Well that has changed over time as Australia experiences a demographic shift. For instance, many (white) Australian don't mind minorities celebrating Lunar New Year in Australia and they gradually accept it as a social norm. Sure, not everyone in here feels comfortable of it, but many (white) Australian have increasingly become accommodating to Asian culture, tradition and custom.
I think most of the time it's just a facade, maskirovka whatever you call it. Of course, on the surface, we are past the time when people could openly talk xenophobic issues out loud. But something tells me, that while there's a marked improvement in multi-cultural acceptance, I believe this will not last long. People will eventually identify themselves with people that share the most similarities, be it skin color, language, faith. It's just basic human intuition. Especially when things turned for the worse.
And that's where we go into the politics, as much as IKAHAN's twitter account likes to post feel-good posts about Indo-Australian military partnership, no one should be fooled by what Australia's higher-ups really think. If China's assertiveness which is 7500km away from Canberra could make them itchy and confrontative, there's every reason to think that Australia has an interest to keep another giant closer at home at bay. In the end, Australia is a predominantly white, Christian nation with Liberal values, and Indonesia is a brown, Muslim-majority country that doesn't like Western values at large. There could be no more deepening of relationships other than pragmatic ties.
At this point, for Australia, Indonesia is nothing more than a trading partner for businessmen and a holiday destination for average Joe. I have never seen anyone talking up Indonesia as an existential threat as a non-white country in the last 20 years.
Because Indonesia is punching below its weight and Indonesia has more or less accepted U.S leadership in the region since at least 1965. This must be reversed in the long term of course, but at the moment it is what it is.
If Indonesia decides to let's say massively rearm, China style, becoming more assertive, we will see the West treating us as a rogue state, I don't mind being seen as rogue. There's some sort of honor in that. But (for Indonesians here) never ever think that the West's softening to us is some sort of Indonesia's diplomatic triumph, rather it's a showcase of Indonesia's weak ability to project power.
I am nearly positive Australian in general don't mind continuing military cooperation with Indonesia, including joint military training & weapon supply as long as both countries share the view that their national security is primarily threatend by China.
Same here as well. When it comes to military exercise, The West gets to send their political manouvering to China and Indonesia gets to adopt the latest in Western military tactics to keep up with progress in military science. That's win-win.
tirto.id
en.yna.co.kr
