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Indonesia, Australia and the Edward Snowden Legacy: Shifting asymmetries of power

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Richard Tanter
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A near perfect storm has descended on Australian relations with its nominal strategic partner and largest neighbour, Indonesia, to the point where the Indonesian foreign minister, standing beside John Kerry in Jakarta, said it was “very simple.” “Australia must decide if Indonesia is a friend or an enemy.”

Courtesy of Edward Snowden, the Australian government is discovering that an asymmetry in electronic surveillance capacity does not trump the fundamental asymmetry of power between Australia and Indonesia, which geography, population size and importance in world affairs tilts in Indonesia's favour. NSA documents that the premier Australian intelligence agency monitored and intercepted phone calls by the Indonesian president, his wife, and inner circle of advisors has generated a rapid collapse in relations between the two governments, possibly with long-term effects. The Indonesian government has called for a new intelligence accord, which will prove difficult for the Abbott government, not least because of the role of the NSA in Australian signals intelligence. A review of supervision and oversight of Australian intelligence agencies is urgently required.”

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 12 , Issue 10 , March 2014 , e3
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2014

References

Notes

1 Aubrey Belford, “Jakarta sees chilly ties with Australia until Oct - Indonesian govt document”, Reuters (16 February 2014; and “Menlu RI: Australia harus tentukan jadi teman atau lawan Indonesia, [Indonesian foreign minister: Australia must decide if it is to be a friend or opponent of Indonesia]”, Kompas, 17 February 2014.

2 Philip Dorling, “Edward Snowden leak: Australia spied on Indonesian phones and data” Sydney Morning Herald, 17 February 2014, at; and Michael R. Gordon, “Indonesia Takes Aim at Australia Over Spying on Talks”, New York Times, 17 February 2014.

3 United States-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership, Fact Sheet, Office of the Spokesperson, U.S. Department of States, 8 October 2013; Aubrey Belford, “Jakarta sees chilly ties with Australia until Oct - Indonesian govt document”, Reuters (16 February 2014); and “Menlu RI: Australia harus tentukan jadi teman atau lawan Indonesia, [Indonesian foreign minister: Australia must decide if it is to be a friend or opponent of Indonesia]”, Kompas, 17 February 2014.

4 Tanter, “Shared problems, shared interests”, op.cit.

5 Former Australian Secretary of Defence, Paul Barratt gives two telling and salient examples in his “Goodwill between countries matters” in John Menadue's blog Pearls and Irritations, 26 February 2014.

6 For a recent review, see Gemima Harvey, “The human tragedy of West Papua”, The Diplomat, 15 January 2014.

7 See Richard Tanter, “Shared problems, shared interest”, op. cit.; and Allan Behm, Climate Change and Security: The Test for Australia and Indonesia – Involvement or Indifference? APSNet Special Report 09-01S, (12 February 2009).