The whole tsunami relief effort has shown me three things which most of us probably knew all along, but can no longer be denied:
1. Western culture is superior. 2/3 of the victims are Moslem, but last time I checked, Saudi Arabia had given more than twice as much money to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. Apparently they would rather see dead Jews than live east Asian Moslems. It will serve them right if our kindness converts some of the people in Aceh to Christianity.
2. We don't need the UN for anything. A full week before the folks from United Nothings arrived on the scene, aid workers from the United States, Australia and Japan were there, and doing a fine job without UN bureaucrats directing them. Is the UN doing anything there yet, besides holding meetings and appearing for photo ops?
3. Indonesia is no longer a US ally. Jakarta may have been pro-Western during the Cold War years, when it feared communism, but apparently they don't feel that way now. Let's hope the previous comment about the people of Aceh liking us is correct.
AMEN! AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!
I'd say the relationship has always been marginal at best.
Sukharno was egregiously anti-American, and flirted with Communist dictators as a tool in establishing his "independence" from America and all other Western powers.
Suharto was kept under the US wing by virtue of $$$ billions in foreign aid, lucrative business deals and crony capitalism, and other financial incentives.
Since Suharto, the US/Indo relationship has been ambiguous at best, which is very Javanese.