The Relationship Between Australia And Indonesia In 1945-1949

Australia and Indonesia were the two neighbors in Southwest Pacific. Before the Republic of Indonesia was established, the relationship between them was just the reflection of their colonists—Anglo-Dutch relations. In August 1945, the relationship between Australia and Indonesia as two independent sovereign states began and had undergone major changes in 1945-1949 when the Indonesians fighted for the independence. During this period,the bilateral relations changed capriciously.On August 17th 1945, Sukarno declared Indonesia got rid of Dutch colonial rule, established the Republic of Indonesia. At first, the Australian Government's position was neutral. But the Australian dock workers enacted "Black ban" to support the Republic of Indonesia's independence struggle. This prompted the Australian government to send Macmahon Ball mission to visit Indonesia. The mission's report made the Australian government begin to sympathize with the new Republic. In January 1947, the negotiation between Dutch and the Republic of Indonesia began. This promoted the relations between Australia and Indonesia to continue developing. The negotiation caused controversies in Australian. Australian attitude towards the Republic of Indonesia had been ambiguous. However, the first "police action" Dutch launched in July 1947 changed the attitude of Australia. Australia submitted the dispute of Indonesia to the United Nations to discuss initiatively. At the same time, the Republic of Indonesia nominated Australia as its representative in the Good Office committee. Friendly relations between the two countries were evident. Even so, Australia didn't have admitted publicly the Republic of Indonesia. In December 1948, the Dutch launched the second "police action". This led to the attitude of the Australian changed fundamentally. Australia participated in the New Delhi meeting aimed at solving the issue of Indonesia, and supported the Republic of Indonesia openly in the talks of Dutch-Indonesia. On December 27th 1949, the Netherlands formally recognized the Republic of Indonesia. After Indonesia gained independence, the intimate relationship between Australia and Indonesia had been challenged on the West New Guinea issue.