Indonesia

Views of Indonesia

The Lowy Institute Poll has surveyed Australians on their views about Indonesia for 15 years, and their answers continue to demonstrate a lack of knowledge about our largest neighbour, particularly with regard to Indonesia's system of government. In 2019, a majority of Australians (61%, up nine points from 2018) said ‘Australia is managing its relationship with Indonesia well’. In 2020, only 39% of Australians agree Indonesia is a democracy.

As in previous years, in 2019, most Australians agreed that Indonesia is an important economy to Australia (62%). Around a third of Australians (37%) said that the Indonesian government has worked hard to fight terrorism, up five points from last year.

Indonesia
Views of Indonesia

Question

I am going to read out a number of statements about Indonesia. Please say how much you agree or disagree with each one, using a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 means you strongly disagree and 10 means you strongly agree.

This question was last asked in 2011.

Indonesia is essentially controlled by the military

6.8

7.0

Indonesia is a dangerous source of Islamic terrorism

6.5

6.7

Australia is right to worry about Indonesia as a military threat

6.2

6.3

Indonesian cooperation with Australia has been important in helping us contain the terrorist threat in our region

5.4

6.1

Indonesia is an emerging democracy

5.1

5.4

Indonesia is right to worry that Australia is seeking to separate the province of West Papua from Indonesia

5.1

Indonesia helps combat people smuggling

4.8