November 9, 2004

Our Mate in Jakarta

In a wide-ranging interview, Indonesia’s president talks of a new era in regional relations, economics, defence and anti-terrorism. Eric Ellis spoke with him at the Istana Merdeka

The decorated former general, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is the fifth  Indonesian president in six years, so it’s not surprising there is deep scepticism among weary Indonesians - and their neighbours - about whether he has the means, the cabinet or the political muscle to overcome a crippling cycle of terror, poverty, corruption and maladministration in the world's biggest Islamic country.

Interviewed during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan in the Istana Merdeka, a cloistered sanctuary from the polluted chaos of Jakarta he tells The Bulletin of his plans to fight terrorism, eradicate corruption, restore Indonesian institutions and the rule of law, rebuild the economy – Indonesia is the last to emerge from the region’s mid-’90s crisis – and restore Indonesia to its first-among-equals position in the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). “I want our country to become normal,” he says.

Relations, he says, with the regionally resurgent Australia are a priority. SBY, as Indonesians know him, is comfortable with Australia, a country he knows well – his 22-year-old son, Ehdi, is a student in the business faculty of Perth’s Curtin University – and he is regarded as the most Australia-friendly of all Indonesia’s presidents. His cabinet is sprinkled with intimate Australian connections. After the Bali bombs and the September attack on Canberra’s Jakarta embassy, Indonesia can only improve for Australians.

SBY has firm ideas on his country’s relations with John Howard’s re-elected government. The first suggestion of better times bilaterally was signalled by the unprecedented presence of Howard at Yudhoyono’s October 20 inauguration, alongside the leaders of all Indonesia’s neighbours except Papua New Guinea. Howard was criticised in Australia but in Jakarta it was precisely the right move to make.

The fact that he’s doing interviews with foreign media is itself a sign that SBY plans a more communicative and transparent administration than the regime of his mercurial predecessor, Megawati Sukarnoputri. SBY says he wants to modernise the presidency; already a “West Wing-style” team of young, often foreign-educated advisers have slotted into crucial positions at the palace. Megawati did not do a single interview in her three years as president. Just one week after his inauguration, SBY has spoken to American magazines, Japanese newspapers and The Bulletin.

SBY says there’s nothing between Indonesia and Australia that cannot be solved by dialogue. But there are limits. Defence treaties are out, as are Australian military boots on the ground. So, too, are pre-emptive strikes by Australian strike forces on terrorists who threaten Australia from afar. “[Australian troops] are absolutely not necessary,” SBY tells The Bulletin.

“With good co-operation, there will be no need for the presence of the Australian military or police in Indonesia. That would only create problems for Indonesian people, who could wrongly perceive that as a form of intervention.”

Likewise a defence treaty to replace the Keating-Suharto pact junked by Indonesia during the 1999 East Timor militia crisis, when Australian boots lay prints on what was then Indonesian soil. “We don’t need to create security or defence pacts because, even in South-East Asia, we’ve never thought to create such pacts,” SBY says.

“Dialogue and co-operation in security should be at the forefront. What we need is a forum for dialogue between Indonesia and Australia to initiate talk on how regional security can be well managed. I will push strongly to create such a forum.”

Pre-emptive strikes? John “Deputy Sheriff” Howard’s enthusiasm for long-range missile systems? “Any developments about doctrine or anything related to the missile systems should be delivered through open dialogue and be discussed so that it will not create misperceptions to each other’s intentions, or wrong understandings,” SBY says.

“I want to highlight the importance of dialogue so the wrong perception will not happen. What we really need is dialogue between our countries to discuss security problems; we need co-operation to make sure that security in this region will grow properly. We certainly have common issues, such as illegal migration and terrorism, and with bilateral co-operation, these issues can be well handled.”

On Jemaah Islamiyah, the branch office of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network responsible for the Bali nightclub bombings and the deadly September embassy assault, SBY, a former security minister, says: “As we know, the organisation known as Jemaah Islamiyah was set up and operated in Malaysia. It is very possible that the people, not necessarily using the name of Jemaah Islamiyah, are in Indonesia.

 “The main issue is no longer whether there is or is not such a formal organisation called Jemaah Islamiyah. What is important is whoever performs the act of terrorism in Indonesia, JI or any other groups.

“We will undertake all of our effort to prevent and fight terrorism. We will take stern action against terrorists. We will not give room for terrorists to develop and perform acts in Indonesia.”