Like marriage, international relations need to be cosseted and cherished. Ours with Indonesia is going the other way through indifference.<\/p>\n
Experiencing Indonesia (ANU Press)<\/a>, a collection of essays celebrating the Australian Consortium for \u2018In-Country\u2019 Indonesian Studies (ACICIS) 30th anniversary has just been published. Its contributors know about next door. The folk in that volcanic land aren\u2019t close except in geography.<\/p>\n The mid-1990s was a golden time for Indonesianists. Paul Keating proclaimed<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cno country was more important than the land next door\u201d and signed a security agreement.<\/p>\n Among the believers was Dr David Hill at Perth\u2019s Murdoch University. He decided to turn words into deeds with the Australian Consortium for \u2018In-Country\u2019 Indonesian Studies (ACICIS): a non-profit, educational consortium to develop and coordinate high-quality, semester-long study programs at Indonesian partner universities for Australian university students.<\/p>\n The idea appealed, for the electorate was receptive. Bahasa Indonesia was becoming popular for language learners, and Bali the exotic island for holidays. ACICIS was the bonding agent of the moment.<\/p>\n From then on, it should have failed \u2013 almost everything else did. First came Krismon, the Asian economic crisis; the rupiah falling like Icarus. Then chaos as the brutal dictator Soeharto quit his 32-year reign, and his successor BJ Habibie shredded the Keating deal.<\/p>\n John Howard suggested a referendum on the future of the blood-stained East Timor. The nearby island had been screaming for freedom since the 1975 invasion of the former Portuguese colony by Soeharto\u2019s thugs. Watch the Australian film Balibo<\/a> (banned in Indonesia) to remember.<\/p>\n Howard\u2019s idea was surprisingly accepted as Jakarta wrongly assumed the people loved Indonesian rule. But when the Timorese voted 80\u201320 for independence, army-backed militias torched the tiny island and killed as they retreated. An estimated 100,000 had died through famine and violence during Indonesia\u2019s 25-year control.<\/p>\n Australia led the 22-nation peacekeeping force INTERFET,<\/a> getting fame in the Commonwealth but anger in Indonesia.<\/p>\n The new century brought the Bali and Embassy bombs and other outrages. Boeings that had once flown full of joyful holiday-makers now carried joyless crews.<\/p>\n Democracy came with riots, then a firing squad for Aussie drug couriers, despite clemency pleas from new PM Tony Abbott, who never understood the culture.<\/p>\n What caring parent would bless their teens studying in such a country? Would they be converted? Always eat rice? What about safety?<\/p>\n ACICIS survived, partly through the diplomacy now lacking in the Middle East, and the influence of those who\u2019d studied in Australia \u2013 often graduates of the original Colombo Plan.\u00a0Professor Hill\u2019s foresight in creating the consortium kept a gateway open, though as he recalls it \u201ctottered and teetered\u201d for a while.<\/p>\n New PM Malcolm Turnbull got friendly with the latest Prez, laid-back batik-model and toll-road builder Joko \u2018Jokowi\u2019 Widodo. In 2020, Jokowi spoke<\/a> in Parliament to great applause.<\/p>\n Keating may have been right about Indonesia\u2019s importance \u2013 though not enough for Australians to treat Jakarta with the reverence used for Washington, even under Trump.<\/p>\n After ten years of negotiation, a free trade document was signed with another ugly title, IA-CEPA<\/a>, the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.\u00a0Maybe they just wanted to secure supplies of beef and grains because little has happened since.<\/p>\n The tourists were still into Bali hotels, but the students were heading elsewhere,<\/a> preferring to spend their allowances and have fun in the US, the UK**,** China, Canada and Japan.<\/p>\n The laments about unis abandoning the teaching<\/a> of Indonesian language and culture still brings tears.<\/p>\n There are some perennial gripes in journalism. One is Indonesian annoyance at the Australian media\u2019s failure to distinguish between Muslims generally and radical elements such as the Taliban. That\u2019s Ms Hanson\u2019s doing.<\/p>\n Canberra has tried to help with its New Colombo Plan<\/a> for undergrads seeking \u201cto develop their Indo-Pacific capability and Asia literacy through immersive, structured learning and internships in the region\u201d.\u00a0That\u2019s 37 countries with Indonesia at the top. Our giant embassy in Jakarta crows: \u201cSince its inception in 2014, more than 12,000 students have been supported to study and undertake internships in Indonesia, more than any other participating country\u201d.<\/p>\n The original 1950s Colombo Plan brought thousands<\/a> of students into Australia for all the expected benevolent reasons, though the real purpose was to combat Communism.\u00a0After two decades, the CP shrunk as supporting nations withdrew \u2013 the US only this year. Some called it \u201cpaternalistic\u201d<\/a> and a Cold War approach to aid.<\/p>\n There are around 24,000 Indonesian students in Australia still absorbing our values and hopefully having a good time.<\/p>\n Experiencing Indonesia recounts 30 years of helping undergrads adjust to next door. It has 25 staff, offices in Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Bogor and Bandung and a budget<\/a> of $24 million. So far 5,000 have benefitted.<\/p>\n That generosity should have been extended to 50,000. The ACICIS leaders agree. But they\u2019re up against a public that looks at Indonesia with suspicion, amplified by One Nation rants against Islam.<\/p>\n The 318-page book has many pages in abstruse and prolix prose as though this certifies the book\u2019s academic credibility. \u201cPedagogic ensemble\u201d deters. \u201cAdventures in squatland \u2013 Oz students tell\u201d invites readers. Like tales of cramped kos (homestay) living, jumping red lights, going barefoot in lavatories and graduating through \u201ctransformative experiential learning opportunities\u201d aka discovering the world.<\/p>\n