You confuse me Grahod, first you say experience from WW2 and Korea is irrelevant, then you constantly refer back to that era to argue the case for the Australians fighting skills. I hardly expect that any of the men that fought Rommel are still on active service but you would find that there were veterans from WW2 involved with the SAS in it's early days just as there are still Vietnam vets involved with the present army even though it is over 30 years since we withdrew from there. There is a greater chance of a war being fought on Indonesian soil by a western invader than being fought on Australian soil by an Indonesian invader. Australia would not be the aggressor but would get press-ganged in through our alliances. Irrespective of where you go in the world, initally you are not treated as an equal until you have proven yourself and earnt their respect, just ask any migrant to Australia. Indonesia is no different, but many people will tell you of how they have been accorded the utmost respect and treated as an equal or even been accorded higher status. There is no automatic right that foreigners are given respect, it is given according to the respect you deserve. Tourists are the worst when it comes to giving their fellow citizens a bad name, and by the same token, locals in the tourist areas can also give the rest of the population an equally bad name. Your mate obviously has the right approach, if you are easy going you can get along with anyone anywhere, but if you are uptight or opinionated you will always brush people up the wrong way and they will respond accordingly. If you are in a foreign land, you have to make the first concessions and recognise their rights and then they will reciprocate. Irrespective of where you go in the world, if you compare the ordinary working man that is trying to make a living to raise a family you will find that there are vastly more similarities between them than there are differences. I've spent a lot of time in different cultures in various situations and when returning here have often been asked as to how I've handled the cultural difference. The first time I was asked I had to stop and think and then had to ask "What do you mean by cultural difference?" For Australians who have been basically isolated from the rest of the world with only one race of people and one language it is probably a fair assumption, however for those who live in other areas together with multiple races, mutiple religions and multiple languages in basically one big melting pot they would be as perplexed as me if asked about cultural differences.
