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arch 20, p3

President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo accepted on Thursday the credentials of new Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Paul Grigson, who was among six foreign envoys arriving for their new assignments in Jakarta.

Committed to maintaining good relations with Australia, Jokowi put aside the current strained relationship between the two countries, which has been caused by Indonesia'€™s plan to go ahead with the executions of convicted Australian drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

During a brief conversation after the ceremony, Jokowi reminded the new envoys not to let Indonesia'€™s execution policy hamper good ties.

Your comments:

I don'€™t envy Paul Grigson in making an entry into a country where relations are bound to deteriorate even further.  

It will be a balancing act of fostering mutual trade while dealing with the fall out in overall relations.

Australia'€™s strategic realignments in Asia and the push for Papuan independence will be factors in the increasing decline in relations.

The executions are largely a side issue but reflect fundamental differences in thinking between backward nations and progressive global concepts as pursued by the UN.

Jagera

I still have faith that Jokowi will be merciful and commute the death penalty to imprisonment, especially for those who have shown they are truly repentant and who now work hard to improve the lives and futures of other prisoners.  

I get sad when I see us insulting each other in these comments.  We might live in different countries, we might follow different faiths and we might have different ideas, but we'€™re all human beings who share the same world.

Beth Mac

I don'€™t know Grigson but he would be one of our best. We tend to send the best diplomats to Indonesia as we value the relationship.

Countries do not have emotions and business continues, it'€™s only the people that have sentiments.

I do not think that as countries we are in a position that cannot be recovered.

Sometimes we get to love the ambassadors as was the case of former foreign minister Ali Alatas who through his availability and many television interviews showed his intense knowledge of Australia and a genuine love of us.

He was a participant in disputes and seemed to be always part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

The relationship between Australia and Indonesia is still strong. What is happening now is just a family squabble. It will resolve itself.

Acroplous

I have a strong feeling that all these tensions with Brazil, Netherlands and Australia are just '€œscratching the surface'€.

Can'€™t you really see that this is just going to get worse with 59 convicts to go?

Indonesia is not even able to convince a few countries with '€œdodgy'€ reasoning and statistics, and with over 229 Indonesians facing death overseas.

Pak Jokowi, you need to use your diplomatic skills here. As a governor, you could do as much blusukan (visiting and interacting with common people) as you like, but as president, you also need to deal with other countries and truly seek what'€™s best for Indonesia, that'€™s the difference.

Djay Subianto

People will see bad things much easier than good things. There is an old saying: A one year draught can be washed by a day of rain.

There are many programs either by AusAid or others that easily demonstrate the role of Australia in supporting Indonesia in many ways; roads, clean water, etc. People will remember that.

But many unnecessary things, either comments from the PM or ordinary citizens alike, or policy decisions about the death penalty and asylum seekers in which Indonesia gets unfairly treated in the media will not pass by unnoticed.

Brawijaya