Despite being Australia’s near neighbor, recent coverage of Indonesia in the Australian media indicates that geographic education in Australian schools regarding the Republic may be sorely lacking.
Detik.com reports that Channel 9News in Australia on 19 January 2022 featured an article regarding plans to move Indonesia’s capital to Kalimantan in a brand new purpose built-city called “Nusantara.”
To 9News’ credit, an accompanying graphic map correctly showed the location of the Nusantara in Eastern Kalimantan. However, the same map also showed “the old capital of Jakarta” positioned on the Island of Bali – 970 kilometers away from the capital city of Jakarta’s located at the western end of the island of Java.
Poor navigation, or simply a symptom of a deep longing for Bali – once the most preferred overseas holiday destination for the people of Australia?
We’ll leave you to decide.
Meanwhile, several Australian airlines are reportedly eager to resume flights to Indonesia, providing, of course, their pilots can find the Republic on a map.
