I am an Australian living in Bali with my Indonesian partner. We have interests and loyalties on both sides.

Two of my nationals await their execution on Nusakambangan prison island for drug trafficking. My own view is that they deserve clemency on account of their rehabilitation (there seems no doubt as to this, even the governor of Kerobokan prison petitioned for a custodial term over capital punishment when they were sentenced). But this is just my view.

The trading of barbs by both our elected representatives and ordinary members of the public has turned ugly. Both sides are guilty and have given the other reason to feel slighted. My prime minister made a vulgar and thoughtless comment linking aid given by Australia in response to the 2004 tsunami to clemency requests for our two nationals. The Indonesian rejoinder was the equally vulgar, equally thoughtless coins for Australia campaign, which insulted every Australian, including this one, who donated money to the Aceh relief effort with no other motive than a desire to help.

Relationships between nations are never easy. That is why we need strong political leadership in both Jakarta and Canberra to put the craft back into statecraft. Both sides spend a lot of time talking about the things that divide us; hardly any time is devoted to the things we have in common: democracy, secularism and pluralism.

This is not empty rhetoric; there are real battles being waged, the most vital of which is the fight against religious extremism, which is antithetical to democracy and secularism and hostile to pluralism: ideals both our countries hold dear. We worked together effectively during a spate of suicide bombings in Indonesia in 2002, 2004 and 2005 to combat this menace. We must apply that same spirit of cooperation again, but it can only be done in an atmosphere of goodwill, which I'€™m sorry to say is lacking on both sides at the moment.

Jingoistic posturing and trash talk benefits no one. It appeals to the little person in all of us; the one who finds offense easily and who may in fact welcome the offense because it helps entrench his or her set views. Indonesians are better than this. Australians are better than this.

We have to be. And our leaders must show the way.

JFK Miller
Bali

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