A defence industry report claiming that Russia requested a permanent base for its warplanes in Indonesia’s remote Papua region, right on Australia’s northern doorstep, sent Canberra into a tailspin. But in Indonesia, it was the frenzy whipped up in Australia’s tight election campaign that came as the real surprise.
Foreign policy and defence experts are highly sceptical about the prospect that Jakarta would ever acquiesce to such a Russian request, and besides, it is hardly new. Moscow has sought permanent basing rights for its planes at Indonesia’s Biak airfield in Papua for almost half a century – and not once has it won approval.
