T

he souring bilateral relationship between Indonesia and Australia of late is not a new phenomenon and will not affect the country'€™s people-to-people relationships, alumni of a leadership exchange program told a conference on Tuesday.

REDD+ senior advisor at the Presidential Working Unit for the Supervision and Management of Development (UKP4), Kevin Evans, told the Indonesia Australia-People Talk Series conference that he had arrived in Indonesia during a similar situation back in 1986.

It was the year when Australia relations with Indonesia deteriorated after a report on the corruption and nepotism of then president Soeharto'€™s family was published in the Sydney Morning Herald.

This has led to a short-lived ban on Australian tourists to Bali. Despite this, Evans arrived in Indonesia as part of the Australia-Indonesia Youth Exchange Program (AIYEP) and said his experience was not affected by the Canberra-Jakarta issue.

Another alumnus, Indonesian Urban and Regional Planners Association chairman Bernardus Djonoputro, said, similarly, Indonesian students had not experienced any problems in Australia and the program had '€œbuilt trust and care between the two countries'€.

AIYEP is an exchange program, established in 1981 by the Australia Indonesia Institute, which aims to provide young people from both countries with the opportunity to appreciate the culture, development and way of life of each country.

During the program, 18 Indonesians aged 21 to 25 visit Australia for two months to participate in home-stays, work experience placements as well as cultural and social activities. Similarly, 18 young Australians visit Indonesia for two months. The program has two main phases: A capital city location, followed by a rural/regional stay.

In order to build better relationship between both governments, Bernardus said to further develop the cooperation between cities and towns. '€œWe need to connect our communities more,'€ he said.

Among other ideas, Bernardus recommended regulatory reforms related to service sectors to successfully implement infrastructure projects and support the establishment of institutions that can champion Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), for the private sector to finance
infrastructure development.

Wakatobi Regent HE Hugua who participated in the program in the 1980s said he tried to pursue closer ties between people in his area and Perth. He acknowledged that maintaining good communication with the local governments in Australia was beneficial.

Also present at the conference was Australia Ambassador to ASEAN Simon Merrifield and other alumni of AIYEP.

The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post