Singapore/Jakarta: A push for Australia to recognise a Palestinian state has been welcomed in Indonesia, whose president Joko Widodo is headed to Canberra in a fortnight for his first visit of the country in more than three years.
Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, will meet with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in early July, returning the favour after the then newly minted Australian leader flew to Jakarta within days of Labor’s election victory last year.
Bilateral and regional issues such as trade and investment and Australia’s AUKUS submarines deal are expected to be in the spotlight as the two come face to face again.
But Widodo’s visit also coincides with a renewed drive from within Labor to recognise Palestine – an issue of major importance to Muslim-majority Indonesia – with the Victorian wing of the party passing a motion at its state conference backing a formal acknowledgment in the current term of government.
Five years after the Morrison government announced Australia would declare West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and entertained shifting the Australian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, it is a development that would be warmly received by Australia’s near neighbour.
Former Indonesian vice-president Jusuf Kalla, who was Widodo’s deputy between 2014 and 2019, said on Monday an Australian decision to recognise Palestine as a state would be significant because “it will be followed by other countries”.
Read the article by Chris Barrett and Karuni Rompies in WAToday.