Spying scandal pulls focus from Indo-Australian culture gap

The row over Australia’s spying activities in Indonesia has thrown our political and diplomatic relationship into turmoil. But it’s the social and cultural links between the two countries which most need to be protected, local experts say.

Wenzel Sutantio, former president of the Indonesian Students Association at the University of Sydney, said the relationship between Indonesian and Australian citizens was not good.

“Generally Indonesians in Australia would find it difficult, and most of us would stay friends with Indonesians rather than trying to have Australian friends,” he told City Hub.

“A lot of people from Indonesia…want to got Australia to get a good language and get the culture of Australia, but they fail to do that because they don’t have Australian friends. They actually want to have Australian friends, but for some reason, it just doesn’t happen.”

Mr Sutantio has lived in Australia for five years, originally in Perth. He began his commerce degree at the University of Western Australia but moved here two years ago to complete his studies at the University of Sydney.

He said both countries could be accused of overreacting to the spying revelations.

“Personally I thought it was an irresponsible act, but I didn’t know that Indonesia had tapped Australia before in 2004,” he said. “When I found that out, I thought – maybe all nations do that.”

Mr Sutantio is concerned the incident might affect Indonesian students studying here. He called on Tony Abbott to offer an apology.

“I think he as a Prime Minister should be responsible and he should say sorry at least.”

Nicholas Mark, president of the NSW chapter of the Australia Indonesia Youth Association, said it was common for the diplomatic relationship to go up and down.

“It’s disappointing how it has spiraled out of control so quickly,” he said. “For us, though, it makes our mission and our purpose even more important.”

His organisation helps arrange social events for Indonesian speakers, information sessions about visas, and works with the Indonesian consulate in Australia.

Mr Mark said adverse media coverage was contributing to a perception problem about Indonesia. Australians’ interest in Indonesia is dropping, and he is concerned that we are becoming increasingly monolingual.

“The actual number of Australian students studying Indonesian in 1972 was higher than in 2011,” he told City Hub.

“It is incredibly important for Australians to know about Indonesia, to experience life and study in Indonesia [and] to understand their culture and way of life.”

Mr Mark acknowledged there were political motivations surrounding the reaction to these events in Indonesia, with a federal election scheduled next year. But he said that didn’t excuse Australian ignorance about the country, with many people unaware that it is a democracy.