Academia
Neither Australia nor Indonesia has fully recognized the myriad ways Australia’s 16th prime minister Ben Chifley used his timely influence to end colonial rule.
A participant unfurls a red-and-white flag on Sunday while taking part in the Red and White Parade along Jl. Jenderal Sudirman in Bogor, West Java. (JP/Iqro Rinaldi)
During independence celebrations two years ago when then defense minister and president-elect Prabowo Subianto visited Canberra, he recalled Australia’s help during Indonesia’s struggle against Dutch recolonization. As fate would have it, the time in office of Australia’s 16th prime minister, Ben Chifley, was the same timeframe as Indonesia’s war of independence, 1945-1949. But neither Australia nor Indonesia has fully recognized the myriad ways he used his timely influence to end colonial rule.
Both the United States and the United Kingdom railed against Australia’s standing up for “the interests of the Indonesian Republic over Dutch ambitions [to recolonize]”. British officials in Canberra told London that the Australian government had a “strong prejudice in favor of the Indonesians” and an American representative in Java branded the Australian stance as “irresponsible” and “wondered how the Australians ever got the way they are”.
