Aussie MPs favor more cooperation
Aussie MPs favor more cooperation
JAKARTA (JP): Australia's apparent ambivalence continued here
yesterday as visiting Members of Parliament (MP) demonstrated
their affection for Indonesia despite a tough new line taken by
Australia's ruling Labor Party on the issue of East Timor.
After meeting with President Soeharto at Bina Graha Office
yesterday, a visiting delegation of four Australian
parliamentarians stressed the importance of cooperation through
commercial ties and the fostering of regional stability and
security.
They asserted Australia's commitment to help develop
Indonesia's eastern region, including East Timor.
Nevertheless they maintained that human rights would remain a
feature in talks between the two countries.
"This (human rights) issue is part of a dialog between
Indonesia and Australia. We will discuss the issue more
seriously," Martyn Evans of the Labor Party said.
Evans, along with fellow member Gayan O'Conner, and two
liberals, Baden Teague and Peter Slipper, will leave for a two-
day stay in East Timor tomorrow.
Evans said the parliamentary delegation wanted to see for
themselves the true situation in East Timor and to inspect the
various Australian sponsored development projects going on there.
Among the projects currently underway are a clean water
project and a power plant.
A former Portuguese colony, East Timor was integrated into
Indonesia in 1976. Though it now exists as an integral part of
the Republic of Indonesia, a group of countries led by Portugal
continue to protest the integration.
Relations between Indonesia and Australia have blossomed since
Prime Minister Paul Keating took office three years ago.
Despite criticism from groups protesting Indonesia's
integration of East Timor, Keating has stressed Indonesia's
importance as Australia's closest neighbor by making three visits
here thus far.
The flourishing state of relations was accentuated further
when, last Wednesday, Vice President Try Sutrisno became the
highest ranking Indonesian official to go "down under" in nearly
two decades.
However, less than a week after Try's visit, the ruling Labor
Party, during their biannual conference in Hobart, Tasmania,
yielded a document expressing concern over human rights abuses in
East Timor.
The document, unanimously adopted on Monday as party policy,
also calls for leniency for jailed East Timorese separatist
leader Xanana Gusmao.
The critical remarks on Indonesia's domestic politics came as
a slap in the face because only days earlier in Canberra Try had
called on both nations to refrain from interfering in each
other's domestic politics.
Documents
Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Gareth Evans, who attended
the conference on Monday, fully endorsed the document, saying it
is aimed at ending human rights abuses, which he said are "a part
and parcel of the situation there".
"More particularly (it calls for) an effort on the ground to
draw down that repressive military presence (in East Timor)," he
said repeating the statement he made during the Indonesia-
Australia Ministerial Forum meeting last month.
Liberal MP Baden Teague revealed that during yesterday's
meeting, Soeharto highlighted the significance of understanding
the differing approaches towards human rights in various
countries.
Teague said the president explained to the MPs that Indonesia
has its own distinct way of implementing human rights for its
people.
When questioned on the adverse publicity that Indonesia gets
in the Australian press, Evans said such a case may sometimes
occur but it will not affect the overall framework of good
relations between the two countries.
Separately yesterday, Try Sutrisno also met with Soeharto to
report on his recent visit to Australia.
Saying that his trip had reaffirmed the two countries'
commitments to fostering stronger ties, Try acknowledged there
were still minor barriers in bilateral ties, which would not harm
the overall amiable relations. (mds)