Few bilateral relationships matter more to Australia than the one with Indonesia, and few have changed as much over the past 25 years. It is almost forgotten that Australia’s Cold War defence strategy was built around an assessed threat from Indonesia. That assessment shifted in the 1970s, but in the past two decades, the relationship has deepened to the point that Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has said there is ‘no more important partner for Australia than Indonesia.’

ASPI, marking its 25th anniversary this week, has occupied a distinctive place across this period of change – one shaped by the joint fight against terrorism, expanding trade and shared interests in regional stability and defence cooperation. ASPI has held open a space between policymakers, researchers and practitioners in both countries, keeping conversations alive even when official relations faltered.

ASPI has been a steady contributor to the intellectual and institutional life of the relationship. Formal agreements such as the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and the Jakarta Treaty provide the architecture, but the relationship depends on sustained non-government engagement, policy dialogue and think tank networks that furnish continuity and stability. Here, ASPI made its mark by building institutional knowledge and pressing Australian policymakers to see Indonesia as more than simply a neighbour.

In ASPI’s first decade, its Indonesia research was concerned above all with understanding the country in a post-Suharto era. The 2002 Bali bombings transformed Australia’s security relationship with Indonesia, yet ASPI recommended cooperation that reached beyond a shared terrorist threat. Joint counterterrorism work was only a band-aid to deeper wounds: sensitivities around Timor-Leste, where Jakarta saw Canberra abet the loss of its then youngest province, had already ruptured defence ties and unravelled the 1995 Agreement on Maintaining Security. Even so, ASPI sought common ground, publishing a report that gathered Indonesian and Timorese perspectives alongside Australian ones.

Arguably, ASPI’s most important contribution in this period was ideational. The 2008 report Seeing Indonesia as a normal country: implications for Australia, launched by then foreign affairs minister Stephen Smith, confronted Australia’s tendency to view Indonesia through episodes of instability, terrorism and crisis rather than as a large, democratising neighbour with its own interests and ability to choose. By addressing perception – one of the deepest problems in the relationship – ASPI helped lay the intellectual basis for deeper cooperation in defence, development and trade and became a bridge of trust.

The second phase, from 2011 to 2016, was defined by work to reinforce relations and manage tension. This was soon tested when in 2013, Edward Snowden exposed that Australian intelligence had wiretapped president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and several other senior officials. This revelation plunged relations into crisis. The 2015 executions of Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, members of the Bali Nine drug smuggling ring, further strained the relationship.

ASPI’s analysis created room to think about how Australia might rebuild trust without abandoning its own positions. Its earlier work on police cooperation had shown how collaboration might mature beyond counterterrorism. Meanwhile, as Indonesia’s power grew, ASPI produced a report in 2015 analysing its military modernisation. Beyond research, the organisation’s 2013 Australia–Indonesia Next Generation Defence and Security Forum deepened ties between practitioners and experts. The 2016 Lombok Dialogue, co-convened with the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia and building on that year’s inaugural defence and foreign ministers’ meeting, showcased ASPI’s role. The relationship’s restoration was demonstrated when Yudhoyono, whose phone had been tapped three years earlier, delivered the keynote at ASPI’s 2016 Defence White Paper conference.

The third phase, from 2017 until today, has seen sustained strategic dialogue on shared concerns. Defence is still the focus. In the work leading up to February’s Jakarta Treaty, ASPI staff pressed for practical, feasible cooperation in capacity-building, joint exercises and maritime security. But alongside defence, ASPI’s work on Indonesia has expanded to cover climate security, cybersecurity and hybrid threats. Its collaboration with the University of Indonesia, supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, produced Indonesia’s first virtual cyber diplomacy course.

The emphasis has shifted from understanding each other to solving shared problems and building capabilities, including through capacity-building workshops, professional development programs and private engagements with officials on both sides. ASPI has also produced two podcast series on the bilateral relationship: SBY’s Tears in 2021 and What’s in a Name? in 2022, interviewing prominent Australians and Indonesians.

People-to-people engagement has remained central. The organisation’s roundtables, seminars, and flagship events, such as the annual Defence Conference and the Sydney Dialogue, have welcomed prominent Indonesians. They have included former vice foreign minister Dino Patti Djalal, former National Resilience Institute head Andi Widjajanto, prominent defence thinker Curie Maharani and former presidential candidate Anies Baswedan. ASPI has also hosted many senior officials from Indonesia’s foreign ministry, defence ministry and national defence council. It has equally drawn prominent Australians, such as former defence minister Linda Reynolds and Special Envoy for Indian Ocean Affairs Tim Watts. ASPI has also hosted Indonesian fellows, including an army fellow, and today employs four staff members of Indonesian descent. This expertise helps ensure ongoing understanding of Indonesia’s role within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Outlook on the Indo-Pacific.

Across 25 years, ASPI has played a pivotal part in the Australia–Indonesia relationship. It has helped shape Australian perceptions of Indonesia, strengthened channels of communication and built institutional understanding across traditional and non-traditional security issues. Following the Jakarta Treaty, which marks a new high point in the bilateral relationship, ASPI is well placed to continue leading the way as a strategic think tank that supports the future development of Australia–Indonesia cooperation.

Significant ASPI publications on Indonesia