Asian ties not worsened: Howard

Asian ties not worsened: Howard

Belinda Goldsmith, Reuters, Canberra

Australia brushed aside criticism from Asian neighbors of its treatment of Muslims after the Bali bombings, adamant its relations with Asia remained good but stressing on Thursday that national security came first.

Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand have accused Australia of over-reacting by advising Australians against travel in Southeast Asia and to leave Indonesia in the wake of the October 12 blasts that killed more than 180 people, about 90 of them Australian.

The criticism crescendoed when Australian intelligence officers and police, wielding sledgehammers, raided several Muslim homes to hunt down supporters of the banned Islamic group Jamaah Islamiah, suspected of involvement in the Bali attacks.

But Prime Minister John Howard denied any deterioration in relations with Asia, where Australia is often accused of being a regional bully, tied to the United States' apron strings.

"This is obviously a challenging time, but I think we have to look beneath the surface and understand that the undercurrent of relationships between Australia and different Asian countries is still very good," Howard told a news conference.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, might disagree, with the tension straining historically rocky relations that hit a low in 1999 when Australia led a U.N. force into East Timor after a vote to break free from Jakarta sparked violence.

Nearly 500 noisy protesters demonstrated outside Australia's embassy in Jakarta on Tuesday, yelling anti-Australian slogans and condemning Canberra's handling of the Bali investigation.

Indonesia's acting ambassador to Australia, Imron Cotan, said if the raids did not stop, Jakarta may have to pull out of a joint investigation into the bombing of nightclubs packed with tourists on the Indonesian holiday island.

Boxes of computers, mobile phones and documents were seized in the raids, mainly on homes belonging to Indonesians, but there do not appear to have been any arrests and the authorities have declined to reveal why up to 20 people were targeted.

Howard flatly dismissed claims that the 500,000 or so Muslims in Australia were any more unsafe than other citizens. "You are as protected and as important a part of our country as anyone else," Howard said.

"The...raids were not directed against Islamic people, they were not directed specifically of people of any religion or any race...they have been carried out for good reason."

He said national security was paramount following the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States and the Bali bombs.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, speaking after an Australia-Japan Conference in Japan, blamed Indonesian media for fanning anti-Australian feelings in the Muslim nation.

"There's been a lot of inflammatory language expressed in the Indonesian media, by the Indonesian media, and I think this is a time that calls for cool heads," he said.

"But I'm confident the controversy in Indonesia will die down fairly quickly."