Lucy Marks – Repercussions for the Top End from the recent strain on national military ties between Australia and Indonesia are yet to be determined, the Indonesian consul to the Northern Territory has said.
Indonesia recently suspended all military co-operation with Australia over 'culturally inappropriate training material', and the snap decision was watered down soon after.
Darwin has been the training ground for Indonesian troops for a number of years, confirming the Top End's long history with Indonesia as friend and ally. Indonesian consul Andre Siregar said that friendship had been tested.
"If a person feels they've lost their sense of belief in a particular friend, that friend really needs to convince them that they're wrong," Mr Siregar said.
"We will have to see what the repercussions will be if they have the desire to continue with such cooperation."
It was the discovery of Special Forces training material making reference to West Papuan independence that put future Top End military exercises at risk. The suspension of cooperation now only relates to some Special Forces language training material.
"For us in the NT, we are the ones who will observe whether this year will have more military cooperation or not, depending on the outcome of the investigation," Mr Siregar said.
"With every relationship, it is in a way a reflection of each other's actions, and of course, the way Australia sees Indonesia and Indonesia sees Australia, our past will determine how we move forward."
Precedent of diplomatic strains
The diplomatic stoush has been compared to a breakdown in relations in 2013, when it was revealed the phone of then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had been tapped by Australian intelligence in 2009.
"That really affected some officials in Jakarta and they too had to see how they could move forward," Mr Siregar said.
"In a way, those who have a lack of trust towards Australia will use it to justify how our relations are, whereas here at the consulate we want to focus on the good and the positive."
Meanwhile, reports that the same general whose decision it was to cut ties with the ADF, General Gatot Nurmanyto, had boasted about spying on US Marine bases in Darwin last year, have been played down.
"I do regret that sometimes there are media in Indonesia that may have misquoted him, and now this idea of fake news coming around," Mr Siregar said.
However, the story about General Gatot has raised eyebrows in Jakarta and Darwin. "They were quite shocked with the front page of the NT News with their supreme commander as James Bond... what happens in the NT is seen in Jakarta also."
The Darwin-based consulate said it was working to bolster and repair the friendship with our closest neighbour.