Australian Prime Minister (PM) Malcolm Turnbull'€™s decision to choose Indonesia as his first state visit after his inauguration has signaled that Indonesia is still a key partner for Australia and provides a chance to improve bilateral ties, according to international relations experts.

'€œAustralia regards Indonesia as its eternal neighbor. Governments may change with time, but neighbors are forever,'€ executive director of the Indonesian Center for Democracy, Diplomacy and Defense Teuku Rezasyah told thejakartapost.com.

Turnbull'€™s 10-hour visit to Indonesia marked Australia'€™s official attempt to restore the strained bilateral ties inherited from the former PM Tony Abbott'€™s administration. Indonesia, in return, should take every opportunity presented by these strengthened ties, said Teuku.

In terms of Jokowi'€™s vision to make Indonesia a maritime country, Teuku said that strengthening partnerships with Australia for infrastructure development would be of great importance.

'€œWhile Jokowi needs to draft a clear national ocean policy, Indonesia will need Australia'€™s assistance in building infrastructure that integrates sea, air and land transportation,'€ said Teuku.

On challenges related to competing in the global economy, such as the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Teuku asserted that Australia'€™s partnership could help Indonesia to increase its competitiveness through joint-feasibility studies to assess Indonesia'€™s readiness in each sector of the economy.

'€œAustralia can help boost Indonesia'€™s confidence in becoming a respected international actor,'€ said Teuku, adding that Australia could also help Indonesia work toward good governance.

Similarly to Teuku, international expert from the University of Indonesia (UI) Makmur Keliat said that even though Indonesia and Australia'€™s bilateral ties have been strained from time to time, both countries would, by nature, always need each other.

According to Makmur, economic ties, border security and regional cooperation as a result of geographical position are objective factors that attached Australia and Indonesia unconditionally, making it hard for either country to consider its own interests alone.

'€œIssues such as the death penalty, the spying scandal and asylum seekers always impact on dynamics, but in the end the governments know they need to restore ties,'€ Makmur said.

When considering Turnbull'€™s main agenda of economic ties, terrorism and undocumented migrants, Makmur'€™s main hope is that together, the governments can come up with an international and innovative mechanism for handling the heavy flow of asylum seekers.

'€œNo country can handle this issue alone. Australia should be willing to cooperate with Indonesia in this case, instead of letting it burden Indonesia alone,'€ Makmur asserted.

Another international relations expert, however, said that even though this visit had reflected a good start in improving bilateral ties, Turnbull had not announced any significant change in Australian policy towards Indonesia.

According to Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) expert Rizal Sukma, Turnbull is still merely an extension of Abbott'€™s administration.

'€œAbbott used to say his foreign policy focus was '€œmore Jakarta than Geneva'€, but months after his inauguration, he had already strained bilateral ties with his tough immigration policies,'€ said Rizal.

Political uncertainty in Australia has also become a problem; in the last five years, they have had five prime ministers. According to Rizal, this made it unlikely that Australia would change its policies for the better soon.

'€œIndonesia should just take it slow. It will take time to strengthen and restore the bilateral ties,'€ Rizal asserted.

Turnbull and his wife Lucy were welcomed to the Presidential Palace by Jokowi and Indonesia'€™s first lady Iriana for discussions on Thursday.

Later in the afternoon, both leaders went together for blusukan (an impromptu visit) at Tanah Abang markets in Jakarta, which Jokowi regarded as an opportunity to let Indonesian people know that Indonesia and Australia were close.

'€œ[Blusukan] aims to develop personal relations between the government leaders,'€ said Rizal. (dan)(+)

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