The election capital of the world

One of the most important tasks for an Australian government is to build and maintain a strong relationship with the government of Indonesia.

It is a responsibility that transcends the domestic politics of both nations and is based on many years of hard work by politicians and officials from across the political spectrum in Australia and in Indonesia.

The relationship at the official level has depth and breadth.

However, the relationship appears nowhere near as close across the broader populations, with President Yudhoyono recently lamenting the relatively low level of knowledge of Australia among most Indonesians and vice versa.

During my recent visit to Indonesia among the many topics for discussion were ideas for building greater understanding between the two nations.

I held a number of very constructive meetings with a range of officials including Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and former Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda.

It was agreed that one of the best ways to build understanding is to promote student exchange, and while significant numbers of young Indonesians have spent time studying in Australia there is a need to encourage more Australians to study at Indonesian universities and other educational institutions.

One of the great changes within Indonesia in recent years that may not be appreciated by many Australians is the enthusiastic embrace of democracy that has occurred since the resignation of former military ruler President Suharto in 1998.

Over the past decade or more the frequency of elections in Indonesia has increased to the point where Indonesians have voted in literally hundreds of elections at the national, provincial and local level in recent years.

The World Bank recently dubbed Indonesia the "election capital of the world".

Presidential elections are among the biggest single-day events in the world with tens of thousands of polling booths and over 120 million people casting a vote.

Australians should appreciate the emergence of a strong, democratic and outward-looking Indonesia.

During a meeting with a number of Indonesia politicians, including one who is campaigning for the upcoming election for the position of Governor of Jakarta, I was struck by similarity of issues facing politicians in our respective countries.

Our discussion on campaign tactics including the use of social media, grass roots campaigning and fundraising could have been held within any political party in Australia.

It is clear that when it comes to democracy, Indonesian politicians are not only fast learners in their relatively young democracy, they are also highly skilled and knowledgeable.

Indonesia's successful transition from authoritarian military rule to genuine democracy has made it a strong regional leader and may well have played a more significant role in the recent events in Burma than otherwise acknowledged.

The long-time military regime has started to loosen its iron grip on the nation with the recent parliamentary by-elections showing overwhelming support for Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her party.

The result has been respected by the military with Suu Kyi taking her place in parliament.

Significant numbers of political prisoners have been released and other reforms are under way.

There remains a long way to go before Burma has emerged fully from under the fist of authoritarian rule but there is a cautious optimism among the governments of the region.

If Burma continues down the path of reform and greater freedom for its citizens, it will increasingly be seen as vindication for the approach of Indonesia and the other nations that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

ASEAN has often been criticised for its policy of engagement with the military junta in Burma during that nation's dark years of human rights abuses and brutal oppression of dissent.

While other nations, including Australia, adopted a policy of isolation towards Burma and imposed strict sanctions, the countries of ASEAN largely resisted such measures and continued with quiet diplomacy.

There is little doubt that the international sanctions did play an important role, but it would be wrong to dismiss the influence of ASEAN in the current transformation of Burma.

Indonesia is a vibrant emerging democracy with a population of over 245 million people.

Few countries are more important to Australia than Indonesia.

It demands and deserves our attention, focus and respect as our fortunes over the coming decades are entwined.

The success of our bilateral relationship impacts on the future prosperity and security of the region.