Institutional Arrangements

The motivation of the Indonesian government to specifically approve Australian military assistance to address the situation in post-tsunami Aceh was (1) to maintain relations with the neighbouring country, (2) to employ assertive diplomacy, and (3) to utilise the closest foreign military available. In the case of the ADF in post-tsunami Aceh, the key finding was that the request for foreign militaries came directly from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. It made a big difference from previous Indonesian foreign policy making when the request for the deployment of ADF in East Timor was a result of international negotiation and Indonesia had to follow it.