I

was requested in 1986 to write an article about the Indonesia-Australia relationship for the Australian Journal for International Affairs. My article, titled '€œIndonesia-Australia Relationship: Problems between Unfamiliar Neighbors'€ was published in December 1986. I closed my article with the following words, '€œ['€¦], regardless of who in the neighborhood protects whom, an old Chinese proverb might contain the wisdom as noteworthy for Indonesia as well as for Australia in dealing with each other. It says, '€˜It is better to have good neighbors than faraway pals.'€™'€

That wisdom still rules today, particularly when it comes to global circumstances much more complicated than that of three decades ago. The problem with both countries now is that they have been sunk by the simple logical perception they should have of each other.

The leaders of both countries, with a few exceptions, tend to view each other from a stereotype that they do not know where it comes from. It is a long-held open secret that Indonesians generally tend to think about Australians as a bunch of arrogant people, while lots of Australians view their northern populous neighbor as dumb folk.

As a matter of course, no in-depth and productive dialogue can develop among two groups of people
that treat each other with little respect as such.

Nevertheless, the leaders of Indonesia and Australia should be aware that while both countries are moving deeper into the second decade of the 21st century, they have one big interest in common: The global challenge with its complex consequences that they should better cope with by means of reasonable cooperation rather than squabbles based on shallow superficial considerations.

In such a perspective, the recent furor shot by the '€œSnowden bugging'€ affair would look ridiculous in the frame of Bismarckian '€œRealpolitik'€. Mutual eavesdropping is merely craftiness in the practice of relations among nations, which would turn into a messy cardinal sin only if you get caught red-handed. That is a maxim that even rules for pairs of untrue husband and wife.

It is therefore about high time to turn sharp minds to the direction of a well considered prudence for the sake of a better future to be dedicated to the people of both countries. The leaders of Indonesia and Australia perhaps need to pay attention to the natural behavior of their own people.

On the one hand, Indonesian youth would love to study in Australia, while its upper-middle class would hop to Australia to enjoy a culture that is nearby but '€œis not ASEAN'€. On the other hand, Indonesia and, particularly Bali, still remain very high on the list of Australian travel destinations.

Bearing in mind that politics between the two countries have long suffered under cultural prejudice by which people generally judge each other along the uncreative adage of '€œthey are not like we are'€, the governments of Indonesia and Australia, regardless of which political party they belong, should start with the very basic endeavors: the building of mutual understanding. With the lack of mutual understanding, trust would only be a hollow idea, while in the absence of trust, it is futile to conduct constructive dialogue.

As the building of mutual understanding would not be a gift from heaven, Indonesia and Australia must work together along long-term and short-term agendas.

For the long term, we need to start soon with a programmed and routine exchange of youth and students, while at the more academic level, joint and exchange studies should be conducted among higher learning institutions.

In a more pragmatic framework, both governments should establish a joint government commission to draw up and deal with an agenda that lists ongoing problems to be handled.

Amid a global economic recession, such an idea would likely bump against a defense saying that '€œwe don'€™t have the money'€ or '€œwe have other pressing priorities'€.

Nonetheless, if the Indonesian and Australian governments and their people regard a better future to be in their own interest, then both parties need to be aware about two logics: first, any better future is worth an investment.

Second, amid their various international priorities, Indonesia and Australia should put their bilateral relations among the top of their priorities, because they cannot escape the fact that '€œwe are natural partners'€, just like the then Indonesian foreign minister Dr. Mochtar Kusumaatmadja stated in 1986.

Learning from what the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin said to the Finnish Ambassador Juho Kusti Paasikivi during the World War II in 1939: '€œwe cannot do anything about geography'€, Indonesian and Australian leaders must realize that they cannot escape from being geo-natural neighbors and therefore better work together toward a better future for their peoples rather than squabbling under an unproductive shadow of the past.

The writer is senior adviser at the Center for European Studies, University of Indonesia.