Should we cut foreign aid to Indonesia?

AUSSIE taxpayers fork out tens of millions in foreign aid to prop up the justice system that just killed two of our citizens. And that’s not all.

AUSTRALIAN taxpayers have forked out $55 million in foreign aid to prop up the Indonesian justice system which has just killed two of our citizens.

Outraged Australians are calling on the government to slash foreign aid to Indonesia in the wake of the executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

Yesterday, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop did not rule out the prospect of reducing Australia’s $600 million annual foreign aid budget to Indonesia. Australia is the second largest donor behind Japan.

Asked if Australia would respond to the executions by reducing the aid budget, Ms Bishop said any announcement would be made at budget time in early May.

In 2013/14, Australia sent $581 million to Indonesia. The 2014/15 budget estimate puts that figure at $605.3 million.

The money is spent on a wide range of programs, including economic and democratic governance, education, health, infrastructure, social development, rural development, and disaster risk reduction.

But in a cruel irony, between 2011 and 2015 Australia spent $55 million on a program to support Indonesia’s justice system.

The Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Justice “works with key Indonesian justice institutions and civil society partners to increase access to justice for marginalised groups ... and to combat corruption”.

“With Australian support, Indonesian courts are taking less time to deliver judgments and are making written reasons for their decisions available for free to the public online,” DFAT says.

“Australia has also helped Indonesia establish its first national legal aid system, under which poor individuals are accessing free legal advice and representation to help them resolve a range of criminal and civil disputes.”

In that same period, Australia also spent $22.8 million on an electoral support program, aimed at “[enhancing] the quality of Indonesia’s elections by helping Indonesian organisations improve the management of elections, and increasing public engagement in electoral processes”.

President Joko Widodo, who came to power last year after defeating retired Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto in the July presidential election, outraged Australia with his hard line stance on drug offenders on death row, refusing to grant clemency despite repeated pleas.

Any cut to Indonesian aid is likely to have strong political support in Australia. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is understood to have received more than 1000 communications from members of the public calling for aid to be reduced.

Some Australian aid agencies who receive money from DFAT expect Indonesia and African countries to be targeted in upcoming cuts.

Earlier this week, independent Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie said Australia should shift its foreign aid budget from Indonesia to disaster-hit Nepal.

She also urged Australians to boycott any plans they had to holiday in Bali. The Boycott Bali movement has attracted widespread support, with a Facebook page attracting more than 13,000 likes.

Greens leader Christine Milne has condemned the executions, but stopped short of backing a withdrawal of foreign aid. “Foreign aid is to help people in addressing poverty, in addressing disaster and I don’t believe that the foreign aid budget should be redirected,” she told AAP.

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Originally published as Should we cut foreign aid to Indonesia?