Ross Taylor: Russian military base saga must be a wake-up call to Aus

Peter Dutton’s over-exuberant approach to the reports last week of Russia’s intention to establish a military base on Indonesian territory fortunately did not cause any diplomatic fall-out between Australia and our near neighbour.

Indonesia — whose people are fiercely patriotic thanks to over 300 years of occupation by the Dutch — will unlikely allow any foreign nation to establish a military base anywhere throughout the sprawling archipelago, and their foreign minister was quick to reassure a seemingly flat-footed Anthony Albanese, that the reports of Russia’s intention to develop a presence next door to Australia was incorrect.

While the Prime Minister was happy to close down this story, saying he was “close friends” with Indonesia’s recently elected President Prabowo Subianto — who actually admires strongman leaders such as Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin — this episode needs to be a wake-up call for our Government and general community about the now rapid strategic and economic changes taking place within our region.

Notwithstanding the rejection of suggestions about Russian bases being established in Indonesia, President Prabowo has made several trips to Moscow and Beijing over the past year with Russia enjoying a very strong trade as a seller of military equipment to Indonesia.

As part of their non-aligned approach, Indonesian forces have also engaged in naval exercises off Indonesian waters with their Russian counterparts — as they have done with the Australian defence force where we enjoy a high level of co-operation and regular contact.

So while we can rest easy about proposed Russian activity in our region for now, we need to do much more to build a higher level of trust and goodwill with our huge and economically emerging neighbour.

President Prabowo may indeed be considered a close friend” of our PM, but as anyone who studies Asian relations would know, a close relationship takes more than just a few quick trips and the occasional phone call.

The paradox therefore remains: Australia enjoys good relations with Indonesia, through defence, policing and business links, but simultaneously is unsure about these strangers next door. We slap a $190 per person fee plus 17 pages of questions on Indonesian would-be tourists wanting to holiday here, while we complain about their automatic $50 per person visa-on-arrival fee into Bali.

Yet it is these “suspicious” people to our north who are leading the remarkable transformation of our region, from being simply the suppliers of cheap labour to becoming the home of millions of well-educated and technically savvy populations; something US Vice President JD Vance obviously has failed to comprehend with his rude and ignorant comments about “Chinese peasants”.

What we need to do is embrace our friends from Indonesia, and partner them in areas such as education, medical supplies, financial services and rare-earth minerals along with hi-tech manufacturing, with both nations enjoying the benefits of this remarkable evolution of our neighbour into an advanced economy with shared values.

Ross B. Taylor AM is a former WA commissioner to Indonesia and Member of the UWA Public Policy Institute Advisory Board