How much easier it has been for Australia to express outrage, suspend military links and issue stern warning through diplomatic action with respect to India than it has to do the same thing with respect to Indonesia.
But then Australia does not share a rich oil bed with India.
Because of India’s five nuclear tests, Australia has severed military links and cut non-humanitarian aid. Australia’s defence attache will be withdrawn and Indian officers training in Australia will be asked to leave.
In Indonesia where troops and police have fired live rounds on peaceful demonstrators, killing at least twenty people, the response has been much more muted. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued a travel warning. The shootings were deplored by Prime Minister John Howard, who described them a deeply disturbing. But nothing has been done about military ties. Many Australians would be deeply disturbed at the prospect of Australian military aid contributing in any way to the repression of peaceful protest. It would be better if such aid were stopped.
The Minister representing Foreign Minister Alexander Downer in the Senate, Senator Robert Hill said the Australian Government would take the steps it believed were appropriate at any particular time. Surely, it is appropriate to suspend military aid while troops are on the street repressing peaceful political dissent by unarmed students. Australia could still be a good friend to the Indonesian Government and a better friend to the Indonesian people by doing so. The trouble with not suspending military aid is that at some stage, probably sooner than later, there is to be a post-Suharto government in Indonesia. It may not be a continuum of the present regime. It may well frown on Australia’s present position.
At least the head of the Australian Defence Force, General John Baker, has warned that another massacre would jeopardise combined defence activities. But that is not a strong enough response.
Things have obviously changed in Asia in the past year. None of the economic gurus predicted the financial meltdown. To the contrary they cited the Asian tigers as good examples for Australia to promote economic growth with their deregulated economies and workforces. They cited the high growth rates as a reason for respecting what was called the Asian way when it came to dealing with human rights and political dissent. That view was always absurd. Democratic values are universal, not some western-imposed doctrine. Now the Asian way has been shown to be little more than smokescreen for Asian leaders like President Suharto to continue dictatorship and cronyism, it is time for Australia to take a stronger stand for universal democratic values. One way to do that would be to sever military ties. Humanitarian aid and trade relations should, of course, continue. Usually the burden of economic sanctions lies with the poorest. There is no point hurting those we want to help.
But there is great danger, both morally and practically, in continuing to give military aid to the Suharto regime in these circumstances. We should not wait for a so-called “”independent” inquiry into the deaths. The dangers are obvious now. The Government’s response to the Indian tests shows the way.