2) Dekai gradually recovers, actors allegedly take advantages of clash situation
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1) Is Indonesia Australia’s ‘most important’ security partner?
15 Oct 2018|Evan Laksmana
In late August, Indonesia and Australia signed a new comprehensive strategic partnershipagreement during Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s visit to Jakarta. The document provides a new long-term framework for the bilateral relationship as part of a broader Indo-Pacific vision. Defence cooperation is a central component of that vision.
The relationship between the Indonesian defence force (TNI) and the Australian defence force (ADF) has been on the upswing. In early September, the Indonesian navy participated in Exercise Kakadu, Australia’s largest maritime exercise involving 27 countries. And in 2016, the Indonesian army held a joint training exercise in Darwin as part of Exercise Wirra Jaya, which is now an annual event. It was the first time an Indonesian unit had trained on Australian soil since 1995.
Back in July, senior leaders of the armed forces agreed to hold more joint TNI–ADF exercises and training in 2019 and 2020.
Such developments reinforce the common refrain in the Australian strategic community that Indonesia is the country’s ‘most important’ regional security partner.
This notion goes back to the 1995 Agreement to Maintain Security, the first defence agreement between the two countries. Although the pact was scrapped after the 1999 Australian-led UN intervention in East Timor, the 2006 Lombok Treaty revived the narrative.
The 2009 defence white paper noted that ‘Australia’s relationship with Indonesia remains our most important defence relationship in the immediate region’. Despite the bilateral crises and hiccups over the past decade, that view has persisted among Australian officials and analysts. The 2016 white paper stated that a ‘strong and productive relationship with Indonesia is critical to Australia’s national security’. Most recently, one former senior Department of Defence official argued that Indonesia remains ‘the country of most importance to Australia and our long-term security’.
But this story of Indonesia’s importance is inaccurate.
First, Indonesia has never been the largest recipient of funding from Australia’s defence cooperation program (DCP). That position has been held by Papua New Guinea since the 1970s. Indonesia wasn’t even always the highest DCP recipient among Southeast Asian nations.
After the Lombok Treaty, DCP funding to Indonesia averaged around A$4.4 million per year. But compared to other DCP recipients over the past two decades, Indonesia ranked second-highest only twice (2006–07 and 2016–17). Most often, Indonesia ranked third (12 years), fourth (two years), fifth (three years) or sixth (once, in 2000–01).
The DCP may not be the only form of defence engagement, but historically it constitutes the bulk of it, and the available DCP data provides a powerful measure that is difficult to ignore.
Second, Indonesia has never been Australia’s most important training partner. That title belongs to the United States.
Bilateral exercises with Indonesia amount to only around 8% (37 out of 449) of all ADF bilateral exercises between 1997 and 2015. The United States, New Zealand, Thailand, Papua New Guinea and Malaysia have had more exercises with Australia than Indonesia has in that period.
Third, Indonesia and Australia don’t have a well-developed and institutionalised arrangement for defence technological cooperation or defence industrial collaboration.
Policymakers only recently explored the possibility of industrial collaboration. In late 2016, Australia and Indonesia agreed to work together on developing an armoured vehicle based on the design of Thales Australia’s Bushmaster.
But such efforts pale in comparison to the low level of Indonesia–Australia technological cooperation. From 1969 to 2016, for example, Australia sent patrol boats, fighter aircraft, and light transport and maritime patrol aircraft to Indonesia. Most of the vessels, however, were provided during the Cold War and are by now around 40 years old.
Indeed, according to a survey of Indonesian recipients of Australian education and training programs, the lack of technological cooperation remains one of the big stumbling blocks in defence collaboration.
Taken together, these indicators suggest that Australia has more important security partners than Indonesia. Instead, Indonesia’s significance to Australia’s strategic geography and the historical volatility of bilateral ties seem to have driven the narrative.
In any case, to ensure that the broad vision outlined in the new partnership agreement can materialise, both Jakarta and Canberra need to stabilise and institutionalise bilateral defence ties. One of the first steps needs to be to stop saying that Indonesia is Australia’s most important security partner. After all, that label is not only inaccurate, but also raises unnecessary and unrealistic expectations of what defence cooperation can accomplish.
AUTHOR
Evan Laksmana is a senior researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta. Image courtesy of the Department of Defence.
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2) Dekai gradually recovers, actors allegedly take advantages of clash situation
Jayapura, Jubi – Security situation in Dekai, the capital city of Yahukimo District, is getting recovered gradually. However, public activities in this town still not running well after the dispute involving residents a few days ago. Streets and the centre of the crowd are reportedly abandoned.
“Many people still decide to stay outside of the town. Schools, offices and shops are still closed. “I had a little walk this morning and only met some people riding their motorbikes,” a Deyai resident Nias Baye told Jubi by phone on Tuesday (9/10/2018).
He hopes the government of Yahukimo District to appeal residents returning to their homes. “The clash is over, but many residents are worried about their safety. Therefore, they choose to remain in their shelters. Shops should also be reopened so that we can buy our necessities and other things,” he said.
The clash triggered by a traffic accident occurred on Saturday that led to a dispute between two groups of citizens in Dekai for three days, from Saturday to Monday (8/10/2018).
Actors allegedly take benefits of the situation
Papuan legislator from Yahukimo District Sinut Busup suspects someones who take advantages of the clash situation. He said the traffic accident should possibly resolve by law, but what has happened was the two groups of citizens involved in the dispute and resulted in many casualties including many injured people and material loss.
“I suspect there are culprits behind the action who provoke the community for their interests,” Busup said on Tuesday (10/10/2018).
According to him, the police must investigate, reveal and arrest the perpetrators who provoke people that triggering a dispute. Moreover, he said another impact of this incident is students and pupils studying in other regions are worried and anxious about an unexpected situation in their hometown.
Meanwhile, Yahukimo Regent Abock Busup said the security forces are coping with the clash in this region. “At the moment, the situation in Yahukimo is safe and under control. I have already communicated the security forces asking them to investigate this case thoroughly,” the regent told Jubi by phone on Monday evening (8/10/2018).
He further said he wants this case to take to the court and not through the customary fines or an amicable solution. “I ask the person who triggers this conflict to be arrested and taken to court,” he said.
Law is a key solution
In response to this issue, a member KPMY (Yahukimo Students Community) in Jayapura Habel Pusop said their concern over the clash in their hometown that has taken many casualties.
“We are very concerned about the current situation in Yahukimo. At the moment, the situation is very tense that makes people uneasy. The government activity is not running well, so, we are in Jayapura feeling very sad,” he said.
Furthermore, he said this incident should be determined by law. People who found guilty in this incident must be treated by the Indonesian Law so that people can return to their normal activities without feeling worried.
“The problem was triggered by only one person, but the impact of revenge caused many casualties from both sides. As a student, we care, are upset and sad at the same time,” he said.
Finally, he asks all Yahukimo students throughout Indonesia, especially those studying in Jayapura City, are not provoked by many fake issues or hoax news about this issue. (*)
Reporter: Piter L, Arjuna P, Hengky Y
Editor: Pipit Maizier
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