Australians still wary of Indonesia: Poll

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 09/03/2007 2:07 PM

Alice Coster, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia only ranked higher than Iraq and Iran when it came to Australians feelings toward other countries, a new opinion survey found, with 25 percent of respondents viewing Indonesia ""very negatively"".

The new opinion survey, conducted for the Australian foreign policy think tank, The Lowy Institute, found Australians also held an unfavorable opinion of the U.S because of its leadership and direction.

The annual survey on Australia's public opinion on foreign policy and global affairs, saw Indonesia ""invoking marginally cooler rather than warmer feelings"" compared to other East Asian countries.

When rating Australian's opinions toward 15 countries on a ""thermometer of feelings"" scale of 1 to 100 degrees, respondents ranked Indonesia a lukewarm 47 degrees -- only higher than the cooler response of Iraq, 36 degrees, and Iran, 33 degrees.

The survey also stated that the majority of Australians do not believe their country should be militarily involved in Iraq and have a low opinion of the United States, because of President George W. Bush and U.S. foreign policies.

""More than two thirds (69%) of respondents said that `George W. Bush' caused them to feel unfavorably toward the U.S., and almost as many (63%) said the `U.S foreign policies' had the same effect,"" the survey said.

The negative response toward Indonesia and the unfavorable view of President Bush come at an unfortunate time for Australian Prime Minister John Howard as he prepares for the arrival of the two country's leaders in Australia later this week.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and U.S. President Bush will arrive in Sydney late this week for the upcoming APEC summit hosted by Australia.

The annual Lowy survey, based on 1003 interviews conducted between May 21 and June 2, 2007, found that 57 percent of respondents believed Australia should not continue to be militarily involved in Iraq.

There was an almost equal split between those who thought Australia should keep soldiers in Afghanistan and those opposed to remaining.

""While respondents were divided over military involvement in Afghanistan, the majority think Australia should leave Iraq,"" the survey said.

Three quarters of Australians thought the U.S. paid little attention to countries like Australia when making international policy decisions.

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