Geoffrey Barker – Australia moved to distance itself from Indonesia's rulers yesterday as a prominent Australian expert warned that continuing economic and ethnic crisis could turn Indonesians towards ruthless, demagogic leadership.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Alexander Downer, called on the Indonesian Government, armed forces and police to act with "maximum restraint" and to protect the country's Chinese minority which has been targeted by rioters in recent days.
Reflecting rising government unease over violence in Indonesia, Mr Downer warned that the Indonesian economy would be damaged if the ethnic Chinese were forced to flee the country.
He described the Indonesian situation as "a matter of some concern".
Mr Downer made it clear that Australia's approaches to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, as well as its increased food aid to Indonesia, had been designed to try to ensure that the social environment remained "as stable as possible". Recently he has said Australia is not about either propping up or tearing down the present Indonesian Government.
Although he called yesterday on all parties to show restraint, Mr Downer's remarks suggested that Australia's primary interest now was in trying to maintain stability in Indonesia by assisting poor Indonesians confronting massive increases in food and fuel prices. The Soeharto Government cannot expect additional political support from Australia.
Meanwhile, Australian National University Professor Anthony Reid said yesterday that the risk of Indonesia "falling into an abyss of misery and hatred now seemed very real".
Professor Reid, president of the Asian Studies Association of Australia, was addressing an ANU seminar following a recent research visit to Indonesia. He said the economic crisis in South-East Asia had close socio-economic similarities to the European Depression of the 1930s.
He said the crisis, like the European crisis, was likely to be Indonesia's crisis of transition from a predominantly agricultural elite autocracy to a modern mass industrial democracy.
"The bridge between elite interests and the new mass politics was often bridged by totalising ideologies of a fascist and communist type... The transition to stronger mass-based states brought the darkest peril to minorities which could be targeted as outside the social community and blamed for all the evils of social change." Professor Reid said Indonesians should be concerned about the potential of urban semi-educated people to be attracted to a ruthless demagogue who would identify clearly for them where they should channel their anger.
He said the worst effects of the crisis were still several months away as the savings of companies and individuals were exhausted. "It would seem truly a miracle if darker forces did not take advantage of popular anger in the struggles that probably lie ahead," he said.