Instead of a long state
visit Malcolm Turnbull used a 10-hour Jakarta stopover for his first official
trip as Australian prime minister to meet the northern neighbours.
The much-reported reason
before he dashed to Berlin was to ‘reset’ the relationship.
A ‘reset’ follows a circuit-breaker
trip. Flick a switch and if there’s no system fault the lights come on.
Easy.
Not this time.
After a
year in office we understand little about President Joko (Jokowi) Widodo other
than he’s indecisive, believes shooting traffickers fixes drug problems, and is
powerless to stop regular illegal firestick-farming threatening world health.
We also
know the leader of the world’s third largest democracy blows thought bubbles
(which his ministers pop) on issues like joining the TPP, and appears awkward
at international events. The Jakarta Post explained this was his
‘contemplative nature’.
Much is
scuttlebutt – that he doesn’t read documents, is beholden to oligarchs and
bored by foreign affairs. Newsclips of his meeting last month in the US
with Barack Obama and business heads did nothing to erase these calumnies.
On the
upside the nation has not been ripped by vengeful losers following the 2014
election. There have been health care reforms and fuel subsidies partially
removed. The seventh president is not a military fascist. What you see is what
you get, a plain man free of guile.
His party
patron Megawati Sukarnoputri once claimed he was too thin to be a real
politician. If girth equals graft then slender Jokowi should be
whistle-clean.
This doesn’t
help him wade through Jakarta’s political slimepit, but it endears him to the
electorate, though love is on the wane. Polls showing approval down from
70 to 50 per cent in a year reflect dismay that performance hasn’t matched
promise.
He’s
failed the smoke alarm test with the fires in Kalimantan; now another challenge
looms – a rice shortage following droughts. If prices rocket with imports
the masses will not confine their rage to tweets.
Real
warmth between the two leaders will probably remain elusive but Turnbull did
well – he smiled a lot and it looked sincere. Abbott-style pugnacity wins
no friends in the Republic where personality trumps policy and visitors must be
halus – refined, gracious and sensitive – and have a sense of fun.
The PM
and his wife Lucy obliged. Charm disarms. Jokowi took Turnbull to the
overcrowded Tanah Abang textile market for one of his trademark blusukan (walkabout
among ordinary folk).
Indonesian
media described the informal scene as ‘hot, stuffy and boisterous’ but Jokowi
was in his element, looking happier than usual. Jacketless Turnbull,
snapping selfies, seemed amused.
Certainly
a few hours facetime is better than a diplomatic note, but change won’t come
through speed dating. This courtship needs to be Java-style – slow and seemly.
Turnbull, seeking contact points spoke of both being in business. The link is
slight.
The
silvertail lawyer and banker grew up with vistas of Sydney Harbour; the
provincial furniture trader was raised in a shack illegally pitched by the Solo
River – not for the view but its ablution values.
One was a
Rhodes Scholar – the other an unexceptional forestry graduate. Now the two men
have to see each other’s perspective.
The other
much thumped drum is that Indonesia is ‘our most important relationship’.
Absolutely – though the feeling is one-way. More worrying is that
Australian governments have long been hypocritical, disbelieving their own
rhetoric.
If
otherwise, the Turnbulls would have spent relaxed days, not hours in Indonesia,
reviving friendships built over long careers in public life.
There’d
be no need for a ‘biggest ever’ 300-strong business delegation coming in
Turnbull’s wake because substantial trade would have been built long ago.
Communications with Jakarta would be as stable as they are with Manila and
Singapore.
No costly
ephemeral PR exercise called Window on Australia because the image would
already be benign. If that money had been put into scholarships the
number of Indonesians currently studying in Australia (below 14,000) might
overtake the Nepalese.
Jokowi’s
pre-election statements included Nawacita (nine principles, mainly
motherhoods) and Mental Revolution. This called for a strong military,
food and energy independence and reduced reliance on foreign investment.
The delegation led by Trade Minister Andrew Robb might ask if these short
documents are still valid.
Business
opportunities are being crimped by Jokowi’s capricious approach to policy, a
tumbling rupiah and the growth of strident nationalism and protectionism.
Earlier
this year Melbourne University Professor Tim Lindsey told a Griffith Asia
Institute forum that the Australian public was generally hostile and
ill-informed about Indonesia. The polls prove his point, and the
situation is getting worse.
The
government hasn’t seriously backed Indonesian studies which Lindsey predicted
will be extinct within eight years. This isn’t a new universe in the galaxy –
other educators have been observing the same for much of this century.
Presumably
Robb’s mob is Asia-aware, but if the pessimists are right the next generation
of Australian exporters and investors will know little about their market.
The
Turnbull trip listed the standard trinity of topics favoured by visiting
Australian politicians – trade, security and investment. All important, but
having no immediate impact on the daily lives of the toilers; they tend to see
their neighbour seeking to control Christian Eastern Indonesia according to
polls cited by Lindsey.
Window on
Australia should help diminish ignorance about Australia, but doesn’t confront the
absurdity of a secular sport-obsessed nation having neo-colonial ambitions.
Indonesians fought for four years to expel the Dutch; they can be
seismometer-sensitive to real or imagined threats to sovereignty in ways
Australians find hard to understand.
Sensitive
issues like the death penalty and visas were off the agenda. The problem of
11,000 asylum seekers stuck in the Archipelago while heading to Australia was
apparently not addressed. This was despite Indonesian kite-flying ahead
of the leaders’ meeting which Turnbull kept stressing was about ‘jobs and
growth’. So the failed boat people’s fate remains a pebble in the shoe.
After the
meeting came statements no-one could fault – the need for more cooperation,
cattle breeding and tourism. No detail, no contracts, no aid packages.
Contrary
to some media reports this was not Turnbull’s first overseas trip as PM.
His priority was tiny, placid New Zealand for two days last month. He’ll spend
more time in Malaysia coming back from Europe than the nation where the
relationship is allegedly so important.
Academics,
businesspeople and others with long-term knowledge of Indonesia say building
good connections needs time and personal engagement. This trip says the
government knows it knows better.
Indonesians
are too polite to say so, but they recognize the realities: The
Australian PM comes across far better than Abbott. He appeared to have had a
fun break. But his real mission was in Europe where he’ll meet 19 other world leaders.
No reset
yet. The system faults remain but the two men seem to have found a switch.
Maybe the switch.
Australian journalist and author Duncan
Graham lives in East Java and writes for the Indonesian media.
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