DO FRIENDS THREATEN?

The pachyderm on the patio

Kupang is at the bottom of West Timor.  It’s the largest city in far eastern Indonesia.  Imagine how Canberra would react if Jakarta allowed the People’s Liberation Army Air Force to station their armed jets just 830 km northeast of Darwin.

That’s an unlikely scenario unless the Indonesian Constitution banning overseas bases in the Republic is amended.  But even the few Australophiles dotted around the archipelago of strident nationalism must be asking:  What’s afoot? Do our Oz neighbors see us as a threat?

The 2016 Defence White Paper reasoned there was only a remote chance of a foreign invasion.  So why the current wariness?  It’s the question few ask and fewer answer.

The announcement that Tindal airfield near Katherine will get a $1.6 billion upgrade to bond with the United States’ military came after Indonesian President Joko Widodo left Australia this month.  During his two-day visit he addressed Federal Parliament:

‘As democratic and diverse countries, we must work hard, side by side, standing together to defend the values of democracy, tolerance and diversity and to prevent the world having a clash of civilisations.’ 

No mention of the military or defence, apart from noting that 40 army engineers and disaster managers had hurried to help with the bushfire crisis.

So far there’s been no sign Widodo was briefed about the Tindal decision which was welcomed by the Labor Opposition.  The mainstream media gave drumroll support with boys’ toys jargon aplenty. Here’s Channel 7’s report:

‘The improvements will include major runway extensions to accelerate the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter rollout, fuel stockpiles and engineering to support large aircraft like US Air Force B-52 strategic bombers and RAAF KC-30 air-to-air refuellers.

‘(These) will boost the capacity of the RAAF and US Air Force to conduct joint operations and training exercises over larger areas in the Indo-Pacific.’

Areas?  The biggest is Indonesia (five million square kilometers of land and sea), but doesn’t get named.  It’s the pachyderm on the patio.

The Australian’s foreign editor Greg Sheridan thinks the spending is ‘much more than getting ready for the new Joint Strike Fighter F-35 fifth-generation multipurpose jets that will be the spine of our air combat capability. 

‘The Tyndal (sic) upgrade is a key step in the progressive rollout of the US’s commitment to Australia and our theatre.”

Our theatre?  The biggest player in the region with the largest stage and 270 million performers is Indonesia.

Former intelligence chief Paul Dibb wants more than bombers.  He’s reportedly keen on land-based missiles for their ‘credible long-range strike capability’.  

Programmed to hit what targets?  If the threat that dare not speak its name is China, invasions and repulsions would be through or over Indonesia.  The Japanese had to first seize the then Dutch East Indies in 1942 to send bombers southwards.  While a flank attack through the Pacific Islands is possible, the likelihood excites few strategists.

Tindal is part of Australia’s northern muscle.  In 2011 the Gillard government allowed up to 2,500 US marines to be trained in the NT staying for six months at a time.

The agreement fixes the rotation for the next two decades. Foreign troops on Indonesian soil are a no-no.  In Australia they’re a yes-yes.

It’s not just about guns on the ground and in the air. Two years ago US Vice President Mike Pence revealed his country and ours will develop the Lombrum naval base on PNG’s Manus Island to put more warships into the region.  

The region? The deal involves Japan, but apparently not Indonesia. Manus is 700 km east of Jayapura, the capital of the Indonesian province of Papua. Tokyo is 4,260 km north. 

At the time Dr Evan Laksmana, a senior researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta, was one of the few wondering:  If the tactic was to head off China’s ambitions in Southeast Asia, why had Indonesia been ignored ‘almost entirely’?

In the Lowy Institute’s The Interpreter he wrote that ‘… engaging Indonesia should be part of the process.

‘While the process of infrastructure building and force restructuring might take several years, the TNI (Indonesian military) is set to ‘rebalance’ its forces from the western to the eastern part of Indonesia. 

‘Indonesia-Australia defence cooperation has increased markedly in recent years. But Australian strategic planning should not assume passive neutrality on the part of Indonesia in thinking about a future regional conflict.’

There’s a lengthy history of fear about Indonesia. In 1963 during the Vietnam War when first president Soekarno was snuggling close to Communism, Australia ordered 24 F-111 fighter bombers.  It was reported they could carry enough fuel to hit Jakarta and return to Darwin – a round trip of 5,400 km.

By the time they were delivered a decade late, Soekarno was dead and the capitalist General Soeharto in charge and nuzzling up to the West.  The F-111s were never used in combat and retired in 2010.

The B52s that will be using Tindal have a range of 14,000 km.

In 2018 the ABC quoted the US Commanding Officer in Darwin Colonel Russ Boyce saying the marines had enough expertise and equipment to respond if a conflict arose near the Top End capital during the rotation:
‘Of course, units that are forward deployed across the Indo-Pacific are there for purposes of security and stability.’

Does that policy include Indonesia?  If we’re not ‘side by side, standing together’ as Widodo says, crazies on both sides of the Arafura Sea will get ample space to upgrade their xenophobia and launch long-range conspiracy theories. 

 
 

First published in Pearls & Irritations, 25 February 2020
https://johnmenadue.com/duncan-graham-the-pachyderm-on-the-patio/

DARWIN'S LONE DIPLOMAT

Top End Man

When Indonesia’s consulate in Darwin was set up in the 1970s it was little more than an isolated office serving a former president’s personal business interests in outback Australia.

Now it’s become one of Indonesia’s most important outposts, in the front line of the Republic’s often edgy relationships with its southern neighbor.

When the issues aren’t the mistreatment of Australian cattle, poachers plundering Australia’s territorial waters, people traffickers smuggling Afghan asylum seekers, Australia jailing Indonesian children and US marines being posted in Darwin they’re even more portentous.

While consul Ade Padmo Sarwono was talking to The Jakarta Post communist North Korea announced a planned ‘satellite launch’ using a long range rocket that’s expected to plunge into the narrow seas between Australia and Indonesia.

Handling such a volatile catalogue of issues needs either a grizzled diplomat of the gravest demeanor heading for a coronary, or a nimble-minded operator with a deft touch. Ade, 50, falls into the second category.

He’s been in the job for only a couple of months, but has the qualities Australians love – frankness, a robust sense of humor and a no fuss approach to crises.

A handy preparation has been developing patience as director of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Political Security Cooperation, a position he held for more than six years.

“I learned early on that to work with ASEAN you had to play golf, sing karaoke and eat durian,” he joked.

“That’s all changed now, though getting the ASEAN countries (there are ten) to agree on anything isn’t easy - but it’s always better to be talking than fighting.”

One ASEAN success has been acceptance of the need for an overall approach towards disaster management, according to Ade. So while others see the controversial decision to station up to 2,500 US marines in Darwin as a threat, the consul thinks it could be a boon for emergency responses.

He should know. He was involved with a 20 nation disaster preparedness exercise in North Sulawesi last year when the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami hit Japan.

“It’s difficult to get the military, which has the hardware, and civil organizations with the expertise, to work together,” he said.

“It’s often a matter of protocols, but there are also suspicions. Our region is prone to disasters and it’s important that we all work together. I consider the US presence will contribute to disaster management.”

Darwin, the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory likes to call itself the Top End. It’s a tiny town by Indonesian standards with just 130,000 residents, and about half that number again in the 1.35 million square kilometer hinterland, most of it desert.

Indonesia maintains the only full-time professional consulate in Darwin so Ade’s diplomatic cocktail round is limited. The office opened when the late President Soeharto had NT cattle industry links to his Tri-S Tapos Ranch outside Jakarta.

Darwin promotes itself as the gateway to Asia. It’s only a one-hour flight from Kupang and 150 minutes from Denpasar. It’s unlikely to stay small. Construction of the AUD $34 billion (Rp 340 trillion) Ichthys Liquefied Natural Gas project is expected to attract thousands of workers.

Links with Indonesia go back centuries. Before Australia’s migration laws were tightened Makassan fishers were regular visitors, staying for months, sometimes taking their Aboriginal wives back to Sulawesi.

About 700 Indonesians live in the tropical multicultural city alongside many from Timor L’Este. Finding Indonesian food and conversation is easy. Thousands of Territorians see Bali as their rest and recreation center.

So while demonstrators around Monas might be screaming abuse at the US, in Darwin Ade and his seven staff could be bumping into American officers while pushing trolleys down supermarket aisles or sharing shade at the beach.

These first name contacts can come in handy should dangerous issues erupt. When your kids and theirs play together, and wives swap confidences at coffee chatathons, it’s difficult to spit hate whatever governments say.

Ade was born in Jakarta, the son of a lawyer and teacher with an enthusiasm for languages. He wanted to travel and thought flying planes was the ideal job. Instead he read politics at the University of Indonesia, then joined Foreign Affairs, studying international relations in Japan.

Before taking his present position he served with Indonesian missions in South Africa and Switzerland.

In his ASEAN job Ade had his childhood desire for travel so over-satisfied he was seldom home with his wife and eight-year old son. The lad now attends a government school and demands his Dad spend more time on the soccer field than in airport lounges.

Much of the consulate’s work is supporting Indonesians arrested for illegal fishing or people smuggling. There are 18 in juvenile detention and about 40 in prison, mainly waiting for their cases to be heard in court.

“We visit them regularly,” Ade said. “I’m satisfied with the care they’re getting. They get taken to the mosque on Fridays and can watch Indonesian TV. Last week there was a three-day old copy of Kompas in the jail – and I haven’t even read that edition!

“The problem is the delay between the men getting arrested and appearing in court. Sometimes this can take more than a year. We’re trying to help speed up the process through document verification in the provinces.”

(Most illegal fishers and crew on boats carrying asylum seekers don’t carry papers so their identity and age are hard to verify. Those proved to be under 18 are repatriated.)

“We are so close so I’m keen to promote more people-to-people relationships,” he said. “While many in distant Java speak English few do in nearby Nusa Tenggara which is sad.

“There should be more education contacts, but Australian government travel warnings are making that difficult.

“Darwin is far away but the world is changing fast. Everyone needs everyone else. We can’t live in isolation.”

(First published in The Jakarta Post 4 April 2012)A

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