My next door neighbours
who went to live overseas last month were nice people.
They had lived next door
to us for many years and we knew them quite well. Or sort-of ‘quite well’ that
is.
We would meet at the
front of the house when watering the garden or moving the cars, and always it
was pleasant and cordial. We were on first-names basis, but that was it really.
And as we look back,
only now I realise that maybe we didn’t have a relationship that was deeper and
more embracing of really nice people. Don’t get me wrong; we did get on just
fine, but it was that after exchanging pleasantries were seemed to move-on with
our own lives without building on the genuine warmth we felt towards each
other.
Australia’s
relationship with Indonesia is a bit like that.
As our senior ministers
concluded the 5th Regional Ministerial
Conference, in Bali recently at which the issue of people smuggling was be
raised, senior officials from both countries
exchanged dialog with great warmth and genuine friendship and to be fair
some useful initiatives were developed.
But afterwards, and
following the compulsory Joint
Communiqué, they returned to Canberra and Jakarta to get on with their busy
schedules including the demands of forthcoming elections.
But in the meantime we
don’t actually build a deeper relationship with our neighbours; a relationship
that could build and create real opportunities for business, our communities
and in particular our young people who will be the future of our relationship
during the Asian Century.
Over recent years
Australia has been ‘flooded’ by young people from Europe, and in particular
Ireland, as they come to our shores on the ‘417’ visa for a working holiday.
It’s been a great success as without these lovely young people, many of our
cafes and restaurants would be all ‘self serve’! The other advantage of this
program is that it provides a better understanding between Australians and the young
people from the counties involved.
Indonesia has thousands
of young people who can speak excellent English and who are internet savvy
(Indonesia is number four in the world for Facebook usage) and who have
disposable income for travel. They and have experience in hospitality; just ask
any Aussie who has been to Bali about the standard of service from waiters
there.
Yet until last year our
government only offered 100 visas a year to young Indonesians to join their
European colleagues to work and holiday in Australia. Truly strange given that
Indonesians also are excellent workers in horticulture and could help our
farmers during harvest to alleviate the terrible labour shortages they face.
Recently Australia
extended the visa rules to allow 1,000 young Indonesians the opportunity to
work and holiday here. All that was needed was for the Indonesian Government to
‘sign-off’ on the change and we could be served with a coffee in Perth or
Sydney by someone called Ketut within
a month.
That was nine months
ago.
The delay has been
caused by Indonesia not signing-off on the deal. Why? No one knows.
Perhaps Indonesia is
‘miffed’ that by increasing the intake from 100 to ‘only’ 1,000 – when
Indonesia has a population of 240 million people – Australia is simply throwing
them some scraps. They won’t say anything as ‘good neighbours are always
polite’, but clearly Indonesia is not comfortable with what seems a deal in
which both countries win.
Meanwhile, Indonesia
continues to make it near-on impossible for young Australians to work and
holiday in Indonesia, where they could benefit enormously from language and
cultural experiences. All the right words are said, but nothing happens.
Why two seemingly
‘close’ neighbours – as our political leaders tell us – cannot agree on a
scheme that is so fundamental to our future relationship, is truly mystifying
and needs urgent attention by both governments. Perhaps this is a topic that
foreign minister Bob Carr should talk to his Indonesia counterpart, Marty
Natalgawa, about when they meet? It would also provide a nice break from
talking about asylum seekers which hardly rates as a news topic in Indonesia.
Whilst the warmth of
neighbourly contacts flowed freely in Bali our agriculture relationship – and
in particular the live cattle export trade – is in tatters, and the much
heralded free trade agreement (called IA-CEPA)
has stagnated. Why? We are not sure.
Interestingly when the Lowy Institute asked Indonesians how
they felt about Australians they learned that over the past ten years
Indonesians have warmed towards us considerably, yet we do not reciprocate
those feelings. Why? We don’t know other than Australians perception of our
northern neighbour seems to be caught in a time-warp; much to our disadvantage.
With a very Australia-friendly
president in Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono leading Indonesia it is a great shame
that both countries have been unable to build on the ‘cordial neighbourly’
dialog, to develop a stronger and more meaningful relationship where both
countries can benefit from our respective strengths in business, community and
government. It can be done. Just ask Bill Kelty and the Australian Police Force that provided the perfect model upon which
to build a stronger relationship during the Bali bombing investigations.
Both countries need to
ensure we do get to know each other better.
And we can start by
ensuring our young people can move with far greater ease between two countries
that are separated by a flight of only four hours.
Ross B. Taylor - April 2013
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