Our Defence Status !

Since 1788 the defence of this country has relied on powerful friends. As a colony of the mighty British Empire we lived under the protection of the Royal Navy and our enemies were those country's with which Britain was from time to time conducting wars.

We certainly got a fright in 1942 when the Japanese swept across the Pacific and came perilously close when they landed in New Guinea, but the Americans came to our aid and at wars end we entered into permanent defence alliance with the signing of the ANZUS treaty.   That was - and is - the cornerstone of the defence pact in place on which we rely.

In effect, we have lived under the American nuclear umbrella.  We are fortunate that we have no direct threat of invasion from any other country and we maintain a credible defence force for a country of our population size.  But change is taking place on the world scene.

America is abandoning its role as the " world's policeman " and may instead pursue its own commercial interests.   This has yet to take shape but we certainly need to review our defence needs with more emphasis on our own capability of defence.

The enigma for this country is our close neighbour - Indonesia.   This is a vast archipelago with many times our population.  For centuries it was ruled by the Dutch and after independence it was openly hostile to Australia. It's first president talked of invading and ruling Australia until he lost power in a Communist coup attempt and a more conciliatory dictator gained the presidency.

Indonesia has a secular constitution but its religion is primarily Islam with small minorities of Christians and Buddhists.  In recent times its presidents have been elected democratically and relations with Australia have been more cordial, but with many tetchy moments.  We do not have a common defence treaty, but our armed forces do conduct mutual training exercises.

What is ominous for Australia is the rise of militant Islam in Indonesia.   It seems that the  Islamic State rebellion in Iraq and Syria has found common ground with some religious leaders across the archipelago  and there are demands for Sharia law.   A new religious leader has emerged and a challenge has arisen over next months gubernatorial election.   Firebrand cleric Muhammad Rizieq Shihab - known as Habib Rizieq - is pursuing blasphemy charges against a Christian contender because of comments made about the Koran.   The cleric has mobilized hundreds of thousands of protesters to rage in the streets and clash with the police.

The danger is that Indonesia may be forced to adopt Islamic militancy by sheer force of numbers and thus create unrest in the Muslim content of other nations to our near north.   We could find ourselves as a non Islamic island in an Islamic ocean of the lower Pacific region.

In the past, the common link in our defence relationships have been national backgrounds and the blood of ancestry.   It seems likely that our future may be in engagement with a much more diverse world where defence interests coincide.  We may find ourselves allied to countries with which we have no common normal connection in the interests of common survival.

In his world of the future we may have to learn to live with a polyglot religious mix !