Indonesia and Australia have a bit of a… complicated relationship. In general, Indonesians have very positive perceptions about negara kangaru (the kangaroo country), although they take exception when they think Australian politicians are trying to tell our government what to do.
On the other hand, many Australians’ experiences with Indonesia begin and end with the ‘holiday island’ of Bali (and media coverage about what happens to Australians in Bali), which may be why many Aussies have negative perceptions about the archipelago.
The recently released results of the The Lowy Institute Poll 2017, produced by the esteemed Sydney-based international policy think tank, show that Australians do think that their relationship with Indonesia is quite important but, at the same time, few realize (or accept) that Indonesia is a democracy — significantly fewer than a few years ago.
When asked, “In your personal view, how important is Indonesia to Australia?” 91% of respondents said very or somewhat important.
When asked, “Do you personally agree or disagree that Indonesia is a democracy?” only 27% of Australians agreed. The poll report notes that “this is a seven-point fall since the question was last asked in 2015, when 34% of Australians held this view, one year after the 2014 election of President Joko Widodo.”
As you are hopefully aware, Indonesia is and has been a democracy since the fall of Suharto’s New Order dictatorship in 1998. So why the sharp drop in Indonesia’s perceived democracy amongst Australians now? The report alludes to a general lack of awareness about Indonesia amongst Australians as a possible explanation. On Twitter, Aaron Connelly, a research fellow at the Lowy Institute, pointed to another, more likely, factor:
Significantly fewer Australians think Indonesia is a democracy than in the past. Unsurprising given Ahok case, and way it was reported here. pic.twitter.com/X07yspclSs
— Aaron Connelly (@ConnellyAL) June 20, 2017
That seems like a good explanation. In the methodology section of the report, it notes that the 1,200 Australian respondents were polled between March 1 and March 21 of this year. During that time, it is likely that the Jakarta gubernatorial election, and the massive protests organized by Islamic hardliners against former Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, were likely the most prominent story about Indonesia in the Australian media.
In other noteworthy findings from the survey, 52% of respondents said they have a great deal of trust in Indonesia ‘to act responsibly in the world’, compared to 90% for the UK, 61% for the US and 28% for Russia.
It also looks like we’re never going to be BFFs with the Land Down Under. When asked “Who is Australia’s best friend in the world?” New Zealand won by a wide margin with 53%, while the United States and the UK tied for second with 17% each. Only 1% said Indonesia.
For the full results of the survey you can go to the Lowy Institute Poll website or download the full PDF of the report.
