indonesia's development has been a "quiet success story", having enjoyed "solid economic growth, managed a remarkable transition to being a stable democracy and kept under control the potential destabilising threat of jihadist terrorism." While various Indonesian scholars debate this sentiment and instead suggest that issues of violence and conflict in the archipelago are far from quiet, Jennings' article works to raise the point that while Indonesia may appear to be the stable democracy it wants to be, there are still fundamental problems in Indonesian society which need to be addressed before good relations can be built. The main issues Jennings sees as driving a wedge between Australia and Indonesia are that of Papuan independence and a perception of Canberra's wish to stop Papua being incorporated into Indonesia; the need to collaborate on the strategic level jihadist terrorist threat to prevent similar violent events as what occurred in 2002 and 2005 in Bali; and thirdly, cooperation on the 'boatpeople' issue. These three issues are all to do with mutual perception and the need for closer interaction, but do not scrape the surface of the socio-political issues that cause conflict in Indonesia.
Prime Minister Abbott has announced his intent to focus on the development of strong economic and business relations with Indonesia as a consequence of believing Australia has historically underinvested in building and maintaining close ties. Calls for strong business, economic and defence links will only scrape the surface of relationship issues between Australia and Indonesia; what is needed is a deep and honest ambition to understand one another as neighbours and not just work-mates. Such an understanding needs to be garnered at a levels across the socio-political spectrum so that Australians and the broader international community alike have access to the ground truth of the environment breaching language, cultural and religious barriers to address the underlying issues, rather than focusing on the tip of the iceberg at the policy level. A deeper understanding of Indonesian society and its issues is critical because these factors make up the rest of the iceberg that inevitably sinks the ship of harmonious inter-governmental interaction.

1. Jennings, P., (2013), "Why we need deeper ties with Indonesia", The Australian, accessed online on 16 May 14 at http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/why-we-need-deeper-ties-with-indonesia/story-e6frgd0x-1226730270637#