A very difficult relationship: living with Indonesia

The direction Islam takes in Indonesia is of enormous importance to Australia. Our situation is, for example, totally different from that of the US, which is situated in a monotheistic hemisphere that is nominally Christian, from Alaska and northern Canada to Tierra del Fuego.

In East Asia, Christianity is a minority religion in a region of great diversity. By population, Indonesia is the largest Islamic country in the world. Malaysia and Brunei also have Islamic majorities, while Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, India and China all have substantial Muslim minorities.

While Australia needs to maintain firm opposition to Islamic extremism and continue to work with Indonesia in opposing terrorism, we need a more sensitive and sophisticated approach to religious issues in our region.

What we are witnessing in much of the Islamic world, including Indonesia, is a struggle for the hearts and minds of Muslims, between the moderates and the modernisers on the one hand, and the conservatives and fundamentalists, including extremists, on the other, who are prepared to use terror.

It is vital to Australia that the moderates and modernisers prevail.

Despite his strong opposition to terrorism and extremism, President Yudhoyono has been reluctant to respond to politically motivated demands from Australia to ban Jemaah Islamiyah because of the danger of radicalising many of the moderates.

We need also to distinguish between combating terrorist extremism - an objective which Indonesia shares - and the war in Iraq, which the Australian Government supports and the Indonesian Government opposed on the grounds that it would stimulate anti-Americanism throughout Indonesia, and facilitate the recruitment of Islamic terrorists.

Because the US, the UK and Australia - all Western democracies - led the original invasion on Iraq, many Indonesians consider this has eroded their moral standing and challenged the United Nations’ founding principle of collective security.

The third marker is that Australians should not think of Indonesia as a threat.

Indonesia does not threaten Australia. Its armed forces are relatively small and do not have the capacity to attack Australia. If relations are strained, however, Indonesia can cause us considerable difficulties. It is the country most entangled in our domestic politics; more so than the US, China, and Japan.

Australians should regard Indonesia as an opportunity - as the Howard Government regards China - not as a threat.

Unfortunately, such concerns exist on both sides. Nationalism is a strong force in Indonesian politics, with some members of the armed forces and parliament believing Australia is a threat to Indonesia’s territorial integrity. They see our support for the separation of East Timor likely to be followed by support for the independence of West Papua, and even Aceh, despite Government and Opposition denials.