Indonesia-New Zealand relations: platform for a stronger ASEAN: Rahimah Abdulrahim, Ibrahim Almuttaqi and Steven Yohanes Polhaupesy assess the prospects for closer ties between New Zealand and ASEAN's largest member.

• Author: Abdulrahim, Rahimah
• Position: Essay

New Zealand's relationship with Indonesia has its roots in the latter's independence struggle. New Zealand was one of the first countries to recognise the new republic on its proclamation in 1949. But the establishment of diplomatic ties was long delayed, New Zealand not upgrading its representation in Jakarta until 1968. But the relationship remained relatively shallow, not helped by New Zealand's active participation in operations in opposition to Indonesia's Konfrontasi with Malaysia in the 1960s and later differences over East Timor issues. Today there are good and growing trade relations, while co-operation in other fields, especially tourism and education, is increasing.

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When President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono paid a state visit to New Zealand in 2005, it was agreed that the relationship between Jakarta and Wellington was 'good and stable'. But the Indonesian president and Prime Minister Helen Clark also agreed that the bilateral relationship was 'still way below its potential'. (1) This view was applicable across all levels of co-operation in the fields of politics-security, economics and socio-culture. A decade on from Yudhoyono's visit, 2015 marks the 40th anniversary of dialogue relations between New Zealand and ASEAN, of which Indonesia is a founding member. While Wellington has appointed a dedicated New Zealand ambassador to ASEAN in this important year, it might be asked why it has taken the country so long to do so. At the same time, 2015 has seen damaging headlines about New Zealand's intelligence agency intercepting electronic communications of Indonesian citizens. Although Jakarta did not respond to the revelations in the same way it did with a similar case involving Australia (Indonesia withdrew its ambassador and downgraded bilateral relations with Canberra), the news served to reinforce the suggestion that bilateral relations between Indonesia and New Zealand are marked by a certain degree of distrust and misunderstanding.

This article will examine the state of the bilateral relationship between Indonesia and New Zealand in the three fields of politics-security, economics and socio-cultural before offering some thoughts on how Jakarta-Wellington relations can and should be utilised to create a stronger ASEAN.

Bilateral relations

Politically, the Indonesia--New Zealand relationship was born out of Indonesia's independence struggle. In 1948 and 1949 New Zealand twice supported Indonesia's membership to United Nations bodies at a time when the republic was still engaged in a war of independence with its Dutch colonisers. (2) Moreover, the New Zealand government strongly criticised the Netherlands' 'police actions', supporting the decision to take the matter to the UN Security Council. When Indonesian independence was achieved with the transfer of sovereignty in December 1949, New Zealand was one of the first countries to recognise the new republic. New Zealand's minister for external affairs visited President Sukarno a month later. Interestingly, New Zealand support for Indonesia's independence was not confined to the government level. Dock labourers in Wellington refusing to load Dutch ships carrying supplies to the Dutch-controlled areas of Java during the war of independence. (3)

Despite this promising early start to the relationship, there was a significant delay before the two countries exchanged ambassadors. Indonesia's first ambassador to New Zealand did not arrive until 1958, almost a decade after Wellington's recognition of Indonesian independence.' (4) However, New Zealand's representation in Jakarta consisted of just a Colombo Plan office at that time. It was not until 1968 that New Zealand's representation to Jakarta was upgraded to full embassy status. (5) In some ways, this reflects what one academic has described as the 'uneasy' partnership between the two countries. While Wellington's early recognition of Indonesia's independence promoted positive political ties, such ties were 'shallow', with New Zealand seen to prefer ties with other South-east Asian countries that were part of the Commonwealth. (6) Indeed, during Indonesia's Konfrontasi with Malaysia, New Zealand military units were deployed on the island of Borneo in support of Malaysia and against...