Australia confident of RI antiterror cooperation

Australia confident of RI antiterror cooperation

Agencies, Canberra

The man expected to be Indonesia's next president will probably
be even more cooperative than its current leader in combating
terrorism in the region, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander
Downer said on Friday.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono -- the former security minister who
is expected to be declared Indonesia's president once vote-
counting for this week's poll is complete -- has a lot of
affection for Australia and would do more than President Megawati
Soekarnoputri, said Downer.

"We had a good relationship with President Megawati, but I
think Bambang Yudhoyono is somebody we can work with
exceptionally well. He's somebody I know very well," Downer said
in a radio interview.

"Already we've built very successful counterterrorism
arrangements with the Indonesians. I think we can still do more
with them though," he said.

Canberra and Jakarta have worked closely to fight terror since
the Oct. 12, 2002, Bali bombings killed 202 people, including 88
Australians.

Yudhoyono, a U.S.-trained former general, has led the fight
against al-Qaeda-linked extremists in Indonesia, including the
Jamaah Islamiyah organization, which has steadily targeted
Indonesia in recent years.

The group is blamed for the Bali blasts, and also claimed
responsibility for a suicide bombing of the Australian Embassy in
Jakarta earlier this month that left nine Indonesians dead.

The announcement of official election results is slated for
Oct. 5, but could take place sooner if the vote tallying finishes
earlier.

An increasingly defensive Prime Minister John Howard will
formally launch his government's campaign in Brisbane on Sunday
to win the Oct. 9 election, fighting a rejuvenated Labor
opposition growing more confident by the day.

With most indicators showing an Australian economy bounding
along at its strongest levels for a generation, inflation in
check, unemployment at near record lows and a stock market at
record highs, Howard's conservative coalition should be all but
unbeatable.

But they are trailing in the latest published polling while
internal Labor polling also reportedly shows the opposition,
under an increasingly popular young leader Mark Latham, has
inched forward to its best position since the campaign began a
month ago.

For the conservative leader, an eight-year career as prime
minister now hinges on Sunday's speech, in which he will unveil
new measures, detail his policies and outline his vision for a
fourth term amid the fanfare and hoopla of a political
convention.

To blow it will very likely mean defeat for the Liberal-
National coalition and retirement from politics for Howard at the
age of 65.

Its success or otherwise will be measured against Labor's
campaign launching on Wednesday, in Brisbane, capital of the
eastern state of Queensland in which a string of key marginal
seats are crucial for both sides.