Attack on Indonesian Embassy

The Indonesian embassy in Canberra has received a letter containing a white powder, which has been confirmed to be a biological agent but not fully identified as yet. The government and police are taking it extremely seriously, as you would expect.

The Sydney Morning Herald, though, has turned it into an opportunity for whiplash-inducing front page hypocritical spin:

The terrorist who launched the suspected biological attack on the Indonesian embassy has turned Schapelle Corby's problem into Australia's problem.

The government has confirmed that the letter does appear to be linked to the Corby case, so this is substantially correct.

The populist hysteria over Corby's sentencing, which looked like a simple case of the media indulging wilful ignorance in pursuit of ratings, has turned into a serious national incident.

And guess who was right there with the leaders of that populist hysteria?

Australia's relationship with Indonesia is not like, say, Australia's relationship with Brunei or France. It is not just another bilateral set-up with another country, but a vital part of Australia's strategic landscape.

Australia has a relationship with Brunei or France?

By immediately condemning the apparent attack and apologising to the people and Government of Indonesia, John Howard has tried to contain the damage to Australia's relations with its only strategically important near neighbour.

No. By immediately condemning the apparent attack and apologising to the people and Government of Indonesia, John Howard immediately condemned the apparent attack and apologised to the people and Government of Indonesia.

By the way, on the subject of strategically important near neighbours, how many near neighbours does Australia have? Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, East Timor (which is tiny) and New Zealand (which has largely withdrawn from world events).

This is the right thing to do, but it seems unlikely it will be enough. "This is shocking," said the head of the Lowy Institute for International Policy, Alan Gyngell. "It is a serious terrorist attack on the mission of a friendly country. There will be outrage in Indonesia, an outrage the Australian political leadership will share."

Uh, yeah.

It is appalling. The Australian political leadership is outraged.

While the official Australian reaction to the sentencing of Corby has been sane and reasonable, it is the extremist reaction that will make the biggest impression in Jakarta.

Australia transformed its relationship with Indonesia with its swift, humane and generous response to the suffering of the country's tsunami victims. But the enormous goodwill Howard achieved will be thoroughly undermined by the hatred shown in the last few days.

Australia has always treated honestly with Indonesia, something Australia now on trial
By Peter Hartcher
June 2, 2005
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COMMENT

The terrorist who launched the suspected biological attack on the Indonesian embassy has turned Schapelle Corby's problem into Australia's problem.

The populist hysteria over Corby's sentencing, which looked like a simple case of the media indulging wilful ignorance in pursuit of ratings, has turned into a serious national incident.

Australia's relationship with Indonesia is not like, say, Australia's relationship with Brunei or France. It is not just another bilateral set-up with another country, but a vital part of Australia's strategic landscape.

By immediately condemning the apparent attack and apologising to the people and Government of Indonesia, John Howard has tried to contain the damage to Australia's relations with its only strategically important near neighbour.

This is the right thing to do, but it seems unlikely it will be enough. "This is shocking," said the head of the Lowy Institute for International Policy, Alan Gyngell. "It is a serious terrorist attack on the mission of a friendly country. There will be
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outrage in Indonesia, an outrage the Australian political leadership will share."

While the official Australian reaction to the sentencing of Corby has been sane and reasonable, it is the extremist reaction that will make the biggest impression in Jakarta.

Australia transformed its relationship with Indonesia with its swift, humane and generous response to the suffering of the country's tsunami victims. But the enormous goodwill Howard achieved will be thoroughly undermined by the hatred shown in the last few days.

Indonesians will be tempted to suspect that the true Australian attitude to their country is not one of support and goodwill but one contained in a packet of poison. The truth is it's both.

The violent mood swing in popular Australian attitudes to Indonesia, from sweetness in December to bitterness in June, does not mean that either is false.

Both are be genuinely held, but neither is guided by knowledge or comprehension.

The extreme mood change is only possible because of the lack of understanding and trust in the relationship. As former foreign minister Gareth Evans once observed, no two neighbours anywhere on earth are more different from each other.

This lack of the ballast of real knowledge means that relations can swing so skittishly, blown by the bluster of media populism.

It is emblematic of the mutual ignorance and suspicion in the relationship that what appears to be the first biological terrorist attack on Australian soil should be aimed at the official representation of Jakarta.

One of the first casualties is likely to be the prisoner exchange agreement that Australia is trying to negotiate with Jakarta. Any such deal would need to be ratified by the Indonesian parliament.

But the chances of Indonesian political opinion being sympathetic to any such deal now appear remote. Any further damage is difficult to predict. It is certain, however, that this act can only hurt Australia's national interests.

Australia can only hope that further damage is minimal, and that the country has learned a lesson about the danger of indulging in the cheap and ugly politics of racial and jingoist vilification.

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