Australia and Indonesia - Security Agreement: Turbulent Waters

Australia and Indonesia are distant neighbours. Their maritime borders run alongside one another but there is little political, military and cultural contact between the two. At all levels, mutual suspicion is more common than mutual cooperation. Australia is the largest ‘western’ nation in the east, and Indonesia the world’s most populous Islamic state, with ten times as many people. Despite democratic government in Jakarta, old suspicions still linger. New proposals may still not put things right.