Two steps forward, one step back : Indonesia’s arduous path to reform

Australians have long worried about whether Indonesia is ‘special’ or ‘normal’. Instead, we need to deal with Indonesia as it really is—a country experiencing simultaneously the challenges of political reform, economic development and a shifting regional security environment. The country’s political future is less certain than we would hope: after SBY’s term of government ends, the choice of a successor will be critical in determining the future of reform. We can’t rule out that Indonesia might slide back to old ways of doing business—democratisation is a fraught process.
As the Indonesian economy grows, so too do the prospects for Indonesia to establish its natural position as the leader of Southeast Asia. As the world is re-examining Indonesia, so too Indonesia is looking afresh at the world—more interested in external issues than it was a decade ago. The Southeast Asian subregion increasingly finds itself at the centre of a more strongly interconnected Indo-Pacific region—so Indonesia’s strategic importance is going up.
It’s important for Australia to build a better strategic relationship with Indonesia. The two are complementary partners. Australia should be proactive in exploring new opportunities for cooperation with a reform minded Indonesia—it’s in our interests to draw Indonesia into a more important strategic role in regional security.
Professor Damien Kingsbury, the author of this Strategy, is the Director, Centre for Citizenship, Development and Human Rights, Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, Melbourne.

'He no doubt felt insulted': the White Australia Policy and Australia's relations with India, 1944-1964

The Government of India never publicly criticised the White Australia policy. Nonetheless it was a subject of constant reporting to New Delhi by the Indian High Commission in Canberra.  The Australian High Commission in New Delhi regularly reported criticism of the policy in the Indian press and in elite opinion.  It urged the introduction of a quota for Indian immigration to Australia, but ministers remained unwilling to modify the policy in any substantial way, in the period under study.  South Africa's apartheid policy was a far more serious problem in race relations for the Indian Government.  The existence of the White Australia policy when countries such as Canada had introduced quotas for Indian immigration, suggested an Australia mired in attitudes irrelevant to a decolonising world.  The Australian High Commissioner thought that although Nehru made no public comments on the policy, he must have felt insulted by its existence.

Australia’s Colombo plans, old and new: international students as foreign relations

This article draws on recent research and policy developments to make a case for considering international students as an important component of Australian foreign relations. It links historical and contemporary Australian experiences of international students, especially in the Colombo Plan and New Colombo Plan, to the field of public diplomacy, and sets an agenda for further research in this direction. It highlights the need to recover student voices and to be sensitive to the emergence of everyday or ‘vernacular’ internationalism, as a phenomenon of international students visiting, traveling and otherwise encountering different groups of Australians. It suggests a need to take up anew this form of inquiry for both earlier postwar student experiences and the post-1980s period, in which international students’ voices are frequently silenced by debates over commodification, funding needs, and neo-liberal economics.

Miscommunication in Australia-China relations: the Stern Hu Affair

This paper explores communication and miscommunication in international business relations by studying the case of former RIO Tinto executive Stern Hu who was prosecuted for stealing trade secrets and taking bribes in kickbacks from Chinese steel firms. Using newspaper articles about the case that were published in Australia, China and other countries via Internet in either Chinese or English from July 2009 to April 2010, a series of differences in the way the Chinese and Australian protagonists were framed both in terms of relevant facts and value judgments. Apart from various obvious stereotypes, more subtle differences in the perspectives of the two nations emerge in my reading of their presses regarding the nature of trust, the role of corporations, government and how morality and business intermesh in two culturally distinct systems. Using this case, this paper illustrates the nature and types of misunderstandings that emerge over time and across locations within each cultural setting.

Governance and Religious Diversity in Australia: Multifaith relations and religious instruction in the State of Victoria

Australia, like many societies, is grappling with the reality that its population is becoming at once increasingly religiously diverse and non-religious. This is evident in a number of contentious public and policy debates, including those centred on religion and education. At the turn of the twenty-first century, and particularly after the events of 9/11, religion has featured prominently in the global media and been frequently associated with violence. This had led to the development of a number of strategies by state actors and religious communities aimed at the ‘management’ (Bouma, 1999) or ‘governance’ (Bader, 2007) of religious diversity; sometimes in partnership and, at other times, at odds with one another. The Australian state of Victoria has implemented a number of progressive policies and practices promoting positive multifaith relations and community resilience. Yet, it is still struggling with how best to oversee religious instruction and provide education about diverse religions and non-religious worldviews in government schools.

Transformational analysis of the national interest

This thesis explains the independence of East Timor by investigating the idea of "national interest". It shows how the policymakers' "national interest" calculations were opposed by a transnational solidarity movement. It concludes that the Australian government was compelled to deploy peacekeepers despite its best efforts to the contrary.

Threats, fear, politics and the shaping of insecurity 1946-1955

Governments use fear to promote political objectives. Through the exaggeration of external threats, fear as conceptualised in the writings of Hobbes, Barry Buzan, David Campbell and others, became a major factor in shaping Australia's post-war foreign and defence policies which were also intended to serve the government's domestic political agenda.

A transformational analysis of the national interest

This thesis explains the independence of East Timor by investigating the idea of "national interest". It shows how the policymakers' "national interest" calculations were opposed by a transnational solidarity movement. It concludes that the Australian government was compelled to deploy peacekeepers despite its best efforts to the contrary.

Southeast Asian perceptions of Australia's foreign policy

This article argues that while the US alliance remains at the forefront of Australian security policy, the deepening of ties between the United States and Australia has the potential to complicate Australia's relations with its Southeast asian neighbours. Moreover, the manner in which the Howard government has attempted to manage this shift in policy has only exacerbated the problem. Australian pronouncements of support for the US policy of pre-emption, the perceived preference of the Australian Prime Minister to take on the role of ‘Deputy Sheriff’, and the unwieldy approach taken by the Australian government in policy announcements pertaining to maritime and security policy have caused unnecessary tension and mistrust between Australia and some Southeast asian states.

Our place in the Asian century: Southeast Asia as ‘The Third Way’

The report, for Asialink at the University of Melbourne, reports the findings of the Asialink Commission, which examined Australia's relations with Southeast Asia. It argues that, at a time of shifting power relations in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia take a more multilateral approach by orienting its foreign and trade policies towards Southeast Asia. By committing more attention to the Southeast Asia region, Australia will enhance its relationships with the region's two principal powers, the United States and China.