On the face of it, Moeldoko seemed to be defying the government’s position of rejecting Australia’s policy. Yet, such open defiance contradicts his style and character.
....it’s more likely Moeldoko was following orders than being impudent.
Is something afoot between Jakarta and Canberra that we, even the Foreign Ministry, are unaware of?
If so, hush-hush policy rarely succeeds under this government.
Moeldoko said his statement “did not indicate that I agreed [with the policy]” and wasn’t related to foreign policy.
In the language of diplomacy, however, Moeldoko’s discussion with the Australian defense chief was an unwitting consent to the Australian initiative.
It is an undisputable fact of international law that Australia cannot send boats into Indonesian waters without permission.
By saying he “understood” Australia’s action, Moeldoko fell into the trap of the “doctrine of acquiescence” first employed under Operation Relex by the Howard government.
Diplomatic notes of notification would be sent to Jakarta just before a turn-back. A non-response, or a delayed one, was regarded by Canberra as consent.
As Howard’s former foreign minister, Alexander Downer, recently explained in The Advertiser, the boats would be “towed to the edge of Indonesia’s territorial waters under Operation Relex, 19 kilometers from the Indonesian coast”.
Hence, we can understand why Prime Minister Tony Abbott remained gleeful about the bilateral cooperation on boatpeople as “evidenced by the discussion that seemed to have taken place between Gen. Moeldoko and our own Gen. Hurley not long ago”.