Oxford, UK; Portland, OR: Hart Publishing [an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing], 2018. xvii, 486 pp. (Tables, graphs.) US$111.00, cloth. ISBN 978-1-5099-1816-4.
Strangers Next Door? Indonesia and Australia in the Asian Century is a comprehensive edited collection examining the breadth of the bilateral relationship between Indonesia and Australia. The collection contains twenty-five chapters, with the first serving as an introductory chapter by the editors and the subsequent chapters each examining a specific area of the relationship. Editors Tim Lindsey and Dave McRae describe the purpose of the book as “an attempt to make a contribution to thinking about how the bilateral relationship between Indonesia and Australia might be better than it is” (9) and to offer “insights into why the relationship is important, why it is so often in crisis, and what might be done to improve relations” (10). In these aims they certainly succeed, with their expansive collection providing valuable insights into the state of the relationship across various areas.
Such a collection would always be timely, but the timing of its publication in 2018 also coincided with the capacity to both examine the key low point in the relationship that was reached during Tony Abbott’s time as PM, as well as provide an early optimistic assessment of the budding relationship between Turnbull and Jokowi (even though, characteristically of Australian politics, Turnbull did not manage to remain in power long). From an international relations perspective, the changes in the strategic environment surrounding the fluctuating roles of the US and China in the region also make for pertinent timing for the publication of such a comprehensive examination of the relationship between Australia and Indonesia.
Given the breadth of the volume, examining everything from relations in the security and defense spaces, to economic and business relations, to the ties forged by women and the role of youth connections, this book is of considerable utility to both newcomers and experts alike. Those familiar with a particular aspect of the Australia-Indonesia relationship will find chapters on areas they are unfamiliar with, while those less familiar with the relationship will find a thorough introduction to almost every aspect of the relationship. The chapters are all written in an engaging and accessible manner, making it useful to students, the general public, academics, and policymakers alike.
To me, the greatest strength of this book is the expansive way in which it approaches people-to-people relations. Something which is often relegated to simply the expression that people-to-people connections are important and we need more of them is explored in much greater detail, across a number of chapters. Depending on how one cares to define people-to-people relations, at least nine of the chapters could be classified as being at least primarily focused on some aspect of these connections, with more focusing on them in part. Some of these chapters take a more general approach focusing on perceptions of each other rather than actual connections formed between people, such as Dave McRae and Diane Zhang’s chapter on opinion polling and attitudes. Other chapters explicitly focus on the connections formed between people, such as Joseph Mitchell and Lydia Teychenné’s exploration of engagement between people in the arts and cultural sector, and Rachelle Cole and Arjuna Dibley’s examination of what it takes for youth programs and organizations to build successful and lasting people-to-people relationships. A particular highlight is Virginia Hooker’s chapter on the impact of the activities of women from both Australia and Indonesia.
The authors state in the preface that the book aims to present “a degree of diversity that reflects the richness and complexity and of the challenging relationship between the two countries” (v). Although this statement was made with regard to the diversity of contribution styles, including scholarly pieces, opinion pieces, and polemics, the book would have been improved had this mantra also been thoroughly applied to the diversity of authors. A wider range of Indonesian voices, a greater focus on the Indonesian perspective rather than the Australian, and more contributions by women, would have helped to improve the book’s success in reaching the aim of being a truly diverse representation of opinion and analysis on the Australia-Indonesia relationship.
The book would also have benefitted from a concluding chapter by the editors which attempted to bring some of the threads of the book together and make sense of them as a whole tapestry. The title of the book begins with Strangers Next Door? That question mark prompts debate and discussion throughout the chapters, and a concluding chapter would have been well placed to make sense of the debate and discussion, and what it means in terms of answering that question. In my reading of the chapters of this collection, despite often highlighting the difficulties that have caused tensions in the relationship and have prevented further collaboration, just as often they highlight the expansive interactions and connections which take place in spite of these difficulties. Pretty though it is, there is perhaps not as much distance between the two states as the cover art depicts.
Overall, this book is an invaluable contribution to the literature on the relationship between Indonesia and Australia. Its breadth makes it a book for all audiences, with every reader interested in the relationship able to gain new insights from its pages.
Sian Troath
Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia