Indonesia's dilemma over potential release of Bali bomber Umar Patek

The bombing claimed the lives of 88 Australians and 81 other foreign nationals including 38 Indonesian citizens. Their families, and those who survived the attack, still feel the emotional and financial impact of this horrific event. Another 209 people were injured - many severely.

The anger surrounding Patek's possible early release - it has not yet been confirmed or approved by the Indonesian government - may also further damage the perception in Australia about Indonesia.

Already, around 60 per cent of Australians hold some level of distrust of Indonesian people. This is despite the vast Muslim-majority of their 275 million population holding values and hopes similar to that of Australians and with Indonesia being home to 28 million Christians.

Given the severity of the attack in Bali, and the outrage both in Australia and Indonesia over the recommended early release of Patek, we may yet see the application rejected at a ministerial level in Jakarta.

However, Indonesia is trying to find a balance between the severity of the crime, and the recommendation of an early release based on his good behaviour in prison, his rehabilitation and reform.

Indonesia learned a brutal lesson about how civil societies should function when they executed Australian's Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran in 2015 for drug trafficking with Australia leading the condemnation, arguing that even the most evil criminals have the potential to be rehabilitated and to contribute positively to society. As such they should be afforded the opportunity to have their death or life sentences commuted.

The question for Australia therefore, is whether Indonesia should now consider any leniency to Patek who according to Sidney Jones, a highly respected Asian terrorism expert, has been fully rehabilitated.

"Neither Indonesia or Australia is in future danger from this man who has repeatedly expressed (genuine) sorrow for his actions, and has assisted police (in identifying and arresting other terrorist cells)," Ms Jones wrote for the prestigious Lowy Institute's Interpreter blog. But despite Patek's reform, the pressure to keep him locked-up in jail will be considerable - including from within Indonesia.

Australian and Indonesia officials know that any setback in how Australians perceive this giant neighbour to our north may also work against our mutual relations as China increases its presence in the South China Sea and the Pacific.

Indonesia and Australia also need each other as an ally with whom they can work together to ensure security, stability and growth in our region. Both countries have recently signed a major trade agreement opening up enormous opportunities in business partnerships, investment and exports, particularly in the digital economy and electric vehicles sector. But in order to build close relations we also need mutual trust and similar values.

So is there anything good that we can draw from those terrible events in October 2002? Definitely.

Today, Australia enjoys a far closer working relationship with the Indonesian defence force, intelligence agencies and in policing, where with the support of the Australian Federal Police, Indonesia's National Police have created a special elite anti-terrorism force, called Densus 88, that has destroyed most of the larger terrorist cells in their country.

Indonesia has also strengthened its anti-terrorism laws and has introduced anti-radicalisation programs within their prison system, making Australia and holiday spots such as Bali far safer for all our citizens.

While most Australians and Indonesians feel deeply that Patek should remain in jail for life, it is important to know that Australia and Indonesian authorities have indeed quietly worked very hard to make our region safer. Meanwhile, as Patek claims he has fully reformed, he and his colleagues now receive almost no admiration, respect or support from the vast majority of Indonesians who stand united with their neighbours in Australia in rejecting radicalism and terrorist acts of any kind.