The Melbourne Newsroom

The Oceanic Viking asylum seeker issue has barely caused a ripple of interest in Indonesia, where all the eyes are focussed on the biggest government corruption scandal in years, says Professor Tim Lindsey.  "It’s a little bit like America's Watergate scandal."

The fallout from the recent Samoan tsunami and earthquake in Sumatra provides a good chance for aid agencies to consider how effective reconstruction architecture from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami has been, according to Dr David O’Brien.

Professor Tim Lindsey says the re-election of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has, somewhat surprisingly, barely rated a mention in one of it's biggest trading and diplomatic partners: Australia. 

"Perhaps this was because it was expected, but I suspect it's more likely that Australian's have barely noticed Indonesia's extremely successful transition to democracy.  Of all the countries that have gone through the economic crisis, Indonesia is one of the few in which democracy has taken hold and increased."

Professor Howard Dick argues that there is worrying neglect in important dimensions of the Australia-Indonesia relationship despite its increasing maturity.