What Allan Behm said in the article reminded me of our relation
with MY. Because of our troubled past, we now have to spend $10b on
defence which is 1/3 of our national budget.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19310630-601,00.html
Indonesia is pivotal to Australia's strategic prospects. If
that relationship is in trouble, Australia is in trouble. Our
defence spending would need to rise dramatically, thereby negating
national investment alternatives, and our capacity to concentrate
on matters of more global significance would diminish. The measure
of strategic harmony with Indonesia is less that our leaders are
mates than that both governments get on with the business of
managing a stable and constructive relationship.
Allan Behm, a former head of the international policy and strategy
divisions in the Department of Defence, Australia