AUSTRALIA-INDONESIA: A WARM LEADERSHIP RELATIONSHIP? THERE ISN'T ONE

By Ross B. Taylor AM

Under the leadership of Malcolm Turnbull, Indonesia and Australia enjoyed a noticeable improvement in the bi-lateral relationship. History shows that when both leaders enjoy genuine warmth and trust it pervades through the entire relationship, affecting policing, defence, business, trade and community.
Under Morrison's leadership - and because of the Jerusalem Embassy fiasco that left President Joko Widodo severely wedged between his need to immediately improve the perception of Indonesia's economic performance and the conservative Muslim faction and opposition wanting IA CEPA dumped - there really is now no trust or link-between the two leaders, and worse, neither seem to be in any rush to do anything about it.
What this means is that the IA CEPA trade deal will not be implemented for considerable time - maybe after the May 2019 election, if Labor win - and in the meantime the critical bi-lateral relationship between our two nations will just 'bumble along' as one that is purely transactional and nothing more.