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predictable under the prevailing circumstances in what hands they would be.
No wonder then that Australian governments of all complexions seemed more
eager at times to secure the military co-operation of Western rulers of these
islands than to engineer their abdication. (Levy, 174)
One thing is nevertheless clear: Australians were learning to like the idea of being the
bridge between Asia and the West. Australia was not burdened with the onus of colonialism
and imperialism as were the other Western powers, and should therefore present herself to her
Asian neighbours as the land of great social experiments and a fellow escapee from
colonialism. Beginning in 1951, the Colombo Plan engaged Australia in economic and
cultural projects in 17 Asian countries and 30 fields, including engineering, public
administration, education and nursing. Some argued it was too expensive for Australia’s
limited resources, but its success was taken as a necessary response to aggressive regional aid
programs of the USSR (Levy, 175-76). The specific influence on individual Australians is
more difficult to measure, but in ‘Crossing the Gap’ Christopher J. Koch describes how as a
young man travelling by ship to Europe he met some of the Asian students returning home
after taking degrees from Australian universities. This chance encounter introduced Koch to a
new world, opened his mind to Asia’s cultural heritage and myths, and eventually led to the
writing of his Asian novels.
2.10. The Cold War, Vietnam, and Deconstruction of the Old Order
The communist threat persisted as a concern throughout the Cold War, of which
Southeast Asia was a focal point. For Australians, at least, the idea of a communist Indonesia,
after years of Japanese anti-Western propaganda as well as Dutch warnings of racial and
communist aggression in an independent Indonesia, sending waves of soldiers across the
narrow straits in Australia was not at all preposterous. Caught between the horns of wanting to
support the nationalists in Indonesia and not wanting to undermine the old colonial order,
Australian participation in the region, supporting the nationalists yet hoping for a long and
stable transition, was deemed to be an inevitable response (Levy, 180). This sense of a destiny
of participation led to the demise of the perception of Australia as a lonely outpost of Western
civilization. There seemed no alternative to becoming a participating member of the Southeast
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