Ati Nurbaiti, Canberra – Veteran Australian journalists have remarked that a string of negative incidents should not disrupt Australian-Indonesian relations in the long run.

"Boats, Balibo and the Bali Nine won't upset relations," said journalist Hamish McDonald, referring to the controversy of boat people coming to Australia via Indonesia; the unresolved killing of Australian journalists in Dili, then East Timor, in 1975, and the three young Australians on death row in Bali for drug offenses.

A conflicting picture of bilateral relations was seen here as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono touched down in Canberra Tuesday.

Just after a disheartening poll was published, indicating that Indonesians and Australians don't really trust each other, national newspaper, The Australian, published its own poll suggesting that, as of late Tuesday, 44.27 percent of respondents thought that "Indonesia is important to Australia's economic future" while 24.33 percent said it was not important, the remainder thought it was "somewhat important".

The previous poll, conducted by the Sydney-based Lowy Institute, concluded that "mutual distrust and stereotypes are so entrenched that dramatic leadership gestures" are needed to boost relations.

Many of the 1,000 respondents across Australia, for instance, "still believe Indonesia is controlled by the military" and is a "dark and dangerous place".

A similar number of Indonesians were also interviewed for the poll, a lot of whom held the belief that Australia harbors a desire to separate West Papua province from Indonesia – triggering expressions of disbelief on the part of Australians.

Regarding perceptions of Indonesia, "there are some realities" which are unlikely to change, said Lowy fellow Stephen Grenville, when meeting Indonesian journalists. Australians, he said, are not likely to understand the different penalties for drug offenses.

While in Australia people "get slapped on the wrist" for carrying illegal drugs, it is hard for Australians to understand how people could be jailed, let alone put to death for such a crime.

The next execution could flare up bilateral ties again, journalists and researchers say – in the current decline of popular knowledge on Indonesia.