"Indonesia Matures Me," Australian Foreigner And Very Well Views On Indonesia

Sean Turnell. (Facebook/Thabyay Education Foundation)

JAKARTA - Who doesn't know Australia? What is Australian citizen's view toward Indonesia? The relationship between the two countries actually has a long history. Along the way, the closeness between Indonesia and Australia is inseparable from the dispute.

During the fight between Indonesia and Malaysia, Australia intervened by siding with Malaysia. The Australian military, which was supporting Malaysia at the time, was involved in a battle with the Indonesian military in Borneo.

The reign of the New Order in Indonesia was a period of growing relations between Indonesia and Australia. However, during the separation of East Timor (now Timor Leste) from Indonesia in 1999, relations heated up again.

Indonesia considers that the separation of East Timor at that time was the influence of Australia's interference. At this time, relations between the two countries were also slightly disrupted by the attitude of several Australian congresses that allowed the entry of refugees from the Free Papua Organization (OPM) movement into the Australian region.

Then, news of asylum seekers and wiretapping by Australian intelligence to law firms in Indonesia, and Australia's abstention to the information, led Indonesia to start questioning the relationship of friends or opponents with Australia.

Australian Citizen and Views on Indonesia

Maddy Considers Bali Her Own Home

Maddison Bree or Maddy is an Australian woman who since childhood has lived and studied in Bali. He loves tradition and is fluent in Indonesian as well as the local language.

"Bali is already my own home. So the love that exists for Bali and Indonesia is huge," said Maddy.

Isobel Bain's response while living in Bali during COVID-19

At the time the Australian Consulate-General in Bali had urged its citizens to leave Indonesia, while warning that the health system was unable to handle the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a video posted on the official Facebook account of the Australian Embassy to Indonesia, on Friday (03/04), Australians are encouraged to consider returning to their home countries.

Meanwhile, Australian citizen Isobel Bain, who lives in Bali, said that the current conditions had been much more normal than two months ago. While she still pays attention to many people in Bali who do not practice the discipline of keeping a good distance. She said at the beginning of April, many people had not kept two meters between each other and did not wear masks.

''I didn't see any restrictions on dealing with coronavirus at the time. I don't think negatively about Indonesia or anything like that but that's the reality when Australia is quite worried and starts to make clear decisions,'' Bain told DW Indonesia.

Young Australians Benefit From Learning Indonesian Language and Culture

Furthermore, Australian foreigners and views towards Indonesia are also quite well felt by them especially to young people who have studied language and culture in Indonesia.

Edwin Jurriens, senior lecturer of Bahasa Indonesia at the University of Melbourne, who has been teaching Indonesian language and culture at Australian universities since 16 years ago.

Edwin considers language and cultural knowledge, in general, to be very important for everyone. However, according to the man who studied at the Yogyakarta Institute of Art (ISI) in 1994, Bahasa Indonesia has its own appeal.

"I think, to be a global citizen, cosmopolitan, Bahasa Indonesia is a good choice because the country is very interesting, lively, and the culture is very diverse," he said.

Moreover, Edwin sees Indonesians tend to be friendly and very open in accepting foreigners who want to learn their language.

"Indonesians, in general, are very open, friendly, and very accepting of outsiders. As a foreigner, it's interesting to me that the story [in Indonesia] is also very rich," he said.

Peter Whitford, Australian Musician Falls In Love with Indonesia

Peter Whitford came to Indonesia in the 1970s as a drummer and wanted to be materially rich from music.

But after staying more than two years in Indonesia, he instead received a lot of wealth of soul and experience.

Starting from him who experienced a bitter experience when his passport was withheld when he came to Indonesia.

At that time, their arrival to Indonesia was not official, because they did not have a work permit.

"Our passports were also withheld and we had time to deal with immigration or police when we had to perform in other cities," Peter recalled.

When I came back to Australia and officially studied at the University of Melbourne about Indonesian, I was called speaking the market language (informal, ed)," he said with a laugh.

Until now he still loves Indonesia.

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