Australian understanding of Indonesia = zero !

Why should I be surprised?  Very few people in Australia have a balanced, intelligent understanding of Indonesia.

Something very, very important is happening in Jakarta at present.  There is a battle underway that may even end up being as significant as 1998 or 1965 - but the Australian media doesn't seem to have noticed.  I'm sure there must be some reporting - but I can't find it in the online editions.

The current battle is ostensibly between the Police and Attorney General's office and the Corruption Eradication Office (called KPK).  KPK has been pursuing official corruption successfully enough to threaten powerful interests in the Indonesian Parliament and the legal system.  The Police and AGO have hit back with investigations of senior members of KPK.  The (now ex) Chairman has been accused of murder.  Two other Commissioners have been accused of accepting bribes to halt investigations.

The details don't matter so much - suffice to say that a big section of Indonesian civil society thinks KPK is in the right.  They are trying to mobilise support and pressure the President to back KPK more decisively than he has been doing.

A few weeks ago a senior Indonesian policeman was silly enough to ask a rhetorical question of a Tempo journalist "Can a Cicak fight a Crocodile?"  A Cicak is a small lizard - in Australia we might call it a gecko.  The policeman was saying that KPK (the Cicak) could not possibly win in any clash with something as powerful as the Indonesian Police (the Crocodile).

There are now a million members of a Facebook Group called Cicak - which is some sort of acronym for Love Indonesia Love KPK.  There is talk of 'people power' of the type that had a major impact on the events of 1998 (fall of the New Order Government).

If I knew how, I would join Cicak and become the million and first member.  I wish them well and think reform of Parliament and the legal system is a goal worth pursuing - even at some risk of social and political upheaval.

How can it be that something that has taken up 80% of the front pages of the Jakarta Post for 10 days has been unreported in Australia?

I suspect the dominant reason is that our view of Indonesia is so distorted that it is not easy to actually explain what is going on.

Didn't the 'good guys' win and the 'bad guys' lose back when they got rid of Suharto?
Well no actually.  In practical terms, rent seeking behaviour (corruption) has actually been worse since then.  In Indonesia it's always difficult to determine where mutual obligation gives way to rent seeking gives way to petty corruption gives way to grand corruption.  The fall of the New Order government and the decision (hotly contested though it may have been) by the Indonesian Armed Forces to step back from politics were just first tentative steps.  What is happening now may be the next step in a long slow transition.

Islamic terrorism is the main story! 
Well no actually.  While there is some threat, it's probably less than an Indian student faces on tonight's train to Weribee.  If the current situation spills onto the streets, I'll be more concerned about personal safety than I've been about terrorism over the last year or two.  What will DFAT do with their travel warnings then?

Indonesia is a marvellous, complex place.  We owe it to ourselves (as Australians) to develop a more sophisticated understanding of it.  Reporting a big, important story would be a start.