AUSTRALIA: Australian-Indonesian relations have been uneasy for decades, with Australians fearing the 'yellow peril' to their north and Indonesians sensing a sniffy superiority to their south. Padraig Collins reports from Sydney on how the Bali atrocity will prompt reassessment in both countries
On February 7th this year Australia and Indonesia agreed to make joint efforts to combat global terrorism, which Indonesian officials said could potentially entail joint sea patrols. The Australian Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, hailed the memorandum of understanding as "an important expression of collaboration between the two countries on the terrorism issue".
The events of last weekend, which saw over 180 people, a great many of them Australians, killed, show that this collaboration on terrorism did not go nearly far enough.
Australia's relationship with its closest Asian neighbour has always been somewhat strained. Indonesia has a population of 212 million; Australia's is just 19.5 million. Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world and the largest Muslim country.
In the days of unenlightened "yellow peril" views in the 1950s, this disparity in numbers was enough to make the Australian government believe it needed Indonesian friendship more than Indonesia needed theirs.
Much of Australia's fear of Indonesia was based on the fact that its leader when it declared independence in 1945 - the former Dutch colony was conquered by the Japanese during the second World War - was Achmed Sukarno. His close relationship with China was a great worry to Australia.
So when he was succeeded by Suharto (who, like many Indonesians, used only one name) after a bloody coup in 1966, Australia was relieved that the threat of communism was no longer on its doorstep.
Australia promotes an understanding of Indonesia and its culture in young people that their parents would not have had. Many high school students learn Indonesian. It is also a popular subject choice in arts degrees.
A former prime minister, Mr Paul Keating, was once famously quoted as saying that Asia was the place you fly over on the way to Europe. If Keating did say that, he had certainly revised his opinion by the time he became prime minister in December 1991. "No country is more important to Australia than Indonesia," he said, and his first trip abroad as PM was to Indonesia.
The good relations extended to military and cultural co-operation. Indonesian troops exercised in Australia and vice versa. The Australia-Indonesia Institute encouraged cultural exchanges.
The Howard government however, took a step back from this relationship. Under him, Australia played a key role in helping East Timor separate from Indonesia in 1999. An increasing number of asylum-seekers passing through Indonesia en route to Australia further strained bilateral ties.
This came to a head in August last year with the now infamous Tampa situation. A Norwegian freighter rescued more than 400 asylum-seekers from a sinking Indonesian ferry bound for Australia, and both countries refused to accept the refugees.
It was reported at the time that current Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri refused to take calls from Mr Howard after he turned back the boatload of asylum-seekers.
The anger seemed to have dissipated somewhat by the time of the bilateral meeting in Jakarta last February. At a joint press conference President Megawati said: "We are convinced that the relationship between Indonesia and Australia should be more realistic and rational in the future."
However, Mr Howard's trip was overshadowed by the refusal of the House of Representatives Speaker, Mr Akbar Tanjung, and the People's Consultative Assembly Speaker, Mr Amien Rais, to meet with him. The two speakers boycotted an arranged meeting with Mr Howard to protest at what they said was his frequent "intervention" in Indonesia's internal affairs.