{"id":43806,"date":"2018-11-23T11:00:06","date_gmt":"2018-11-23T00:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=43806"},"modified":"2018-11-23T10:27:19","modified_gmt":"2018-11-22T23:27:19","slug":"why-does-it-matter-to-indonesia-if-australia-moves-its-embassy-to-jerusalem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/why-does-it-matter-to-indonesia-if-australia-moves-its-embassy-to-jerusalem\/","title":{"rendered":"Why does it matter to Indonesia if Australia moves its embassy to Jerusalem?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Indonesia and Australia were supposed to sign their long-awaited bilateral free-trade agreement last week at the East Asia Summit in Singapore. But the deal has apparently been put on hold.<\/p>\n

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said translation issues<\/a> were partly to blame for the delay. But it\u2019s hard to deny that Australia\u2019s plan to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem loomed large<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some Australian officials and politicians believe the embassy proposal is foolhardy, while others say that Indonesia shouldn\u2019t \u2018dictate\u2019 Australian foreign policy. The issue, of course, isn\u2019t about who dictates what. It\u2019s simply that, as Newton\u2019s third law says, \u2018For every action, there\u2019s an equal and opposite reaction\u2019\u2014even in foreign policy.<\/p>\n

Will Jakarta unravel a trade deal that has taken years of painstaking negotiation over what some might argue is a \u2018symbolic\u2019, if not \u2018emotional\u2019, issue?<\/p>\n

The Israeli\u2013Palestinian conflict may not be Jakarta\u2019s bread-and-butter national interest. But it touches on one of the key foundations of Indonesia\u2019s foreign policy: the promise of independence and freedom from the debt of decolonisation.<\/p>\n

Indonesian President Joko \u2018Jokowi\u2019 Widodo said<\/a> that Indonesia\u2019s support for Palestine stems from President Sukarno\u2019s pledge in 1962: as long as Palestine is not independent, Indonesia will always stand opposed to Israel. That promise can be traced back to before Indonesia\u2019s independence in 1945. Palestinian nationalists then supported<\/a> Jakarta\u2019s quest and even helped persuade Egypt to recognise Indonesia.<\/p>\n

For better or worse, Palestine was part of the formative period of Indonesia\u2019s \u2018independent and active\u2019 foreign policy. But the support for Palestine doesn\u2019t mean that Indonesia\u2019s foreign policy is strongly \u2018Islamic\u2019.<\/p>\n

As the current Indonesian ambassador to the UK, Rizal Sukma, has written<\/a>, Islam has never been the defining framework for Indonesia\u2019s foreign policy. When the \u2018Islamic factor\u2019 comes into play, it is always driven by domestic political considerations.<\/p>\n

This brings us to the second reason for Indonesia\u2019s opposition to the embassy proposal: in an election year, a weak stance in the Israeli\u2013Palestinian conflict could become a rallying cry to upset Jokowi\u2019s re-election chances.<\/p>\n

Ever since Jokowi named Ma\u2019ruf Amin as his running mate, the opposing Prabowo Subianto\/Sandiaga Uno camp has found it difficult to exploit religious sentiments as they did when they brought down Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahja Purmana last year.<\/p>\n

The opposition has tried to scrape any potentially damaging issue, like the burning<\/a> of Hizbut Tahrir\u2019s flag by members of the Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia\u2019s largest Muslim organisation and a critical Jokowi supporter. So far, we have yet to see any serious snowball effect that might ruin Jokowi\u2019s re-election chances. But if Australia relocates its embassy, the opposition might finally have something.<\/p>\n

The opposition has often painted Jokowi as a \u2018neo-liberal\u2019 who is \u2018selling out the country\u2019, as evident in Prabowo\u2019s campaign speeches. The embassy move could inflame those attacks by adding a religious component.<\/p>\n

An official with the National Mandate Party (PAN), a member of Prabowo\u2019s coalition, noted that the proposal could affect Indonesians \u2018at grassroots<\/a>\u2019 level and \u2018some of them might be the radicals\u2019. Civil society groups have also warned that if Australia follows through on the proposal, moderate and radical groups will see it as a \u2018green light<\/a>\u2019 to \u2018punish Australia\u2019.<\/p>\n

While the economic benefits of a free-trade deal are significant, it is politically risky to be liberalising trade in an election year\u2014or \u2018opening up the country to foreigners\u2019, as the opposition might say\u2014especially with a country that might be seen as hurting the Palestinian cause.<\/p>\n

A combination of religious identity politics and anti-liberalisation rhetoric might be enough to give the Prabowo camp some momentum heading into the election.<\/p>\n

Finally, the embassy move reignites a dormant but significant perception in Jakarta: that Australia always follows America\u2019s lead, even it upsets its neighbours. Nadjib Riphat Kesoema, who served as ambassador to Australia from 2012 to 2017, even suggested<\/a> that the Australian government should \u2018distance yourselves a bit\u2019 from the United States.<\/p>\n

This highlights a more structural challenge in Indonesia\u2013Australia relations: Jakarta\u2019s perception that Australia is never fully part of the region because it can\u2019t say no to Washington.<\/p>\n

But that didn\u2019t stop Jakarta and Canberra from signing a comprehensive strategic partnership<\/a> in August\u2014which elevated Australia\u2019s position in Indonesia\u2019s foreign policy calculus to the same level as America\u2019s and China\u2019s. And the Australia\u2013US alliance also hasn\u2019t prevented Canberra from boosting its Indo-Pacific credentials or supporting ASEAN\u2019s centrality in regional architecture.<\/p>\n

Bottom line: Indonesia\u2019s resistance to Australia\u2019s embassy move is more than an \u2018emotional\u2019 issue. While Australia\u2019s alliance with America isn\u2019t a deal-breaker for Indonesia or the region, Canberra should craft a more calibrated approach in balancing its alliance with its regional commitments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Indonesia and Australia were supposed to sign their long-awaited bilateral free-trade agreement last week at the East Asia Summit in Singapore. But the deal has apparently been put on hold. Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":43808,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,8,240,377,2281],"class_list":["post-43806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australia","tag-indonesia","tag-israel","tag-joko-widodo","tag-scott-morrison"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy does it matter to Indonesia if Australia moves its embassy to Jerusalem? | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/why-does-it-matter-to-indonesia-if-australia-moves-its-embassy-to-jerusalem\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why does it matter to Indonesia if Australia moves its embassy to Jerusalem? | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Indonesia and Australia were supposed to sign their long-awaited bilateral free-trade agreement last week at the East Asia Summit in Singapore. 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