TheJakartaPost
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G'day Anthony, g'bye Scott
We look forward to welcoming Australia's newly elected prime minister, with hopes of continued cordiality and perhaps even a shift in Indonesia's climate stance.
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President Joko Widodo (center) walks with then-Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (right) and opposition leader Anthony Albanese (left) while attend an official luncheon on Feb. 10, 2020 in the Great Hall at Parliament House in Canberra. (AFP/LUKAS COCH / POOL)
I
ndonesia welcomes the Australian Labor Party’s return to power for the first time since 2013. We have had a good run with prime ministers from the Liberal-National coalition these past nine years: Tony Abbot, Malcom Turnbull and Scott Morrison. We are sure that Anthony Albanese will sustain their momentum, maybe elevate our ties even further.
During his election campaign, Albanese said Australia’s relationship with Indonesia was one of his top foreign policy priorities and if elected, he would travel to Jakarta as soon as possible. His first overseas visit as Prime Minister will be to Tokyo for the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue meeting this week with leaders from India, Japan and the United States. Jakarta will not be his first destination, but will definitely follow soon.
It’s heartening to hear Albanese promising to strengthen relations with Indonesia, which he has described as a rising economic power. He is continuing the famous foreign policy dictum of then-prime minister Paul Keating in the 1990s: “No country is more important to Australia than Indonesia.” Successive prime ministers since then, irrespective of party affiliation, have made Indonesia one of their top priorities, if not the No. 1 priority.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who had a cordial relationship with Turnbull and Morrison, will surely extend the same warmth and courtesy to Albanese.
When our leaders get along fine, the rest of the country will follow. There is no problem that cannot be fixed. Besides, we have had the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in place since 2020.
We will continue to have our differences, such as in how we respond to China’s aggression in the region, but we trust our leaders will manage them well by respecting one another.
Given the intensity of our relationship, we also realize there will be hiccups from time to time. Recent occasions include Australia’s boycott of beef exports to Indonesia, Indonesia’s execution of Australian drug traffickers and espionage charges against Canberra.
Thanks to the efforts of our two leaders, these problems were managed without hurting our overall ties. Gone are the days when a single issue might undermine our relationship, such as the issue of East Timor (now Timor-Leste) in the 1980s and 1990s.
Albanese was elected partly because of his pledge to strengthen Canberra’s commitment to tackling climate change. We hope with Australia’s change in policy and attitude, the same wind will blow north to encourage Indonesia to follow suit.
So much to discuss and so much we can accomplish together. We look forward to welcoming you soon, Prime Minister Albanese.
