Najib meeting Jokowi during his visit to Jakarta in November 2014
PETALING JAYA: It has been more of a roller coaster ride with a fair deal of ups and downs in the 60 years of Malaysia-Indonesia ties.
Despite sharing common characteristics, long-standing issues involving primarily domestic workers and territories have stood in the way of an otherwise prosperous relationship.
Albeit the hiccups, Indonesia sees Malaysia as an important partner. This can be seen in the country's past presidents who have made Malaysia their first official overseas visit.
President Joko Widodo, or fondly known as Jokowi, is no exception. He arrives tomorrow for a two-day visit since taking office last October.
“Symbolically, it means he (Joko) looks upon Malaysia as an important country in the context of Indonesia’s foreign policy.
"This is a good start and a good indication in our bilateral relations,” said Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Prof Dr Nor Azizan Idris of the foreign policy and security studies.
However, Dr Nor Azizan believes the president may have a different style of leadership from his predecessors in the context of foreign policy, due to his political background.
“Joko does not come from Indonesia’s military or political elite. It is quite difficult to gauge how he sees Malaysia-Indonesia relations.
“Although both countries (past relationship) stemmed from the kinship (serumpun) spirit, I think there will come a point where Indonesia acts on national interests. Everything else will be put aside,” he said.
Citing an example, Dr Nor Azizan said was Indonesia’s recent approach, albeit controversial, in tackling illegal fishing off their waters which has raised the concerns of neighbouring countries, including Malaysia.
It was reported that a Malaysian fishing vessel was sunk by Indonesian authorities for conducting illegal activities in Indonesian waters off the coast of Pulau Pandang, Sumatera Utara.
“Indonesia is losing around USD20bil annually through illegal fishing and there are around 5,000 fishing trawlers that encroached into Indonesian waters.
“Indonesia has always seen itself as a global maritime power and its economy depends a lot on this. What they did showed that they acted based on national interests and nothing else,” he said.
Dr Nor Azizan said as both countries share common borders, issues such as migrant workers and overlapping territorial claims will continue.
He believed the proposed joint venture by Malaysia to create an Asean car with the collaboration of national carmaker Proton with Indonesia will somewhat ease the strained ties caused by the long standing issues.
A scheduled visit to the Proton plant is a good start, Dr Nor Azizan added.
It was reported that the president would hold talks with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on foreign policy of the next five years of his presidency.
Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia, Herman Prayitno, said the talks would also include political, economic and cultural policies.
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