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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.