- The Strategist - https://www.aspistrategist.org.au -
Suharto’s ASEAN versus the ASEAN Community
Posted By Graeme Dobell on March 26, 2018 @ 06:00
Q: Given the closeness of the relationship, trust has been restored, should Australia join ASEAN, would that be an option and would you support it?
Jokowi: I think it’s a good idea.
Q: Do you think it would be supported by other countries?
Jokowi: I don’t know. (laughs)
Q: Why do you think it’s a good idea?
Jokowi: Because our region will be better, [for] stability, economic stability, and also political stability. Sure, it will be better.
Negotiations for an interview with President Jokowi began with staff from his office months before I moved to Jakarta. The President's staff understood at least two weeks in advance that there would be specific questions about Australia joining ASEAN and it was quite apparent during our interview that he had been well briefed on the topics we planned to ask about. On several other issues during the interview, such as whether Indonesia should consider joining the quadrilateral dialogue, he was more than willing to disagree with or dismiss propositions put to him.
With careful preparation and subtle diplomatic persuasion I believe it would have been possible in the 1980s or early 1990s for Australia to join. Sceptics did not believe our initiative to establish APEC in 1989 would succeed. It did in only ten months from the announcement of the intention to the first ministerial meeting in Canberra. I can see no intrinsic reason why it would not have been possible to achieve Australian membership of ASEAN at that time. In foreign policy symbolism is important. That is one reason why Australia should have seized the opportunity to become a republic in 1999. Australian membership of ASEAN would symbolise in a decisive way our place in our own neighbourhood. We are not Asian but we live in South East Asia and the South West Pacific region. Nor are we Melanesian or Polynesian but we are in the South Pacific Forum. Membership of ASEAN would also have underpinned our security and strengthened our commercial opportunities in the region.
Article printed from The Strategist: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au
URL to article: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/suhartos-asean-versus-asean-community/
[1] political-security: http://asean.org/asean-political-security-community/
[2] economic: http://asean.org/asean-economic-community/
[3] socio-cultural: http://asean.org/asean-socio-cultural/
[4] fourth industrial revolution: https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/379401/asean-fourth-industrial-revolution-rci.pdf
[5] changing ASEAN: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/southeast-asia-comes-sydney-meeting-message-meaning-mateship/
[6] Sydney summit: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/asean-australia-peer-summit/
[7] Australia could eventually join ASEAN: https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/indonesian-president-widodo-says-australia-should-be-in-asean-20180315-p4z4ha.html
[8] Australia as an ASEAN Community partner: https://www.aspi.org.au/report/australia-asean-community-partner
[9] memoir: https://books.google.com.au/books?id=BFrqPQAACAAJ&dq=richard+woolcott&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwify-LMoIHaAhWMw7wKHXEAAUoQ6AEIMTAB
[10] Anthony Milner: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/asean-australia-summit-success-false-leads/