Australians and Indonesians regard each other with at least some degree of mutual suspicion, and some hostility, a report says.

Published by the Lowy Institute, of Australia, the poll is based on interviews with 1007 Australians in June/July 2006, done by Market Focus International, and with 1200 Indonesians, done by DEKA Marketing Research.

Indonesian View

Some of the more interesting results, from the non-stupid questions, from the perspective of Indonesians.

Positive feelings towards other countries, 100 being very positive, 0 being very negative.

Indonesians felt most positive, on average, towards Malaysia (66), Japan (64), Singapore (59), China (58), India (56), the United States (54) and Great Britain (54). They felt neither warm nor cold towards South Korea, Iran, Australia, North Korea and Iraq, rating them around 50. But towards Papua New Guinea (45) and East Timor (43), they felt somewhat cool. Israel (39) was regarded quite coldly.

Say how much you agree or disagree with each these statements about Australia, where 0 means you strongly disagree and 10 means you strongly agree.

Australia is trying to separate West Papua from Indonesia – 6.8

Australia interferes too much in Indonesia’s affairs – 6.7

Australia’s attitude to Indonesia is shaped too much by its alliance with America – 6.6

Australia is a good friend of Indonesia – 5.3

Indonesia benefits if Australia is prosperous and stable – 5.3

Do you agree with these two statements about Australia’s relations with Indonesia.

It is very important that Australia and Indonesia work together to develop a close relationship – 64%.

Australia and Indonesia are too different to develop a close relationship – 36%.

Can you name the Australian Prime Minister?

John Howard – 26%

Other – 1%

Don’t know – 73%

Australian View

Similar questions as answered by Australians.

Positive feelings towards other countries, 100 being very positive, 0 being very negative.

Great Britain at 74. Then Singapore (65), Japan (64), Papua New Guinea (63), the United States (62), India (62), China (61), Malaysia (58), East Timor (57), South Korea (56), and Israel (55). Feelings about Indonesia (50) were neither warm nor cold on average, but three countries, Iraq (44), Iran (43) and North Korea (43), produced feelings that were cool.

Say how much you agree or disagree with each these statements about Indonesia, where 0 means you strongly disagree and 10 means you strongly agree.

Indonesia is really controlled by the military – 6.8

Indonesia is a dangerous source of Islamic terrorism – 6.5

Indonesia is a military threat – 6.2

Indonesia helps Australia deal with the terrorist threat – 5.4

Indonesia is an emerging democracy – 5.1

Only 20% of Australians can get at least part of the Indonesian president’s name right. Only 5% are able to give his complete name – Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Interestingly as well, but not specifically related to Indonesia, is that Australians are very worried about international terrorism (73% regard it as a critical threat) and quite worried about Islamic fundamentalism (60% regard it as a critical threat), far more than they are worried about, say, the growing power of China (25% regard it as a critical threat). This part of the survey was not asked to Indonesian respondents.