If Indonesia’s so important, why is Australia treating its people so badly?
From time to time, immigration concerns flare up in Australia and political fuses are lit. This fuse is being reignited, aided by Donald Trump’s aggressive crackdown by ICE in the US, but increasingly by harsh rhetoric from Liberal Party leadership candidates.
These debates are loud, emotional, and all too familiar. But amidst this noise, we run the risk of losing sight of the bigger picture – the long-term strategic and economic relationships that will shape Australia’s future. One of the issues we attach most importance to is our relations with Indonesia. And we’re not doing enough in that respect.
Australia often talks about the importance of its relationship with Indonesia, but we are going backwards on the practical foundations of that relationship. Support for Indonesian language education has eroded and our visa arrangements can make even routine family visits slow and uncertain. In an environment where Indonesia is widely predicted to become one of the world’s largest economies by mid-century, the rhetoric must be accompanied by patient work to build people-to-people connections befitting Indonesia’s strategic and economic weight. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s decision to make his first bilateral visit to Indonesia in 2022 and 2025 was a powerful symbol. However, the relationship now needs to be strengthened at a much more fundamental level.
While returning to Australia recently after my annual visit to Indonesia, a conversation with my wife’s sister was a reminder of how far we still have to go in our relations with our closest neighbour. It reminded me of their wish to send their daughter to Australia to study for an undergraduate degree, but costs made that impossible. Later, on the way to the airport, he mentioned something else; A basic tourist visa for family members wishing to visit Australia may take several months to be approved.
After months of research for my wife’s nephew, the numbers just didn’t match up. Indonesian students seeking a bachelor’s degree are often offered grants of up to $10,000. That doesn’t make much sense, considering undergraduate degrees cost upwards of $50,000 for foreigners, plus living expenses; especially in a country where the average annual wage is roughly $6,000. It takes decades for the average middle-class Indonesian family to overcome the financial and structural hurdles required to study in Australia.
Then there is language. I have two children who grew up speaking Indonesian in their early years. I loved listening to my wife speak Indonesian to them and watching their first words emerge in their language. Now I want them to continue this journey. But in Sydney, where we live, this turned out to be quite difficult. In Australia’s largest city, there is no easily accessible Indonesian language and culture school where our children can learn Indonesian as a second language.
My personal disappointment reflects a much larger national weakness. As Indonesia’s importance grows, fewer Australians are now learning Indonesian than in the 1970s. Some argue that this does not matter because English is widely spoken in Indonesia. But this misses the point. Speaking someone’s language is a sign of respect, and respect is the basis of trust. On my last trip, I walked into a restaurant and said, “Selamat hurts!” I said. And he asked in Indonesian if there was a table for two. The waiter smiled and replied: “Do you speak Bahasa Indonesian? Thank you.” It was a small moment, but it captured something policymakers might forget. Language is not just a tool; It is one of the highest expressions of respect and human connection.
At a time when immigration has become politically fraught, we cannot afford to confuse toughness with respect. It shouldn’t be easier for Australians to enter Indonesia (which they can do with a simple visa on arrival) than for Indonesians to visit Australia to meet family. The experience of most of my Indonesian family and friends is that it now takes longer for Indonesians to get a basic tourist visa to visit loved ones in Australia than it did for me to spend two months visiting my partner’s family in Indonesia.
If we fail to confront these problems by implementing greater mutual respect in our tourist visa system and getting serious about rebuilding educational pathways for those who want to learn the language and culture of our nearest neighbor, we will not only lose out on significant economic gains in the coming decades. We will also miss the opportunity to form deeper bonds based on respect and friendship. This would be a failure of both policy and imagination.
Hugh Hartigan is a former Treasury official and principal of Hartigan & Associates.
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