2bigcountries

I'm an Australian who's had a long-term relationship with Indonesia. This blog is the story of our relationship...

2bigcountries has written 3 posts for 2bigcountries

Australia and its indigenous heritage

Posted by 2bigcountries ⋅ 2011/10/03 ⋅ Leave a comment

Now that I’ve been in Indonesia for a while one of the things my Indonesian friends often want to ask about is what happened with indigenous Aboriginal Australians after us whitefellas came to the country. Usually, the Indonesians seem to be a bit apologetic about the question. As if they know there is going to … Continue reading →

New Australian review of Asian ties

Posted by 2bigcountries ⋅ 2011/09/30 ⋅ Leave a comment

Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard has announced a new white paper which will look at the whole range of Australia’s links with Asia and provide recommendations that will shape the country’s engagement with Asia for years to come. Australia’s Prime Minister told an audience in Melbourne that we are now in the ‘Asian century’ and … Continue reading →

What happened?

Posted by 2bigcountries ⋅ 2011/09/23 ⋅ Leave a comment

Why is Australia less interested in Indonesia than it was back when Paul Keating was Prime Minister of Australia and Suharto was president of Indonesia? When I made my first visit to Indonesia in 1993, I could hardly understand a word the taxi driver spoke during the drive from Soekarno-Hatta Airport into the centre of … Continue reading →