 | |
 Indonesia |  United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Diplomatic mission | |
| Embassy of Indonesia, London | Embassy of the United Kingdom, Jakarta |
Indonesia and theUnited Kingdom established diplomatic relations on 19 December 1949[1] and have maintained strong relations since then.[2] Indonesia has an embassy inLondon[3] while theUnited Kingdom has an embassy inJakarta.[4] The United Kingdom considers Indonesia an increasingly important partner globally and is committed to efforts to take bilateral relations to new heights.[5]
Both countries share common membership of theG20, and theWorld Trade Organization. Bilaterally the two countries have a Development Partnership,[6] a Double Taxation Agreement,[7] an Investment Agreement,[8] and a Strategic Partnership.[9]
According to a 2013BBC World Service Poll, 65% of Indonesians view the United Kingdom's influence positively, with only 15% expressing a negative view, which makes Indonesia the country with the second most favourable perception of the United Kingdom in Asia after South Korea.[10]
English sailors first reached what is now Indonesia in the 16th century, whenSir Francis Drake reachedMoluccas in 1579 on his circum-globe journey. The BritishEast India Company opened atrading post inBantam on the first voyage in 1601 and imports ofpepper fromJava were an important part of the Company's trade for twenty years. However, because of heavy competition with theDutch East India Company, the British trade post in Bantam was closed in 1683. The British shifted their attention to theIndian subcontinent while the Dutch began to establish themselves more firmly in Java and later expanded to most of the Indonesian archipelago.
The British established their garrison atBencoolen in 1685 and in 1714 builtFort Marlborough in the city. They also established a trading post inRiau, others in the region being theStrait Settlements inPenang andSingapore, while the Dutch wrestled the port ofMalacca from the Portuguese in 1641. During theNapoleonic Wars in Europe, theKingdom of Holland and its colonies in the East Indies fell to the French Republic. The British launched amilitary campaign against Dutch and French hold in Java and establishedBritish rule in Java. From 1811 to 1815, Indonesia was administrated by the British.Stamford Raffles served as theGovernor of the East Indies from 1811 to 1816. He was an enthusiast ofJavanese culture and history that during his administration he led expeditions that discoveredBorobudur,Trowulan and other archaeological sites in Java, subsequently writingThe History of Java and publishing it in 1817.[11]Hester Needham (1843–1897), was a British women missionary who was sent by theRhenish Missionary Society to theNorth Sumatra, namely inSibolga,Silindung [id], andMandailing Natal. Hester Needham spent the last 7 years of her life as a missionary in theBatak lands from 8 January 1890 to 12 May 1897.[12]
The British and the Dutch signed theAnglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 which defined the boundary of British and Dutch realms in Southeast Asia and India. The boundaries were later inherited by modernBrunei,Indonesia,Malaysia, andSingapore. The name "Indonesia" was first coined in 1850, whenGeorge Windsor Earl, the Britishethnologist, proposed the termsIndunesians — and, his preference,Malayunesians — for the inhabitants of the "Indian Archipelago or Malayan Archipelago".[13] In the same publication, a student of Earl's,James Richardson Logan, usedIndonesia as a synonym for theIndian Archipelago.[14][15]
The British ruled the Malay Peninsula (British Malaya) and Northern Borneo, while the Dutch controlledJava, Sumatra, and most of the Indonesian archipelago until theJapanese invasion in 1942. During the aftermath ofWorld War II, theAllied Forces led by the British were involved in warfare with Republican Indonesian soldiers and militia during theBattle of Surabaya in 1945. The Indian troops successfully conquered Surabaya on behalf of the Netherlands, but faced some fierce resistance from Indonesian troops and militias.
Again in 1962 the British army and theIndonesian Armed Forces were locked in undeclared warfare in Northern Borneo (Sabah andSarawak) during theIndonesia–Malaysia confrontation. The IndonesianSukarno administration was against the British decolonisation initiative on the formation ofMalaysia, the amalgamation of theFederation of Malaya (nowWest Malaysia), Singapore and the crown colony/British protectorates of Sabah and Sarawak (collectively known asBritish Borneo, now East Malaysia). The British assisted the Malaysian armed forces against Indonesian campaigns and operations on Northern Borneo. With the fall of Sukarno and plagued with internal problems, Indonesia lost their intention to continue the fight and the hostilities ceased. Indonesia finally agreed to the formation of the Malaysian Federation.
After the turbulent years of the 1960s, relations between Indonesia and the United Kingdom have been improving ever since. Because of the importance of English as an international language, the Indonesian government has been promoting the education of English as the most important foreign language taught in Indonesian schools since the 1970s. TheBritish Council was established in 1948 in Jakarta to promote British culture in Indonesia through nurturing the core areas: English, arts, education and society.[16]
In 1974,Queen Elizabeth II visited Indonesia, becoming the first British monarch to make an official visit to the country.[17][18] In return for the Queen's historic visit to Indonesia five years later in November 1979, PresidentSoeharto visited the UK and became the first Indonesian President to visit the country.[19] Then in 1986 British Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher visited Indonesia and marked the increasingly warm relations between the two countries.[20] In 1989 the heir to the British throne,Prince andPrincess of Wales came and visited Indonesia.[21] The royal couple visited the Sitanala Leprosy Hospital in Tangerang,Taman Mini Indonesia Indah inJakarta,Kraton Yogyakarta,Borobudur andBali. The Prince of Wales later revisited Yogyakarta and Borobudur in 2008.In October 2012, Indonesian PresidentYudhoyono received the prestigious Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath awarded byQueen Elizabeth II.[22]
In 2006, the then British prime ministerTony Blair met with then Indonesian presidentSusilo Bambang Yudhoyono, where they agreed upon "the establishment of a regular Indonesia-UK Partnership Forum to be chaired by the Foreign Ministers, to promote strategic dialogue on bilateral, multilateral and global issues".[2] The first Indonesia-UK forum was held in 2007, and was chaired by British foreign secretaryMargaret Beckett and Indonesian foreign ministerHassan Wirajuda.[2]
In March 2010, members of theHouse of Lords praised Indonesia for their progress in democratising society, media freedom and environmental protection.[23] In a meeting with Indonesian MPHayono Isman, the Lords stated that they wanted to improve the relationship between the two countries.[23]
In 2010, the Culture and Tourism Ministry ofIndonesia launched a campaign to boost the number of tourists from the UK entering Indonesia.[3] In 2009, 160,000 British tourists had visited Indonesia, and the aim of the campaign was to boost this number to 200,000.[3]
Exports of UK goods to Indonesia in 2010 were worth £438.9 million, an increase of 25% over the previous year, whilst imports of goods to the UK from Indonesia saw an increase of 13% to £1.3 billion.[24] British companies operating in Indonesia include energy giantBP, lendersStandard Chartered Bank andHSBC and tobacco groupBritish American Tobacco, while Indonesian company operating in the UK isBank Negara Indonesia.[25]
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