1) Australian PM’s offer for Papua raises suspicion

1) Australian PM’s offer for 
Papua raises suspicion

2) News Analysis: Australia’s 
Strategy report: Solutions 
without problems

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http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/07/07/australian-pm-s-offer-papua-raises-suspicion.html 

1) Australian PM’s offer for 
Papua raises suspicion

Bagus BT Saragih, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Headlines | Sun, July 07 2013, 9:43 AM

Paper Edition | Page: 2

Kevin Rudd: (JP/Jerry Adiguna)

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s commitment to help develop Indonesia’s easternmost region could instead lead to more abuses of Papuans, an activist warns.

Papua was among the three main issues discussed during the third Indonesia-Australia Annual Leaders Meeting between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Rudd at the Bogor Presidential Palace in West Java on Friday. The two other issues were people smuggling and economic cooperation in the beef and cattle sector.

“Given the trends of the series of cases in the past, we can see that almost all human rights cases in Papua were rooted in economic motivation. Corporations operating in Papua, particularly foreign ones, for instance, use soldiers for security, a measure that increases the chances of human rights abuses against locals,” the coordinator of rights group National Papua Solidarity (NAPAS), Zely Ariane, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

With Rudd standing beside him at a joint press conference after Friday’s meeting, Yudhoyono expressed concern over rampant “propaganda” spread by Papuan separatist activists in many countries who advocate independence by “exaggerating alleged human rights violations by Indonesian military and police”.

“I told the Australian prime minister that any Indonesian soldiers or police officers found to commit violations will definitely be punished or brought before a military tribunal,” Yudhoyono said. “But to be honest, in the recent past, those falling victims were Indonesian Military [TNI] personnel and police officers.”

In his speech at the conference, Rudd not only reiterated Australia’s recognition of Indonesia’s sovereignty over Papua but also offered help to speed up development in Papua and West Papua provinces.

“I, as the prime minister of Australia, will do everything I can to support [Yudhoyono] in this direction.”

Issues concerning Papua were not expected to be broached by those attending the media conference. “According to information I received, it was Prime Minister Rudd who raised the issue,” presidential spokesman for foreign affairs Teuku Faizasyah told the Post.

Zely alleged that Rudd’s statement was a further indicator of the wish of Australia’s businesses to invest in Papua, particularly in the mining sector. “The door for foreign investors has been opened by the government via its MP3EI [Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic Development],” she said.

Foreign investment in Papua, she said, would not address the core problems in Papua. Massive projects would not only be prone to corruption but would also widen economic gaps and marginalize Papuans more, she added.

Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa said that starting this year, the government would prioritize MP3EI projects in the eastern provinces, including Papua and West Papua.

“Projects in natural resources and energy will be boosted,” Hatta said. “But exploration projects must also contribute to the acceleration of local economies by establishing centers of growth around the projects,” he added, brushing-off Zely’s opinion.

Of the total MP3EI investment of Rp 545.76 trillion (US$55.12 billion) set for this year, almost a half or Rp 204.56 trillion will go to Papua, West Papua, Maluku and North Maluku provinces.

Issues surrounding Papua have always been politically sensitive for Indonesia, while to Australia, it is the long-unstoppable flow of asylum seekers that is at the heart of its domestic political interests.

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http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/07/08/news-analysis-australia-s-strategy-report-solutions-without-problems.html

2) News Analysis: Australia’s 
Strategy report: Solutions 
without problems

Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | News Analysis | Mon, July 08 2013, 9:18 AM

Paper Edition | Page: 2

 There is no question that Australia has recovered from its denial of being part of Asia. The investment — material and otherwise — in Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia in recent years shows Australia’s recognition that its future lies with Asian neighbors to the north, and not romanticized historical links with its 

“Western” past.

With over US$450 million in developmental aid to Indonesia, Canberra is putting its money where its mouth is.

The launch of the Indonesia Country Strategy Report during the visit of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd here on Friday shows just how serious Canberra is in upping the quality of the relationship.

The broad-stroke document outlines where Australia wants to be with Indonesia in 2025. Indonesia was identified as one of the five – with China, India, Japan and Korea — initial priority countries for similar reports.

It is a well laid-out, readable text, just over 25 pages long: digestible in its advocacy and practical in its recommendations with regard to communities, business and government. 

So accessible is the content that one would have thought it was authored by a production house, or a McKinsey-style consultant rather than bureaucrats.

The recommendations were partly taken from various consultations. Kudos to Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for the kind of public input heralded in the report. For participants of Track Two and Three dialogues, many of these recommendations will sound familiar.

Unfortunately, the report often feels like a quick list of remedies that do little to address fundamental problems that will color the relationship. 

In other words even if each of the report’s recommendations are carried out, the vulnerabilities would not diminish given the corrosive elements wedged in the fundamentals of the bilateral ties.

By nature Indonesians are not suspicious of Australia the way Australians are toward Indonesia. Any reservations that presently prevail here are a recent phenomenon instigated by events in Papua and East Timor (Timor Leste).

Even a Lowy Institute poll published last year shows that Indonesians have dramatically warmed toward Australia, with 61 percent of Indonesians in favor of a company, bank or investment fund controlled by the Australian government buying a controlling stake in a major Indonesian company.

But as long as Australia retains a security posture which remains “American” in its strategic outlook there will only be amity with reservation between the two 
nations.

Indonesian fears of being an arena of superpower strife are well founded. Australia’s battles will be fought on Indonesian territory. 

Australia’s Defense White Paper published two months ago promotes strategic cooperation with Asian powers, but hints at the expansive archipelago as a trench line to block any threat. 

“Denying an adversary our air and sea approaches in the archipelago is vitally important for deterring and defeating attacks on Australian territory,” it said.

Results of another Lowy poll which says 55 percent of Australians are comfortable with US bases in their country, does not bode well in how Indonesians think of Australia.

Canberra has been the driving force in dialogue and cooperative engagements. The Country 
Strategy Report is stuffed with numerous photos and testimonies of such initiatives. 

Yet these ceremonial exchanges have proved pro forma in the crunch of policy crisis. 

The stationing of US troops in Darwin and suspension of live-
cattle exports are just two examples where a breakdown of communication created an unnecessary, albeit brief, impasse. 

The Australian habit of hinging the relationship on one issue of the day, continues to highlight the vulnerability of the network of 
relationships.

If it were not for the ingratiating statesmanship of the two leaders, the people-smuggling issue last week could have become another tripwire. 

The temperature of the relationship remains susceptible to the chemistry of the leaders.

Therein lies the paradox of the report. Perhaps it is setting the bar too high, as if relations with Jakarta would one day be as cozy as Canberra’s bonds with Washington and London.

Proximity and democracy can be a glue, but they also expose the worst fears of each other as Indonesia’s own experience with Malaysia and Singapore (countries with which Indonesia has more in common than Australia) shows.

One of Australia’s preeminent strategists, Hugh White, put it best: “In almost every dimension of national life — geography, history, economics, religion, language and culture — Australia is as different from Indonesia as two countries 
can be.” 

Hence the two may surely become friends, but even more assured is that the two will never become 
allies.