Like marriage, international relations need to be cosseted and cherished. Ours with Indonesia is going the other way through indifference.

Experiencing Indonesia (ANU Press), a collection of essays celebrating the Australian Consortium for ‘In-Country’ Indonesian Studies (ACICIS) 30th anniversary has just been published. Its contributors know about next door. The folk in that volcanic land aren’t close except in geography.

The mid-1990s was a golden time for Indonesianists. Paul Keating proclaimed that “no country was more important than the land next door” and signed a security agreement.

Among the believers was Dr David Hill at Perth’s Murdoch University. He decided to turn words into deeds with the Australian Consortium for ‘In-Country’ Indonesian Studies (ACICIS): a non-profit, educational consortium to develop and coordinate high-quality, semester-long study programs at Indonesian partner universities for Australian university students.

The idea appealed, for the electorate was receptive. Bahasa Indonesia was becoming popular for language learners, and Bali the exotic island for holidays. ACICIS was the bonding agent of the moment.

From then on, it should have failed – almost everything else did. First came Krismon, the Asian economic crisis; the rupiah falling like Icarus. Then chaos as the brutal dictator Soeharto quit his 32-year reign, and his successor BJ Habibie shredded the Keating deal.

John Howard suggested a referendum on the future of the blood-stained East Timor. The nearby island had been screaming for freedom since the 1975 invasion of the former Portuguese colony by Soeharto’s thugs. Watch the Australian film Balibo (banned in Indonesia) to remember.

Howard’s idea was surprisingly accepted as Jakarta wrongly assumed the people loved Indonesian rule. But when the Timorese voted 80–20 for independence, army-backed militias torched the tiny island and killed as they retreated. An estimated 100,000 had died through famine and violence during Indonesia’s 25-year control.

Australia led the 22-nation peacekeeping force INTERFET, getting fame in the Commonwealth but anger in Indonesia.

The new century brought the Bali and Embassy bombs and other outrages. Boeings that had once flown full of joyful holiday-makers now carried joyless crews.

Democracy came with riots, then a firing squad for Aussie drug couriers, despite clemency pleas from new PM Tony Abbott, who never understood the culture.

What caring parent would bless their teens studying in such a country? Would they be converted? Always eat rice? What about safety?

ACICIS survived, partly through the diplomacy now lacking in the Middle East, and the influence of those who’d studied in Australia – often graduates of the original Colombo Plan. Professor Hill’s foresight in creating the consortium kept a gateway open, though as he recalls it “tottered and teetered” for a while.

New PM Malcolm Turnbull got friendly with the latest Prez, laid-back batik-model and toll-road builder Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo. In 2020, Jokowi spoke in Parliament to great applause.

Keating may have been right about Indonesia’s importance – though not enough for Australians to treat Jakarta with the reverence used for Washington, even under Trump.

After ten years of negotiation, a free trade document was signed with another ugly title, IA-CEPA, the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. Maybe they just wanted to secure supplies of beef and grains because little has happened since.

The tourists were still into Bali hotels, but the students were heading elsewhere, preferring to spend their allowances and have fun in the US, the UK**,** China, Canada and Japan.

The laments about unis abandoning the teaching of Indonesian language and culture still brings tears.

There are some perennial gripes in journalism. One is Indonesian annoyance at the Australian media’s failure to distinguish between Muslims generally and radical elements such as the Taliban. That’s Ms Hanson’s doing.

Canberra has tried to help with its New Colombo Plan for undergrads seeking “to develop their Indo-Pacific capability and Asia literacy through immersive, structured learning and internships in the region”. That’s 37 countries with Indonesia at the top. Our giant embassy in Jakarta crows: “Since its inception in 2014, more than 12,000 students have been supported to study and undertake internships in Indonesia, more than any other participating country”.

The original 1950s Colombo Plan brought thousands of students into Australia for all the expected benevolent reasons, though the real purpose was to combat Communism. After two decades, the CP shrunk as supporting nations withdrew – the US only this year. Some called it “paternalistic” and a Cold War approach to aid.

There are around 24,000 Indonesian students in Australia still absorbing our values and hopefully having a good time.

Experiencing Indonesia recounts 30 years of helping undergrads adjust to next door. It has 25 staff, offices in Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Bogor and Bandung and a budget of $24 million. So far 5,000 have benefitted.

That generosity should have been extended to 50,000. The ACICIS leaders agree. But they’re up against a public that looks at Indonesia with suspicion, amplified by One Nation rants against Islam.

The 318-page book has many pages in abstruse and prolix prose as though this certifies the book’s academic credibility. “Pedagogic ensemble” deters. “Adventures in squatland – Oz students tell” invites readers. Like tales of cramped kos (homestay) living, jumping red lights, going barefoot in lavatories and graduating through “transformative experiential learning opportunities” aka discovering the world.

Aussies going to Indonesia for any serious reason should sample some of this book – free online. Although some parts are revealing and useful, overall it feels it’s by and for the in-groups.

Bali may be going off the boil. The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics report shows the most popular overseas destinations in February were NZ and Japan, then Indonesia.

If we stop going, mateship could sour and the misunderstandings multiply, aggravated by Ms Hanson’s hangups about the faith followed by more than 87 per cent of the Republic, the population pushing 288 million. Indonesia has more Muslims than any other state and is the world’s fourth most populous nation.

Should a demagogue appear (Indonesia is democratic, but so is the US), we need to make this de facto drift into a de jure deal.

The ACICIS youngsters who park their prejudices with the oldies, go overseas as thoughtless teens and return as thoughtful adults, might help erase the Senator’s fatuity with facts.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.