What Allan Behm said in the article reminded me of our relation with MY. Because of our troubled past, we now have to spend $10b on defence which is 1/3 of our national budget.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19310630-601,00.htmlIndonesia is pivotal to Australia's strategic prospects. If that relationship is in trouble, Australia is in trouble. Our defence spending would need to rise dramatically, thereby negating national investment alternatives, and our capacity to concentrate on matters of more global significance would diminish. The measure of strategic harmony with Indonesia is less that our leaders are mates than that both governments get on with the business of managing a stable and constructive relationship.Allan Behm, a former head of the international policy and strategy divisions in the Department of Defence, Australia