"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)
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.
- 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#