S'pore highly regarded by Indonesians: Poll

By Jonathan Pearlman, The Straits Times, 20 Mar 2012

SYDNEY: Indonesians have high regard for Singapore and rank the Lion City as one of the most welcome sources of foreign investment, according to a snapshot of Indonesian public attitudes towards their neighbours.

The survey findings, to be released today by Sydney's Lowy Institute, found Indonesians were most warmly disposed towards Japan, followed by Singapore and the United States in joint second place.

However, there was a marked decline in attitudes towards Malaysia, which was the most highly regarded nation in the last survey in 2006 but has now dropped to 11th place in a list of 21 countries.

The neighbours have had a tough few years with a series of rows, including over the abuse of Indonesian maids by Malaysian employers. Indonesia banned new maids for Malaysia, in a dispute that has yet to be resolved.

Asked in the survey whether they trusted various countries to act responsibly, 69 per cent of Indonesians viewed Singapore favourably, which was more than support for China - at 60 per cent - but less than that for Japan (80 per cent), Australia (75 per cent) and the United States (72 per cent).

Indonesians were most supportive of foreign investment from Japan (65 per cent), followed by Singapore (63 per cent) and Australia (61 per cent). The only country which did not enjoy majority support for investments was the former colonial power, the Netherlands, which had 45 per cent in favour and 46 cent opposed and the remainder saying they did not know.

A research fellow at the Lowy Institute, Dr Dave McRae, said Singapore had improved 'from an already warm result to a very warm result'.

'To some extent, it reflects the fact that Singapore is a significant investor, in telecommunications and other sectors,' he told The Straits Times. 'There have been tensions on certain issues in the past - sand mining has formed tensions and so have disagreements about the extradition of corruption suspects in Singapore.'

Overall though, Dr McRae said, 'public opinion in Indonesia towards Singapore is positive'.

However, Indonesians expressed a marked ambivalence about the rise of China.

The survey found 56 per cent of Indonesians believed China will pose a threat to the country within 20 years. Forty-two per cent of Indonesians believed Jakarta should join other countries in the region to try to limit China's influence, while 30 per cent did not.

Asked whether they thought China's aim was to dominate Asia, Indonesians were evenly split, with 36 per cent saying yes and the same percentage, no.

In contrast, Indonesians are increasingly well disposed towards the United States. While Japan was the most trusted country overall, 28 per cent of Indonesians trusted the US a 'great deal', up from just 6 per cent in 2006.

Dr McRae said this was largely due to the personal popularity in Indonesia of US President Barack Obama.

'It is a dramatic change,' he said. 'I think the Obama factor is a big contributing factor. A lot has been made of the fact that he went to school in Jakarta for a number of years.'

Asked which countries posed a threat over the next decade, 63 per cent of Indonesians said Malaysia, followed by the US (49 per cent), China (39 per cent) and Australia (31 per cent). Twelve per cent named Singapore as a threat.

Dr McRae said a cooling of feelings towards Malaysia may have been prompted by the recent public controversies.

'There have been public controversies between Indonesia and Malaysia in recent years ranging from disputes over Malaysia's ownership of songs or batik that Indonesians might regard as their own cultural products, to a regional soccer final where laser lights were shone on the Indonesians' eyes to reports of mistreatment of Indonesian migrant workers.'

The poll was based on 1,289 interviews in November and December of Indonesians aged 17 and above across the country, except for Aceh, Maluku, Papua and Papua Barat.

Indonesians' views on...

DEMOCRACY

62% say democracy is preferable to any other form of government

17% do not mind

16% prefer non-democratic government

SUHARTO

55% say life was better under Suharto's autocratic presidency

18% say post-Suharto is better

21% say it is the same

TERRORISM

88% say suicide bombings are never justified

7% say sometimes

2% always

GLOBAL WARMING

31% support immediate action

48% want gradual action

13% want no action

THE FUTURE

68% say Indonesia is heading in the right direction

24% say wrong direction

Note: Figures do not add up to 100 per cent as some respondents said they did not know or did not want to respond.