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ov. 9, p12

As a sign of mutual willingness for better relations, Indonesia pledged to increase interaction with its southern neighbor and seek new avenues of cooperation in trade and technology as the country welcomed Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull'€™s first visit to Jakarta. The two countries have a history of diplomatic turbulence stretching back decades, but relations reached historic lows under prime minister Tony Abbott, who was ousted in a party coup in September.

Turnbull inherited a bilateral relationship strained by rows over spying, Indonesia'€™s execution of Australian citizens and Abbott'€™s tough asylum-seeker policies, all amid an atmosphere of growing Chinese assertiveness in the region.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said that Indonesia would welcome the recently appointed prime minister to Indonesia without delving straight into the nitty gritty of bilateral affairs.

'€œOur main goal is to establish closer rapport with Australia. We will work on building communication through the economic sector and people-to-people contact,'€ Arrmanatha told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Your comments:

Regardless of what anyone says, Indonesia and Australia need each other. Both countries are insignificant on the global scene and therefore need to ensure that their regional relationships are strong.

Orang Biasa

Considering that Indonesia is a rising power in Asia, Australia had better not offend it or risk becoming isolated like North Korea or Venezuela.

Legend of legends

Hopefully Turnbull will avoid the kowtowing Abbott displayed. The relationship needs to be built on key mutual economic and strategic interests, not political rhetoric.

Jagera

For Australia'€™s new prime minister, it'€™s really just a courtesy stopover in Indonesia as the main reason for Turnbull'€™s 10-day overseas trip is to attend the G20 leaders'€™ summit in Turkey. He will also make stops in Germany, Turkey, the Philippines and Malaysia.

Eddy Saf