Joint media statement - Sydney
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Today, I am standing alongside my friend, Indonesian President Bapak Prabowo Subianto, to make what is a historic announcement. The governments of Australia and Indonesia have just substantively concluded negotiations on a new bilateral treaty on our common security. Australia's relationship with Indonesia is based on friendship, trust, mutual respect, and a shared commitment to peace and stability in our region.
This treaty is a recognition from both our nations that the best way to secure that peace and stability is by acting together. It signals a new era in the Australia-Indonesia relationship. The treaty is predominantly based on the landmark security agreement signed by the Keating and Suharto governments 30 years ago. It will build on the 2006 Lombok Treaty that, among other things, reaffirmed Indonesia's territorial integrity and sovereignty. It also builds on the Defence Cooperation Agreement that we signed together last year.
This treaty will commit Australia and Indonesia to consult at a leader and ministerial level on a regular basis on matters of security to identify and undertake mutually beneficial security activities, and, if either or both countries security is threatened, to consult and consider what measures may be taken either individually or jointly to deal with those threats.
This is a watershed moment in the Australia Indonesia relationship. This treaty represents a major extension of our existing security and defence cooperation. It shows the relationship is as strong as it has ever been, and that's a great thing for our region and for the people of both Australia and Indonesia.
I hope to travel to Indonesia in January next year, at the President's invitation, to formally sign the new treaty after it has gone through our domestic processes.
I now hand to the President for his remarks.
PRABOWO SUBIANTO, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA: Thank you, Honourable Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister of Australia; ministers, high ranking officials, senior officers of the Australian Defence Forces and Australian Navy; the Captain of the HMAS Canberra; distinguished members of the media. I would like to once again thank the Government of Australia, the Prime Minister of Australia and his Government for receiving me.
This is my first state visit to Australia, although I've been here many times, and I'm pleased to have been received by the Governor-General this morning. We had very good discussions, and we concluded an important agreement, an important treaty between Australia and Indonesia, committing ourselves to close cooperation in the defence and security fields, and essentially reaffirming our determination to enhance our friendship and to as partners, as close neighbours, our determination to maintain the best of relationship in order to enhance and guarantee security of both our countries. I think essentially that is the purpose.
I mentioned many times that we cannot choose our neighbours, especially countries like us. It is our destiny to be direct neighbours. So, let us face our destiny with the best of intentions. I believe in the good neighbour policy. Good neighbours are essential. Good neighbours will help each other in times of difficulties. And in the Indonesian culture, we have a saying. When we face an emergency, it is our neighbour that will help us. Maybe our relatives will remain far away, but our neighbours are the closest. And only good neighbours will help each other.
I think that concludes my remarks. I better not speak too much. As politicians, you know, we tend to speak a lot in front of the media. But once again, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, thank you very much for receiving me in such a grand manner. You know, I think your intelligence is very good; you know that I like bagpipes, so I'm received by bagpipes. And thank you very much.
The term "alliance" is a dirty word in Indonesia.
As one of the founding members of the "Non-Aligned Movement", Indonesia from its early days was clear that it did not want to be on either side of a polarised world.
In that vein, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto often utters a Chinese proverb: "One thousand friends are too few, one enemy is too many."
The president even did so in Mandarin at a business forum in Beijing last year.
But much of that rhetoric was put to the test on Wednesday, when standing on board HMAS Canberra alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Prabowo announced that Indonesia and Australia had agreed to an upgraded security treaty.
While the full text is yet to be revealed and signed, it appears it would hold Australia and Indonesia to hold leader and ministerial consultations on matters of common security, to develop cooperation, and to consult each other in the case of threats and consider individual or joint measures.
What this will mean in practice depends on who you ask.
The ABC understands it means Indonesia would be required to share information on matters that would be important for Australia's security, and vice-versa.
For example, if Russia wanted to develop a base in West Papua, Indonesia would have to consult Australia on that.
Analysts say the treaty still appears to give both countries a fair amount of wiggle room, allowing Indonesia and Australia space to pursue their own interests and key priorities.
And, in the end, a treaty offers no guarantees and is only as good as the word — and actions — of whoever holds the reins of government.
But it may still be a crucial strand in what the foreign minister has called a "web of relationships" with countries of this region.
Or as one Australian government figure told the ABC on Wednesday, echoing a former prime minister: "This is finding our security in Asia."
Indonesia's motives are less clear
For Australia, the motivation to lock up a treaty with Indonesia is clear.
Indonesia is the fourth-largest country in the world, the largest in South-East Asia, and is a crucial player in the region.
Indonesia's motives, given it may be testing the boundaries of its policy of non-alignment, are less clear.
However, it's not entirely surprising when viewed from Prabowo's recent approach to the world stage.
In one moment, he's caught on a hot mic with Donald Trump talking about contacting US president sons, and giving and receiving effusive praise for the American leader.
In another, he's standing alongside Chinese President Xi Xinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un, watching a display of China's military prowess.
Some analysts have said his foreign policy approach lacks a coherent strategy.
Others would say the former military commander is making important friends at a time when the world order is uncertain and challenging.
Both could be true.
What is clear is that countries in the Asia-Pacific are looking for ways to counter China's assertiveness and growing influence in the region.
Indonesia might be growing its defence relationship with China, but it would likely appreciate some assurances from a friendly Australia that it can help provide checks and balances on the military superpower.
"This neighbour relationship is evolving and I think it's very important, especially in the era of an unstable security situation in the region," said Edna Caroline, a co-founder of Indonesian strategic and defence think tank ISDS.
"Especially China's rising and the United States pivoting, and like Australia, we live in this region, so we need to cooperate to enhance our mutual interest to have security and stability in the region."
Indonesian president's visit laden with symbolism
Prabowo's visit on Wednesday was also laden with symbolism, with the president visiting former prime minister Paul Keating shortly after the announcement.
Keating and Prabowo's former father-in-law, former Indonesian president Suharto, signed a sweeping security treaty three decades ago.
(Prabowo separated from Suharto's daughter, Titiek Soeharto, in 1998).
It was an enormous development for Indonesia at the time, the first bilateral security agreement it had entered into.
But the treaty was short-lived, torn up by Indonesia after Australia led an international force to bring security in East Timor, now Timor-Leste.
After time in the wilderness, Australia's defence and security relationship improved after the 2002 Bali Bombings, with a security deal, the Lombok Treaty, signed in 2006.
Analysts say the speed of this treaty, organised so quickly after a Defence Cooperation Agreement was finalised last year, speaks volumes about how much Prabowo must trust Australia.
It's understood Albanese first raised the treaty with Prabowo after the May federal election and it was negotiated in complete secrecy during meetings in New York and recently at ASEAN.
Australia's determination to keep these discussions firmly out of the public eye was another measure of the pact's sensitivity. The government would have been desperate not to endanger the agreement by letting the news slip out, risking a political debate in Indonesia or drawing the attention of other powers like China.
Treaties raise questions
The ABC has reported that Albanese went to lengths to inform Indonesia about the mutual defence "PukPuk" treaty with Papua New Guinea well before it was announced and signed.
It's a delicate issue, with Papua New Guinea bordering Indonesia's West Papua region, which has seen a decades-long, bloody conflict play out over independence, intensifying in recent years.
After the PukPuk signing, Indonesia said it expected Australia and PNG to respect its sovereignty and independence.
Analysts say Indonesians feel West Papua is their key security challenge.
Ultimately, the two treaties raise questions over what would happen if violence were to flare up at the West Papua-Papua New Guinea border.
At the time of the PukPuk treaty, an Indonesian foreign affairs spokesperson told the ABC that Indonesia's foreign policy principle of "free and active" diplomacy meant that "[Indonesia] avoids entering into agreements that resemble military or defence alliances with any country".
These issues, or the potential incongruity with Indonesia's non-alignment, appeared not to dissuade Prabowo from agreeing to this treaty.
While making the announcement, taking inspiration from an Islamic Hadith, or an account of the sayings of the Islamic prophet Mohammed, Subianto had a message for Australia.
"When we face an emergency, it is our neighbour that will help us," the president said.
"Our neighbours are the closest, and only good neighbours will help each other."
But both countries will surely be hoping that aphorism never faces the acid test of a real conflict over the years ahead.
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