Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As Paul Keating used to say, there is no country more important to Australia than Indonesia. It is our neighbour, a fellow democracy, forecast to be the fourth largest economy in the world, a leader in Asia and ASEAN in particular, a country with which we share many strategic interests. So I was pleased to see the Prime Minister following through on the commitment of his predecessor and visiting Jakarta and meeting with Pak Jokowi only a week after assuming office.

Visits by leaders are important and can become lasting touchstones in ties between two nations. In 1968, for example, Australian Prime Minister John Gorton visited Jakarta accompanied by his wife, Mrs Bettina Gorton. As recounted by Professor David Hill, Mrs Gorton spoke fluent Bahasa Indonesia and Javanese, leading President Suharto reportedly to remark:

It is indeed an honour, it is even very moving for the Indonesian people that this time outside the Malay race we have a state guest who is well versed in our language and who has a thorough knowledge of the Indonesian culture. I feel that Mrs Gorton's fluency and her knowledge of the Indonesian language are a manifestation of the friendly feelings and the understanding of the Australian people about the Indonesian people.

Professor Hill observed:

At no subsequent time has an Indonesian president been able to make such observations of an Australian Prime Minister or their spouse—or, for that matter, a foreign minister or any other member of an Australian government.

Pleasingly, should Labor win the next election, that would change. Under a Shorten Labor government we would have a Treasurer who speaks Bahasa Indonesia and a foreign minister who speaks Bahasa Melayu. That is not to forget also the member for Solomon, who is an accomplished Bahasa Indonesia speaker himself, and the member for Whitlam, who is completing his studies in this language. Building Asian language capability shows the region that we are serious about engagement.

Labor is committed to increasing the number of Australians speaking an Asian language through our schools. So I was pleased recently to welcome to Australia students from SMP Labschool Kebayoran, a junior high school from Jakarta, for their exchange stay at Williamstown High School in my electorate. The sister school relationship is nearly a decade old and has seen hundreds of kids have an invaluable Australia-Indonesia cross-cultural experience. Students from both countries spend time together attending normal classes in the school environment, special cooking classes and visiting local attractions. Next year, Willi High students will go to Jakarta. The exchange program not only builds friendships; Williamstown High has seen a clear increase in enrolment in Bahasa Indonesia classes as a consequence. Through the hard work of the Indonesia teachers at Williamstown High, who volunteer their time to run this program, the school has fostered interest and capability in Indonesia crucial for Australia's future. It's a model for what we should be doing throughout the country.

We all agree that Australia needs to expand our economic relationship with Indonesia, a G20 member right next door, but not even one of our top 10 trading partners. Indonesia's economy is projected to more than double in size by 2030, yet the number of Australian businesses with a presence in Indonesia has shrunk from 450 to a paltry 250 over the past decade. We need to turn this around. But, if our focus is simply on turning a buck, the relationship will always be shallow and transactional. We need to break through the ignorance identified by former Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who, when addressing this parliament in 2010, noted:

… the most persistent problem in our relations—

between Australia and Indonesia—

is the persistence of age-old stereotypes—misleading, simplistic mental caricature that depicts the other side in a bad light. Even in the age of cable television and internet, there are Australians who still see Indonesia as an authoritarian country, as a military dictatorship, as a hotbed of Islamic extremism or even as an expansionist power. Other the hand, in Indonesia there are people who remain afflicted with Australiaphobia—those who believe that the notion of White Australia still persists, that Australia harbours ill intention toward Indonesia …

Language and cultural literacy are the foundation upon which Australia and Indonesia can build a deeper relationship—cultural, strategic and economic; a long-term relationship built on genuine interest in Asia, developed from a young age.

We need more programs like the one at Williamstown High, because those kids will be the ones who go on to perfect their Bahasa Indonesian at university, who will have the capability to do more than simply scratch the surface when they take internships in Indonesia, and who will build more meaningful and lasting business and personal relationships with individuals in our countries. Mrs Bettina Gorton will just be the first in a long line of Australian visitors able to engage with Indonesians in their own language, not as an exception ringing out over the decades but as the new normal—a new normal in the relationship between Australia and Indonesia; a deeper, stronger, more comprehensive relationship for the 21st century.

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